原文:http://mp.weixin.qq.com/s?__biz=MzU1MDQwNTgzMg==&mid=2247491464&idx=1&sn=7eb0a7aed79811f17a27d0cd91b62641&chksm=fba04c2fccd7c53926912ff6ba3d79bd67ec4b52580f06df0d7ed7f2a21e886864dfcf39f911#rd
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听力|精读|翻译|词组
Right hand, left hand
右手,左手
英文部分选自经济学人20200815期逝者版块
Obituary: Leon Fleisher
莱昂·弗莱舍
Right hand, left hand
右手,左手
Leon Fleisher, pianist, died on August 2nd, aged 92
钢琴家莱昂·弗莱舍于2020年8月2日逝世,享年92岁。
A while after his argument with the patio table, when his sliced right thumb had had stitches and appeared to be healing, Leon Fleisher noticed a sluggishness in his right index finger. It was especially unresponsive when he tried to play trills, and that was no small matter. The ascending trills in the cadenza of the adagio of the Brahms first piano concerto, each joined by the next and then prolonged with a touch of the pedal—just a little, nothing showy—had a resonance like the shimmering of the universe.
莱昂·弗莱舍在庭院平台桌上弄伤了右手拇指,缝了针有所好转后,他注意到自己的右手食指有些迟钝,演奏颤音时尤其不受他掌控。这可不是件小事。在勃拉姆斯第一钢琴协奏曲柔板乐章的华彩乐段,颤音的音高层层递进,需要演奏者轻踩踏板延音——微延即可,不必太过花哨——其回声宛若宇宙间的微光。
注:
1.约翰内斯·勃拉姆斯(Johannes Brahms,1833-1897,德国浪漫主义作曲家及钢琴家)
2. https://www.jianshu.com/p/3768b86f75ae钢琴踏板介绍
He noticed, too, that the fourth and fifth fingers of his right hand were starting to curl under. This made the playing of triplets more or less impossible. Yet in the third movement of the Brahms they made the dancing culmination of the work, delighting him so much that they made the hairs stand up on the back of his neck.
他也注意到,自己右手的无名指和小拇指开始向掌心弯曲,让他几乎不可能再弹奏三连音了。然而,在演奏勃拉姆斯协奏曲第三乐章时,这两根手指跃动着,让整首乐曲达到高潮,他欣喜不已,后颈的汗毛直直竖立。
In short he could no longer play the most important piece in his life, the one that had first struck him like Thor’s thunder on his 12th birthday, had anchored his debut as “the pianistic find of the century” at Carnegie Hall in New York when he was 16, and had been his talisman and friend ever since. He, whose greatest terror was failure, could not, in fact, play anything.
简言之,他再也无法演奏这首他生命中最重要的作品了。12岁生日时他初次听到这首曲目,如雷神轰鸣一般令他震撼不已;16岁时他在纽约卡内基音乐厅首次公开演奏,并赢得了“世纪钢琴家”之称,就是弹奏的这首曲子,它也从此成为他的护身符和挚友。他向来最怕失败,现在却再也无法演奏任何曲目了。
It was 1964, and he was 36. In the spring he was due to tour the Soviet Union, having performed in America and Europe all through the 1950s. He had made definitive recordings of Liszt, Beethoven and Brahms with George Szell and the Cleveland Orchestra, with Leonard Bernstein and with Otto Klemperer. Such a career had possessed him from childhood, and his slightly crazy mother had also thought of nothing else, pushing him under the nose of every eminent musician she could find in San Francisco, Pierre Monteux, Alfred Hertz, even Sergei Rachmaninoff once, as the maestro came off stage. His path had long been set.
1964年,莱昂·弗莱舍36岁。20世纪50年代他一直在美国和欧洲演出,而那年春天他即将到苏联开展巡回演出。他与乔治·赛尔指挥的克利夫兰管弦乐团、以及伦纳德·伯恩斯坦和奥托·克伦佩勒一起录制了李斯特、贝多芬和勃拉姆斯的完整曲目。自儿时起,莱昂的生活里就全是钢琴,加之他那有些偏执的母亲一心望子成龙,为儿子跑遍旧金山寻找杰出音乐家拜师学艺。皮埃尔·蒙都、阿尔弗雷德·赫兹,甚至谢尔盖·拉赫玛尼诺夫从舞台退役以后,都曾为弗莱舍的音乐之路指点一二。他的人生路早就定了。
Yet he felt he was only beginning to understand what music needed. Ten years of training with Artur Schnabel had laid down firm principles of faithfulness to the score and integrity in the playing; watching Schnabel had taught him to treasure not only each note, but also the potency of silence. In his 20s he developed his own opinions, discovering French, Russian and 20th-century composers. But now he might, after all, be going nowhere.
然而那时的他觉得自己才刚刚开始了解音乐需要什么。随阿图尔·施纳贝尔学习的十年间,忠实于乐谱和演奏的完整成了他铭记于心的准则;施纳贝尔教导他不仅要珍惜每个音符,也要重视停顿。二十几岁时,他汲取了法国、俄罗斯以及二十世纪作曲家们的特点,形成了自己的见解。但即便如此,现在的他却找不到前进的方向。
注:
1.阿图尔·施纳贝尔(1882.4.17-1951.8.15),美籍奥地利钢琴家、作曲家和音乐教育家。莱昂九岁时,曾经宣布不收16岁以下学生的奥地利钢琴大师阿图尔·施纳贝尔破例收下了他。在之后十年里,弗莱舍随施纳贝尔在意大利科莫湖和纽约学习。
2. score:a written or printed copy of a piece of music, especially for a large group of performers, or the music itself 乐谱
For 30 years his right hand was little use to him. He tried lidocaine injections, massage, psychotherapy, acupuncture, Tiger Balm. Quacks and gurus were called in. He let Bernstein pour Scotch on it. The condition had a name, focal dystonia, and a cause, over-practising, but there was no cure. At times the fingers loosened, but nothing helped for long. And since music was his life, taking priority over everything including, to his regret, his first two wives and their children, he had to keep making it somehow. Pieces like the Brahms lay not only in his fingers but in his mind and heart, and his purpose, paraphrasing Beethoven’s inscription in the “Missa Solemnis”, was to communicate their power to other hearts. He just had to find alternative means of doing so.
三十年来,他的右手几乎用不了。他尝试过注射利多卡因、按摩、心理疗法、针灸、涂抹万金油,向各种江湖医生和医学专家寻医问药,也曾让伯恩斯坦把苏格兰威士忌倒在手上。这种病症名叫局部肌张力障碍,病因是肌肉使用过度,且无法治愈。有时手指会松弛,却并没有长久的解决方法。对他来说音乐即生命,他把音乐放在第一位,也遗憾地承认最早的两任妻子和孩子们都只在其次,因此他必须想方设法不断创作。像勃拉姆斯第一钢琴协奏曲这样的作品不仅流淌在他的指尖,也同样铭刻在他的脑海和心里。借用贝多芬在《D大调庄严弥撒》中的题词,他的目标是将作品的力量传达到他人的内心,只是需要用其他方式完成使命。
One was teaching. He had already been giving classes at the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore, and now he did so, both there and at the Boston Symphony’s Tanglewood, as energetically as if his life depended on it, as it did. He also took up conducting, which—despite the oddity of standing in front of an orchestra—he greatly enjoyed. Both activities plunged him deeper into music, letting him see it through the eyes of other instrumentalists and, when he was teaching, pushing him to pin down the ephemeral beauty of notes with words alone. They went most of the way.
教学是一种方法。他早就在巴尔的摩皮博迪音乐学院授课,现在他除了在那儿,还在波士顿交响乐团的坦格尔伍德任教。他对此充满热忱,仿佛生命就寄托于此,事实也的确是这样。他也站上了指挥台,尽管一个人站在管弦乐队前有点奇怪,但他还是非常享受。这两种活动使他更沉迷于音乐。指挥时,他从其他演奏者的眼中看到了音乐;教书时,他仅从字里行间就感受到音符短暂的美。这样的生活大体上圆满。
Yet still he was not playing. Stubbornly he went on practising a bit, though it was hopeless and probably did damage, and his attempt at a public two-handed comeback, in 1982, was a failure. Stubbornly, too, he resisted for a long time the left-hand piano repertoire. Though it was wide, most of it was bad. The whole notion seemed gimmicky, as well as an admission that, from now on, a left-handed pianist was all he could be. Old prejudices would keep surfacing. The right hand was the singer, doing most of the important work and so wearing out faster. The left balanced it and did its share, but inevitably had second billing.
但他还是没有演奏。他继续固执地一点点练习,但成功的希望渺茫,甚至会加重手的损伤。1982年,他在公开复出表演中尝试双手弹奏,还是失败了。依旧固执的他在很长一段时间里抗拒左手弹奏的曲目,尽管这样的曲目很多,大多数却很糟糕。这个想法听上去像噱头,也相当于承认了从现在起,他只能成为一名左手钢琴家。旧时的偏见总会冒出水面:右手就如歌手,承担大部分重要的工作,所以损伤很快;左手则是帮助保持平衡,做好自己的事情,但终归只能排在第二位。
The disaster that had befallen him slowly changed that view. He found left-hand masterpieces, notably Ravel’s “Concerto for the Left Hand” and a transcription by Brahms of the Bach D minor Chaconne for solo violin, which became firm favourites. Friends and colleagues wrote new pieces for him. And he discovered that his left hand, even by itself, gave him more to say at the piano. Unlike the right, it was built for the instrument, since the high tune could still be tapped out by the thumb while the other fingers kept to the bass. Besides, melody was the least important element in a piece. Rhythm came first, the heartbeat, then harmony, and these were both the province of the left hand—though they might emerge, as in the opening of the Ravel, out of the murkiest depths.
莱昂·弗莱舍遭受的不幸反而慢慢改变了这种观点。他找到了适合左手弹奏的名曲,其中以拉威尔的《左手钢琴协奏曲》和勃拉姆斯改编的巴赫《D小调小提琴独奏夏康舞曲》最为著名,它们也成为他最喜欢的曲子。莱昂的朋友和同事也会为他创作左手弹奏的曲子,而他也发现,仅仅依靠左手弹琴,也会有更大的发挥空间。与右手不同,左手简直就是为钢琴而生,用大拇指弹高音旋律时其他手指仍然能够保持在低音上。更何况,对于一首曲子来说,旋律是最不重要的——首要的是节奏,这是重中之重,其次是和韵,而这些他的左手都能够做到,尽管在演奏拉威尔曲子的开头时,这些特质似乎只能从看不见的深处冒出来。
He performed that piece in concert, by his reckoning, more than 1,000 times, sliding across the stool through its leaps and glissandi, his right hand now a mere anchor to grip the frame. A later album cover of his works showed his left hand protectively covering the still-eager, straining right. But he had never quite given up hope that the same karma that had knocked him sideways might one day, equally mysteriously, heal that hand again.
莱昂估算,他弹奏拉威尔的曲子已超过一千次。演奏跳音和滑音时,他的身体也随着音乐在琴凳上滑动,而这时他的右手只是扶着琴架起固定作用而已。在他之后出的一张专辑封面中,他的左手保护性地盖住渴望演奏但仍然损伤的右手。不过他从来没有彻底放弃希望,当年突然转折的命运能够再次神秘地转向,让他的右手恢复如初。
By 1994 a combination of Botox and Rolfing, or deep massage, seemed to be helping. He was cautious. The pretence of his “comeback” more than a decade before still haunted him, when the cheering audience had no idea how he had struggled to control his right hand, and when he had had to rule out playing Beethoven’s fourth concerto in favour of something less exposed. This time, as it turned out, the improvement heralded a definite return to full playing. But on that first day of real hope he took no public chances. As he felt his hand properly opening again, he went instead to his study, where only the sun observed him through the windows. There, in the sunlight, with two hands, the piece growing note by note whole and complete, he played the Brahms.
到1994年,在肉毒杆菌和罗尔夫按摩法的双重作用下,莱昂的右手似乎有了好转。他还是很谨慎。十年前“复出”的假象仍让他心有余悸,当时全场的热情观众不知道他费了九牛二虎之力来控制他的右手,而他也不得不取消贝多芬的第四钢琴协奏曲,改为演奏难度低一些的曲目。这次右手的好转则预示着他可以重新进行双手演奏。但是希望变成现实的第一天,他却避开了公众的视线。感到自己的右手再一次慢慢张开时,他走进了自己的书房,那里只有阳光从窗户里射进来,照在他的脸上。他沐浴在阳光中,将双手放上琴键,接着一个又一个音符完整连贯地流淌出来,连成了一曲勃拉姆斯。
翻译组:
Yvonne,努力中的口译新人
Kemay,决心练好笔译的未来口译员
Rachel Zhang,学理工科,爱跳芭蕾,热爱文艺的非典型翻译
校对组:
Fiona,口笔译小菜鸟,胡粉Lenka粉
Lee,爱骑行的妇女之友+Timberland粉
Nikolai,热爱想象的小双鱼,蒙特雷候补生,AKB49
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观点|评论|思考
本次感想
Lucia,英语专业学生,经济学人爱好者
喜爱阅读《经济学人》讣告板块的伙伴们或多或少感受到每期主人公所持有的品质,也一定发现他们都对自己的事业充满热情:帝王斑蝶的守护者霍梅罗·戈麦斯·冈萨雷斯、NASA数学家凯瑟琳·戈贝尔·约翰逊、“掷骰子的人”法拉费、音乐制作人哈尔·威尔纳等。他们自身所赋有的热情是战胜艰难险阻的利剑,从而在自己的领域内有所贡献。本期主人公莱昂·弗莱舍始终保持对音乐事业的热情,最终成为音乐大师。
因为有热情,所以能坚持。莱昂·弗莱舍从四岁开始学钢琴,八岁时已在旧金山社区剧场首次公开演奏,十六岁在卡内基音乐厅首秀,三十一岁获得著名的皮博迪音乐学院的教职,演奏技艺精湛。1965年,弗莱舍感到手指不适,被诊断患有腕管综合症、反复遭受压力的伤害,还表现出帕金森症的早期症状。然而,热爱音乐的他并没有因此放弃,用了几十年时间坚持接受治疗,从未放弃恢复右手功能的努力。同时,他练习用左手演奏,很快成为了用左手弹琴的大师。经过努力,他的右手逐渐恢复。1982年,他在波士顿交响乐团新落成的梅耶霍夫音乐厅举办音乐会,双手演奏,收获了阵阵掌声。
因为有热情,所以能精益求精。我国著名作曲家王立平从小喜爱曹雪芹的《红楼梦》,曾说他对这部小说的体会是“一朝入梦,终生不醒”。正是保持对这部小说和音乐的热情,1987版电视剧《红楼梦》音乐才会让观众身临其境。王立平前后用了四年半时间写成《红楼梦》的音乐,为此他无时无刻不在用心去体味剧中人物的性格和命运,他说:“写出好的音乐当然需要精准的技术,但最重要的还是用心感受,只有在感情的刻画上细致入微,才能通过音乐使人物的内心刻画入木三分”。当创作一年零九个月的《葬花吟》旋律正叩人物情感时,他顿时泪流满面。《红楼梦》音乐成为经典,离不开王立平先生对待谱曲精细入微的态度。
“登山则情满于山,观海则意溢于海”,对待自己的事情保持热情,有益于自己不断前进和取得进步。
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