美国国家公共电台 NPR Finding God, Love And The Meaning Of Life In Messiaen's 'Turangal?la-Symphonie'

 

SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

This weekend, the thrilling and mysterious "Turangalila-Symphonie" by Olivier Messiaen is being performed by the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. The masterpiece is rarely heard. It calls for over a hundred musicians and an unusual electronic instrument. We'll have more about that later. The music director of the Baltimore Symphony, Marin Alsop, joins us. Maestro, thanks so much for being with us again.

MARIN ALSOP: Great to be here, Scott. Happy New Year to everyone.

SIMON: And Happy New Year to you, of course. We're listening to a recording¹ of the Bergen Philharmonic. Help us understand the composer and the importance of this work.

ALSOP: Well, this is a massive piece. I mean, everything that Messiaen wrote was a journey piece. Music for him was more of a life philosophy than, you know, an actual composition. And in this piece, he's bringing together all of his spiritual beliefs, his interest in Indian music, his interest in music from the Far East, his love of birds, believe it or not - birdsong - and his incredibly devout² religious fervor³.

SIMON: May I ask how many times you've performed it?

ALSOP: You may ask. But the reality is that I've never even heard this piece live. So this is not only the first time I will conduct it. It's also the first time I will hear the piece live. And it's been on the Baltimore Symphony musicians' wish list for at least 20 years. So this is the first time they'll play it.

SIMON: Oh, mercy. The piece is filled, I gather, with duets between instruments. What's that to achieve?

ALSOP: You know, this idea of love, whether it's spiritual love or the love between human beings. This was a big part of Messiaen's philosophy and his life. And I think these duets that come through, they're often unexpected duets, you know, between unexpected instruments. So you'll hear one between the clarinet and this very weird⁴ electronic instrument that's also in the piece, called an ondes Martenot.

(SOUNDBITE OF ANGELA HEWITT'S PERFORMANCE OF OLIVIER MESSIAEN'S "TURANGALILA-SYMPHONIE")

SIMON: Oh, mercy. The clarinet I recognize.

ALSOP: Right.

SIMON: Tell us about the ondes Martenot.

ALSOP: Well, this was an instrument that, as you can probably deduce, it grew out of the idea of the theremin - you know that ooh.

SIMON: Yeah.

ALSOP: That kind of spooky sound. The theremin was invented earlier. And then this gentleman named Martenot, who was a cellist⁵, but also, he was a radio operator during the war. And he wanted to try to bring those two loves together - you know, these radio waves and also the sound of the cello⁶. And he created this just bizarre instrument. It's got a keyboard. But it also has a long cable with a ring on it that the operator - I don't know if should say the player - has to maneuver⁷ and create the pitches. And you can also add vibrato to it. So it's extremely fascinating instrument.

(SOUNDBITE OF PLAYING ONDES MARTENOT)

SIMON: Oh, my word.

ALSOP: I thought Ned was starting his car.

SIMON: (Laughter). Sorry, our producer Ned Wharton. Needless to say, if your son or daughter comes to you and says, I'd like to play the ondes Martenot, it's not going to be easy, right? There can't be these many instruments in the world.

ALSOP: Well, you know - but I think it would be a good career choice because there are not many ondes Martenot players around. It would probably require an education in Paris, though, because that is really where the school for ondes Martenot players exists. And I was just speaking to Nathalie Forget, who's playing ondes Martenot with us this weekend. She's fabulous⁸. And she was telling me that she always travels with two instruments, you know. And they're quite complex because often customs will open one and, you know, try to tear it apart to see what's inside. So she always travels with two instruments. And she has to know how to repair them. So I don't know. It's an interesting career choice - not only a musician. You have to, you know, be a good repair person and mechanic and all kinds of things.

(SOUNDBITE OF ANGELA HEWITT's PERFORMANCE OF OLIVIER MESSIAEN'S "TURANGALILA-SYMPHONIE")

SIMON: And why do you think Messiaen was so attracted to the instrument?

ALSOP: You know, I think it's so outside of what we're expecting. And the sound world is so ethereal and otherworldly that it really - I think it goes beautifully hand in hand with his spiritual approach to living. And he was a man who existed almost in his own time, in his own space. And according to Jean-Yves Thibaudet, who's our marvelous soloist⁹. And he worked on the piece with Messiaen. He said, you know, you knew he was there. But you always felt that he was also somewhere else.

SIMON: The "Turangalila-Symphonie" is also filled with what sounds like very demanding - devilishly demanding, if I may, piano passages. Let's listen to one.

(SOUNDBITE OF ANGELA HEWITT'S PERFORMANCE OF OLIVIER MESSIAEN'S "TURANGALILA-SYMPHONIE")

SIMON: What came first - the piano composition or the pianist that composer had in mind?

ALSOP: Oh. I think the pianist probably came first because he fell in love with her. She was a student of his at the conservatory¹⁰ - Yvonne Loriod. And he ended up writing many, many pieces for her to play. And she was a phenomenal virtuoso¹¹. And I guess she fell in love with him right away, too, as the story goes.

SIMON: The symphony is filled with these asides, drama, invention. It can be loud. It can be thorny¹². But it ends with such ecstasy¹³.

(SOUNDBITE OF ANGELA HEWITT'S PERFORMANCE OF OLIVIER MESSIAEN'S "TURANGALILA-SYMPHONIE")

SIMON: When you get to that section, what do you think the composer's evoking¹⁴? What do you try and bring out?

ALSOP: Well, you know, Messiaen's spirituality was about joy. And he was a man who felt that every human being had the potential to experience rapturous joy. And, you know, for a person who lived - he was a prisoner of war. And, you know, he maintained this sense of celebration and the belief, I think, in the human spirit and the human spirit as a spiritual entity¹⁵. And that's how it feels. You know, it's almost like a drug-induced fervor at the end, you know, because it just keeps going, going, going, going. And then suddenly, a subito piano - quiet. And it just grows, explodes to the end. And it's a spectacular ending.

SIMON: Marin Alsop. She will lead the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra this weekend in its performance of Olivier Messiaen's "Turangalila-Symphonie." Thanks so much, maestro. We'll look forward to it.

ALSOP: Thanks so much, Scott. Great to talk to you.

(SOUNDBITE OF ANGELA HEWITT'S PERFORMANCE OF OLIVIER MESSIAEN'S "TURANGALILA-SYMPHONIE")

1 recording   

n.录音，记录

参考例句：

• How long will the recording of the song take?录下这首歌得花多少时间？
• I want to play you a recording of the rehearsal.我想给你放一下彩排的录像。

2 devout   

adj.虔诚的，虔敬的，衷心的 (n.devoutness)

参考例句：

• His devout Catholicism appeals to ordinary people.他对天主教的虔诚信仰感染了普通民众。
• The devout man prayed daily.那位虔诚的男士每天都祈祷。

3 fervor   

n.热诚；热心；炽热

参考例句：

• They were concerned only with their own religious fervor.他们只关心自己的宗教热诚。
• The speech aroused nationalist fervor.这个演讲喚起了民族主义热情。

4 weird   

adj.古怪的，离奇的；怪诞的，神秘而可怕的

参考例句：

• From his weird behaviour,he seems a bit of an oddity.从他不寻常的行为看来，他好像有点怪。
• His weird clothes really gas me.他的怪衣裳简直笑死人。

5 cellist   

n.大提琴手

参考例句：

• The cellist's bowing was very sensitive . 那位大提琴手的弓法十分细腻。 来自辞典例句
• World-renowned cellist Yo-Yo Ma founded The Silk Road Project in 1998. 世界闻名的大提琴家马友友于1998年创建了丝路工程。 来自互联网

6 cello   

n.大提琴

参考例句：

• The cello is a member of the violin family.大提琴是提琴家族的一员。
• She plays a melodious cello.她拉着一手悦耳的大提琴。

7 maneuver   

n.策略[pl.]演习；v.(巧妙)控制；用策略

参考例句：

• All the fighters landed safely on the airport after the military maneuver.在军事演习后，所有战斗机都安全降落在机场上。
• I did get her attention with this maneuver.我用这个策略确实引起了她的注意。

8 fabulous   

adj.极好的；极为巨大的；寓言中的，传说中的

参考例句：

• We had a fabulous time at the party.我们在晚会上玩得很痛快。
• This is a fabulous sum of money.这是一笔巨款。

9 soloist   

n.独奏者，独唱者

参考例句：

• The soloist brought the house down with encore for his impressive voice.这位独唱家以他那感人的歌声博得全场喝彩。
• The soloist had never performed in London before.那位独唱者过去从未在伦敦演出过。

10 conservatory   

n.温室，音乐学院；adj.保存性的，有保存力的

参考例句：

• At the conservatory,he learned how to score a musical composition.在音乐学校里，他学会了怎样谱曲。
• The modern conservatory is not an environment for nurturing plants.这个现代化温室的环境不适合培育植物。

11 virtuoso   

n.精于某种艺术或乐器的专家，行家里手

参考例句：

• He was gaining a reputation as a remarkable virtuoso.作为一位技艺非凡的大师，他声誉日隆。
• His father was a virtuoso horn player who belonged to the court orchestra.他的父亲是宫廷乐队中一个技巧精湛的圆号演奏家。

12 thorny   

adj.多刺的，棘手的

参考例句：

• The young captain is pondering over a thorny problem.年轻的上尉正在思考一个棘手的问题。
• The boys argued over the thorny points in the lesson.孩子们辩论功课中的难点。

13 ecstasy   

n.狂喜，心醉神怡，入迷

参考例句：

• He listened to the music with ecstasy.他听音乐听得入了神。
• Speechless with ecstasy,the little boys gazed at the toys.小孩注视着那些玩具，高兴得说不出话来。

14 evoking   

产生，引起，唤起( evoke的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Some occur in organisms without evoking symptoms. 一些存在于生物体中，但不发生症状。
• Nowadays, the protection of traditional knowledge is evoking heat discussion worldwide. 目前，全球都掀起了保护传统知识的热潮。

15 entity   

n.实体，独立存在体，实际存在物

参考例句：

• The country is no longer one political entity.这个国家不再是一个统一的政治实体了。
• As a separate legal entity,the corporation must pay taxes.作为一个独立的法律实体，公司必须纳税。