VOA慢速英语2010年-THIS IS AMERICA - Classical Music, as

BARBARA KLEIN: Welcome to THIS IS AMERICA in VOA Special English. I'm Barbara Klein.

STEVE EMBER: And I'm Steve Ember. Today we present the second of two programs about contemporary classical music written by composers working in the United States. We begin with Osvaldo Golijov. He grew up in La Plata, Argentina, in a Jewish family from eastern Europe. He studied music in Israel and currently lives in the United States.

(MUSIC)

BARBARA KLEIN: This is Osvaldo Golijov's "La Pasion segun San Marcos," or "Saint Mark Passion." He wanted it to express the story of Jesus' last days as seen through the Latin American experience. The performance includes dancers and folk instruments like the accordion¹ and guitar.

Osvaldo Golijov

The work was first performed in Germany in two thousand to mark two hundred fifty years since the death of the composer Johann Sebastian Bach. The crowd cheered wildly for over twenty minutes. One music critic wrote that modern music history had just been made.

Osvaldo Golijov's more recent work "Azul" is a cello² concerto³ written for Yo-Yo Ma and the Boston Symphony Orchestra:

(MUSIC)

STEVE EMBER: John Adams began his music career playing the clarinet, but he also began composing as a child.

His works over the years include the opera "Nixon in China," based on the historic visit by President Richard Nixon in nineteen seventy-two. Another of his works is "Shaker Loops":

(MUSIC)

John Adams

STEVE EMBER: More recently, John Adams composed a piece in memory of the victims of the terrorist attacks of September eleventh, two thousand one. "On the Transmigration of Souls" earned a Pulitzer Prize as well as three Grammy Awards.

(MUSIC: “On the Transmigration of Souls,” Atlanta Symphony Orchestra)

John Adams took words from missing-person signs that had been put up by friends and family members immediately after the attacks. He also used the names of victims and personal stories about their lives that appeared in the newspaper. He said he wanted the music to express a sense of otherworldliness, like the listener is in the presence of generations of souls.

John Adams is a writer not only of music: he is currently working on a novel.

(MUSIC: “Red Violin Caprices” by John Corigliano, violinist Philippe Quint)

BARBARA KLEIN: John Corigliano writes many different kinds of music. Much of it is bold and expressive⁴. He grew up in New York City in a family of musicians.

John Corigliano

He has written several symphonies as well as music for movies. His "Red Violin" concerto was developed from music that he wrote for the movie of the same name. Another of his works is called "Mr. Tambourine⁵ Man: Seven Poems of Bob Dylan."

(MUSIC: “All Along the Watchtower,” Buffalo⁶ Philharmonic Orchestra)

STEVE EMBER: For some people in the classical music world, the past ten to fifteen years have been a difficult period. Budgets have shrunk, a situation that only worsened with the recent recession. And there is growing competition from other forms of entertainment.

Also, public schools in the United States have reduced classical music education.

BARBARA KLEIN: Still, there is reason to celebrate the variety and energy of music created in the United States today. So says Frank Oteri, himself a composer. He works for the American Music Center, a nonprofit group that supports classical music. He started its online magazine, the NewMusicBox.

Frank Oteri says the Internet and new technologies have increased the competition for people's attention and money. But he points out that technology has also made new music available to people all over the world twenty-four hours a day. He says there has never been a richer time for so many musicians and so many kinds of new music.

We asked Frank Oteri if there is something that defines the work of modern American composers. That is a hard question, he says, because there are so many kinds of music being made right now.

But he believes this variety in music is informed by the variety in backgrounds of a nation of immigrants. If anything defines American music, he says, it is a spirit of redefinition and reinvention.

STEVE EMBER: Adam Schoenberg is a young composer adding to this rich variety. He started playing the piano at the age of three. But it was not until college at Oberlin in Ohio that he decided⁷ to study music more seriously. He recently earned a doctorate⁸ from the Juilliard School in New York.

Here is his piece "Finding Rothko" which he wrote for the IRIS⁹ chamber¹⁰ orchestra in Tennessee.

(MUSIC)

STEVE EMBER: We asked Adam Schoenberg about his composing process.

ADAM SCHOENBERG: "Every composer is different. I always get my notes at the piano, first and foremost. And I tend to sit down and improvise¹¹. Within those improvisations certain motives¹² and ideas will come about that I like."

STEVE EMBER: He writes down his ideas, then continues his work away from the piano. He uses a computer notation¹³ program called Finale to put the work together.

So what does Adam Schoenberg think of contemporary classical music?

ADAM SCHOENBERG: "Something happened post-World War Two where a divide occurred between the audience and the composer. And today I feel like composers are reconnecting with the audience and the orchestra. I think it's an incredibly exciting time because we can now draw on so many different sources that we are influenced by, and I sort of feel like anything goes."

(MUSIC: “Gazebo Dances” by John Corigliano, University of Texas Wind Ensemble)

BARBARA KLEIN: Our program was written and produced by Dana Demange. I'm Barbara Klein.

STEVE EMBER: And I'm Steve Ember. You can read and listen to this program at voaspecialenglish.com. You can also find last week's program about composers, including two women who have won Pulitzer Prizes, Ellen Taaffe Zwilich and Jennifer Higdon. You can also follow us on Facebook and Twitter at VOA Learning English. Join us again next week for THIS IS AMERICA in VOA Special English
 

1 accordion   

n.手风琴；adj.可折叠的

参考例句：

• The accordion music in the film isn't very beautiful.这部影片中的手风琴音乐不是很好。
• The accordion music reminds me of my boyhood.这手风琴的乐声让我回忆起了我的少年时代。

2 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。

3 concerto   

n.协奏曲

参考例句：

• The piano concerto was well rendered.钢琴协奏曲演奏得很好。
• The concert ended with a Mozart violin concerto.音乐会在莫扎特的小提琴协奏曲中结束。

4 expressive   

adj.表现的，表达…的，富于表情的

参考例句：

• Black English can be more expressive than standard English.黑人所使用的英语可能比正式英语更有表现力。
• He had a mobile,expressive,animated face.他有一张多变的，富于表情的，生动活泼的脸。

5 tambourine   

n.铃鼓，手鼓

参考例句：

• A stew without an onion is like a dance without a tambourine.烧菜没有洋葱就像跳舞没有手鼓。
• He is really good at playing tambourine.他很擅长演奏铃鼓。

6 buffalo   

n.(北美)野牛；(亚洲)水牛

参考例句：

• Asian buffalo isn't as wild as that of America's. 亚洲水牛比美洲水牛温顺些。
• The boots are made of buffalo hide. 这双靴子是由水牛皮制成的。

7 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

8 doctorate   

n.(大学授予的)博士学位

参考例句：

• He hasn't enough credits to get his doctorate.他的学分不够取得博士学位。
• Where did she do her doctorate?她在哪里攻读博士？

9 iris   

n.虹膜，彩虹

参考例句：

• The opening of the iris is called the pupil.虹膜的开口处叫做瞳孔。
• This incredible human eye,complete with retina and iris,can be found in the Maldives.又是在马尔代夫，有这样一只难以置信的眼睛，连视网膜和虹膜都刻画齐全了。

10 chamber   

n.房间，寝室；会议厅；议院；会所

参考例句：

• For many,the dentist's surgery remains a torture chamber.对许多人来说，牙医的治疗室一直是间受刑室。
• The chamber was ablaze with light.会议厅里灯火辉煌。

11 improvise   

v.即兴创作；临时准备，临时凑成

参考例句：

• If an actor forgets his words，he has to improvise.演员要是忘记台词，那就只好即兴现编。
• As we've not got the proper materials,we'll just have to improvise.我们没有弄到合适的材料，只好临时凑合了。

12 motives   

n.动机，目的( motive的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• to impeach sb's motives 怀疑某人的动机
• His motives are unclear. 他的用意不明。

13 notation   

n.记号法，表示法，注释；[计算机]记法

参考例句：

• Music has a special system of notation.音乐有一套特殊的标记法。
• We shall find it convenient to adopt the following notation.采用下面的记号是方便的。