Many readers may know Zhao Shimin from a small column "Teacher Zhao's Classroom" in the "Boutique Shopping Guide". The articles in it are quite funny essays. He also wrote a book "Chinese Character Enlightenment", which was also a work of "not doing his job properly", but the book "Face to Face with the Master" published at the end of the century is his professional book. He is a teacher at the Central Conservatory of Music. This book is a summary of his interviews with 35 musicians who have visited China. But this "musician" has to be limited. It only refers to practitioners of classical music, not "singers" who hold conferences in stadiums. There are Perlman (violinist), Maazel (conductor), Ashkenazy (pianist), Menuhin, Mutter, Yin Chengzong, Zubin Mehta, etc. who are often seen in newspapers and magazines, as well as Some are musicians who are highly rated by professionals. The book is written in the form of exclusive interviews, with each person having one chapter, which gives readers a new perspective. They can see from the back what those masters with a halo on the stage are like.

There are many people who have the same level of music appreciation as me, but only a few have the opportunity to "come face to face with the master". Many music reviews are only for people with an undergraduate degree or above from a conservatory of music. It seems that the more people understand, the less professional and less competent they are. It seems that Zhao Shimin is not afraid of losing his reputation. He clearly puts the master's music, his skills and himself in front of the readers, so that people can understand clearly. In fact, I have listened to the works of some masters, and watched a few performances of some of them, and I often see them on TV. When reading his face-to-face book, you will have the feeling of "that's it" from time to time. This feeling makes me happy while reading.

Perhaps because he was face-to-face with the masters, his writing lacked some of the gimmicks and showoffs often found in essays. He wrote very straightforwardly, separated the introduction of the masters from the analysis of their works, and tried to express his own opinions as much as possible. Start a new paragraph, don’t use it to show off yourself. Different from his brother A Jian's book "Throwing to Music", which also talks about music, his book is more solemn and realistic, while A Jian's book is another kind of aura and humor, between wine and music. , there are so many things that make people laugh. From the comparison, it can be clearly seen that Zhao Shimin is introducing music and musicians seriously, but these comments are more literary, so they have a readable color, or in other words, the color of musicians expressing themselves in music, It has been solidified with literary images, so that ordinary non-professionals, that is, ordinary music lovers, can see the flashes of beauty in the master's works while reading. The so-called music reviews that praise stars nowadays are fundamentally different. Zhao Shimin is carefully analyzing the masters, not blindly exaggerating their advantages, not being dazzled by their halo, and sticking to his own evaluation. When it comes to cellist Heimowitz, it is said that he still needs more work; when it comes to Strakin, he is said to be "barely able to squeeze into the lineup of second-rate conductors." It does not mean that he is elevated just because he leads the American Symphony Orchestra to visit. This kind of pragmatic statement seems more readable.

Another joy of reading this book is that most of the characters written about are accompanied by portrait photos, which were taken by Zhao Shimin himself. From my professional point of view, except for Zubin Mehta and Kunzel, the others should not have been published, but they combined with the text in the book can make readers read in harmony, which seems harmonious. The most dissonant thing about the whole book is the cover, which is a bust of a beautiful woman, but I looked through the whole book and couldn't find a single explanation. In the end, I don't know who she is? Apparently the editor made an oversight. I guess she is Mutter. Zhao Shimin said that Mutt was very beautiful.