琴桃 陳鍚炤，西樂領導 曾湘，楊琴 方淑姬, 陳偉明 琴桃 is the story of a widow who became a nun and the young man, who stirs up her heart again. On a beautiful night with the moon out and the fragrance of multitude of flowers wrapping the temple, the nun sits by the candle light playing on the Qin (琴), a Chinese string instrument. A young man passes by and overhears the nun playing. He is enthralled by her music and her beauty. He introduces himself to her. After a long conversation, he falls in love with her and tries to persuade her to rejoin the human world, instead of trying to seek heaven inside the temple. She told him that he is too young and inexperienced to understand sadness and too young to worry about not finding someone to love. He counters that human life is fragile like the flower that eventually withers and dies. He said to her that if her heart is so still and at peace, why is it her music reveals so much of her loneness and yearning. She is quite touched by his perception and sensitivity. However tradition rules and she cannot break out of the code and run away with the young man. Another version of this opera was originally sung by 林小群 and 呂玉郎. 陳小漢 (Chan Xiao Han) directed the rewriting and music design of this opera, which is what you are listening to. It is Mainland China’s most popular Cantonese opera’s and a classic. When I first heard it, I was quite stirred by the music and the poetry found in the lyrics. In addition I wanted to see if I can sing a Mainland China opera, which is usually several keys higher and sometimes challenging for opera performers growing up listening to and singing operas from Hong Kong, which has a different musical tradition. I hope I did justice to this opera and hope to improve as I sing it more often. I was very lucky to sing it with Mr. Chan Wei Ming (陳偉明) who has a beautiful baritone voice. Some of the musical aspects of the opera and lyrics that I like are: 長二王 (Chang Yi Won): 一曲雉朝飛嘆形單隻影 似孤鴻無侶 自哀嗚琴韻淒然, 未忍聽 君子青春年少, 何愁無偶 嘆孤清 癀寒遊 (Guang Han Yau) – the music delicately accompanies the soprano and solely relies on her voice to express the meaning in the lyrics. 春風得意 (Chung Fong Duk Yi): 人似野鶴閒雲 禪房裏喜清靜 上香誦經枕畔聽鐘鼓聲清 夢到神仙樂境, 風月情 己早斷那蓬萊世間湵 紅塵俗世比併 小挑紅 直轉反綫中板: 那花落(五六工)花開 \ X。 By putting the accent (Ban) on “工”, the soprano then goes straight into 花開. This is a bit challenging technically, but has great musical effects if the timing is good. Mr. Chan Xiao Hang did an excellent job of arranging the music which has good variation in the keys from highs to low and in reverse. For a soprano, this is a dream to showcase their technical ability. youtu.be/O1g-_eUY2ck
Posted on: Sun, 11 Jan 2015 05:44:22 +0000
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