PBS高端访谈:曼陀林大师克里斯打破陈规扮演牧草和巴赫

 　　RAY SUAREZ: Next: a mandolin virtuoso¹ who defies musical boundaries. Chris Thile has recorded bluegrass, country, folk, and jazz. Tomorrow, he releases a new album of Bach sonatas³. Jeffrey Brown has our report.

　　JEFFREY BROWN: The final movement of Sonata² No. 1 in G Minor⁴ by Johann Sebastian Bach, written in the early 1700s for solo violin.

　　Now this and other works by Bach are being given a new treatment for the mandolin by one of that instrument's modern masters, Chris Thile.

　　Why Bach? Well, when we met recently at the Rockwood Music Hall, a tiny bar near his home in Manhattan, Thile told me, it's simple.

　　CHRIS THILE, musician: When you talk about Bach, I mean, you're talking about the greatest musician who ever lived. You will find...

　　JEFFREY BROWN: You think that?

　　CHRIS THILE: Absolutely.

　　Most of my buddies⁵ and great musicians that I talk to, people are pretty -- it's like Bach, and then you start having arguments.

　　JEFFREY BROWN: But once those arguments start, Thile says, the issue is musicianship, not genre⁶.

　　At just 32, Thile, who often sings as well as plays mandolin and guitar, has already made a name for himself as a genre-bender. In his best-known format⁷, bluegrass, he and his colleagues in the band Punch Brothers have expanded the form well beyond traditional tunes⁹.

　　He's also collaborated¹⁰ with classical cellist¹¹ extraordinaire Yo-Yo Ma in a recording¹² called "The Goat Rodeo Sessions" that won a Grammy earlier this year for best folk album. When the MacArthur Foundation awarded Thile the so-called genius grant last year, it cited his creation of a -- quote -- "distinctly American canon for the mandolin and a new musical aesthetic¹³ for performers and audiences alike."

　　This is a man who clearly loves all kinds of music, and doesn't like boundaries.

　　CHRIS THILE: They're just not helpful. They don't -- they don't -- if you sit down and say to yourself, I want to write a bluegrass song, instantly, you're limiting yourself.

　　JEFFREY BROWN: It was bluegrass, though, that started it. Thile, who grew up in Carlsbad, California, began lessons at age 5, formed a band called Nickel Creek¹⁴ with two friends at 8, and released albums with the band and solo at age 13.

　　He says he loved the challenge of the instrument right away.

　　CHRIS THILE: It's so precise, painfully precise. Like, you know, you get the plastic pick hitting metal strings¹⁵, and so there's no doubt when the note happens.

　　JEFFREY BROWN: And that precision, limiting and freeing, he says, informs his approach to Bach.

　　So when you're playing your bluegrass music and you start doing whatever, you make a mistake, you just continue, right?

　　CHRIS THILE: Oh, yes.

　　JEFFREY BROWN: What about Bach?

　　CHRIS THILE: In bluegrass, a mistake can become the rightest thing you do.

　　JEFFREY BROWN: Right, but not with Bach?

　　CHRIS THILE: Not with Bach.

　　JEFFREY BROWN: Thile's been playing Bach pieces for himself for years. He's also listened to numerous recordings¹⁶ of great violinists who've taken them on. I asked him to explain what his instrument can bring to the music.

　　CHRIS THILE: It's easy with these big -- the fugal pieces, where they're all about precision, and these secondary voices come in. There's a third voice.

　　And I have options there, where violinists have to crunch¹⁷ those things, you know, where you get to these four voice chords and violinists have to go -- and so I might choose to play these -- it's an opening and it's, of course, like, emphasis. But how fun is it then to kind of, like, back off this next phrase? It's almost like this kind of...

　　JEFFREY BROWN: So, that's how you get out the expression of the instrument, yes.

　　CHRIS THILE: Yes. You have got this guy going, like, let me tell you something. And then the other guy goes, well, you know, actually...

　　JEFFREY BROWN: And that's another thing. Thile wants his audience to have a great time experiencing Bach, just as they would anything else he plays.

　　It's another musical box he doesn't like: the formality of attending a classical music concert and the distance we have put between, say, a fiddle¹⁸ tune⁸ and a Bach partita.

　　CHRIS THILE: Maybe like, you know, something like that. And, you know, that's -- you're not going very far afield there...

　　JEFFREY BROWN: Not that far off.

　　CHRIS THILE: ... to get to those two places.

　　JEFFREY BROWN: Although most people don't think of it that way.

　　CHRIS THILE: Partially¹⁹ because, like, we're so far removed from someone being in a situation where they could dance to Bach.

　　JEFFREY BROWN: Thile wants us all tapping our toes and nursing our drinks to both bluegrass and Bach. And he's scheduled to perform both around the world in the coming months.

　　CHRIS THILE: You want to contribute. You want to make a -- you just want to leave the world with more good music than it had before you got there.

　　So, if I got to actually make some of it, then I could -- regardless of what comes next, maybe in that last moment of consciousness, I would go, like, you know, OK, OK.

　　JEFFREY BROWN: This was pretty good.

　　CHRIS THILE: Yes, not bad.

1 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。

2 sonata   

n.奏鸣曲

参考例句：

• He played a piano sonata of his own composition.他弹奏了一首自作的钢琴奏鸣曲。
• The young boy played the violin sonata masterfully.那个小男孩的小提琴奏鸣曲拉得很熟练。

3 sonatas   

n.奏鸣曲( sonata的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The programme includes two Mozart sonatas. 节目单中有两首莫扎特的奏鸣曲。 来自辞典例句
• He would play complete sonatas for violin and piano with no piano in sight. 他会在没有钢琴伴奏的情况下，演奏完整的小提琴与钢琴合奏的奏鸣曲。 来自辞典例句

4 minor   

adj.较小(少)的，较次要的；n.辅修学科；vi.辅修

参考例句：

• The young actor was given a minor part in the new play.年轻的男演员在这出新戏里被分派担任一个小角色。
• I gave him a minor share of my wealth.我把小部分财产给了他。

5 buddies   

n.密友( buddy的名词复数 )；同伴；弟兄；（用于称呼男子，常带怒气）家伙v.（如密友、战友、伙伴、弟兄般）交往( buddy的第三人称单数 )；做朋友；亲近（…）；伴护艾滋病人

参考例句：

• We became great buddies. 我们成了非常好的朋友。 来自辞典例句
• The two of them have become great buddies. 他们俩成了要好的朋友。 来自辞典例句

6 genre   

n.(文学、艺术等的)类型，体裁，风格

参考例句：

• My favorite music genre is blues.我最喜欢的音乐种类是布鲁斯音乐。
• Superficially,this Shakespeare's work seems to fit into the same genre.从表面上看， 莎士比亚的这个剧本似乎属于同一类型。

7 format   

n.设计，版式；[计算机]格式，DOS命令:格式化(磁盘)，用于空盘或使用过的磁盘建立新空盘来存储数据；v.使格式化，设计，安排

参考例句：

• Please format this floppy disc.请将这张软盘格式化。
• The format of the figure is very tasteful.该图表的格式很雅致。

8 tune   

n.调子；和谐，协调；v.调音，调节，调整

参考例句：

• He'd written a tune,and played it to us on the piano.他写了一段曲子，并在钢琴上弹给我们听。
• The boy beat out a tune on a tin can.那男孩在易拉罐上敲出一首曲子。

9 tunes   

n.曲调，曲子( tune的名词复数 )v.调音( tune的第三人称单数 )；调整；（给收音机、电视等）调谐；使协调

参考例句：

• a potpourri of tunes 乐曲集锦
• When things get a bit too much, she simply tunes out temporarily. 碰到事情太棘手时，她干脆暂时撒手不管。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 collaborated   

合作( collaborate的过去式和过去分词 )； 勾结叛国

参考例句：

• We have collaborated on many projects over the years. 这些年来我们合作搞了许多项目。
• We have collaborated closely with the university on this project. 我们与大学在这个专案上紧密合作。

11 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

12 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。

13 aesthetic   

adj.美学的，审美的，有美感

参考例句：

• My aesthetic standards are quite different from his.我的审美标准与他的大不相同。
• The professor advanced a new aesthetic theory.那位教授提出了新的美学理论。

14 creek   

n.小溪，小河，小湾

参考例句：

• He sprang through the creek.他跳过小河。
• People sunbathe in the nude on the rocks above the creek.人们在露出小溪的岩石上裸体晒日光浴。

15 strings   

n.弦

参考例句：

• He sat on the bed,idly plucking the strings of his guitar.他坐在床上，随意地拨着吉他的弦。
• She swept her fingers over the strings of the harp.她用手指划过竖琴的琴弦。

16 recordings   

n.记录( recording的名词复数 )；录音；录像；唱片

参考例句：

• a boxed set of original recordings 一套盒装原声录音带
• old jazz recordings reissued on CD 以激光唱片重新发行的老爵士乐

17 crunch   

n.关键时刻；艰难局面；v.发出碎裂声

参考例句：

• If it comes to the crunch they'll support us.关键时刻他们是会支持我们的。
• People who crunch nuts at the movies can be very annoying.看电影时嘎吱作声地嚼干果的人会使人十分讨厌。

18 fiddle   

n.小提琴；vi.拉提琴；不停拨弄，乱动

参考例句：

• She plays the fiddle well.她小提琴拉得好。
• Don't fiddle with the typewriter.不要摆弄那架打字机了。

19 partially   

adv.部分地，从某些方面讲

参考例句：

• The door was partially concealed by the drapes.门有一部分被门帘遮住了。
• The police managed to restore calm and the curfew was partially lifted.警方设法恢复了平静，宵禁部分解除。