VOA英语2010年-Glory, Drama Mark Path of Piano Virtuoso

For sheer drama and poignancy¹, real life stories sometimes outshine fiction. Consider the case of piano virtuoso² Leon Fleisher. In 1966, at the height of a phenomenal international career, a medical condition called "focal dystonia" cost him the use of his right hand.

 

Fleisher retired³ from performing, going on to teach many of today's great pianists. But as his new memoir⁴ "My Nine Lives" and his CD, "Journeys" make clear, Fleisher has made a remarkable⁵ comeback, returning - with two hands - to full creative form.

Prodigy⁶

Leon Fleisher was  born in 1928 in San Francisco, And was first introduced to the piano at the age of four. Although he was soon recognized as a prodigy, he says his first sense of the true depths of music came when his parents gave him a recording⁷ of Brahms' Piano Concerto⁸ #1 in D Minor⁹.?

"It is absolutely hair-raising how Brahms shakes his fist at the heavens and this Olympian, this imperious music would rise over this timpani which is thundering in the background," says Fleisher. "It's stormy music. It's unbelievable."

Piano virtuoso Leon Fleisher's new memoir is called 'My Nine Lives.'
At the age of nine, Fleisher became a protégé of the legendary¹⁰ piano virtuoso and composer Artur Schnabel Schnabel traced his own pianistic lineage through his teachers back to Beethoven. Fleisher recalls that Schnabel's classes were filled with inspiring and memorable¹¹ moments. He remembers Schnabel's coaching him about Beethoven's complex Piano Sonata¹² #3 Opus 109.

"It's a gorgeous work full of pastoral harmonies. But suddenly, the key changes, and a sort of poignant¹³ nothingness intervenes," says Fleisher. "Schnabel said at that moment 'It has to feel like a deathly stare.' That's a picture. That's only remained with me for about what, 70 years?"

Tempered glory

Those 70 years have brought tragedy as well as glory. After a New York Philharmonic Orchestra debut¹⁴ in 1944 at the age of 16, Fleisher went on to a dazzling career on the world stage. In 1966, Fleisher was at the height of his powers - world famous and busy on a project to record every major work for piano and orchestra with the great conductor George Szell.

He noticed a creeping numbness¹⁵ in two fingers of his right hand. Soon, the problem, called "focal dystonia," worsened until Fleisher was forced to retire from performance, triggering an epic¹⁶ personal crisis.

"I suffered abnormally," Fleisher recalls. "I was a clean shaven young youth and I grew a beard and ponytail and took off on a putt-putting Vespa scooter, because I didn't have the guts¹⁷ to go roaring around Baltimore on a BMW or a Harley-Davidson."

 
Koichi Miura
Now 82, Leon Fleisher hopes that his hand will continue to improve.
Shared joy

But he wasn't idle during the decades that followed, instead becoming a master of the works written for the left hand. Fleisher also became world-renowned as a teacher and has mentored¹⁸ many of today's great pianists. He believes a teacher's purpose is not merely to transmit technical advice but also to teach how to learn so that a student can make his or her own wise aesthetic¹⁹ choices.

Fleisher also became a distinguished²⁰ conductor - a role that's far different from the solitary²¹ work of playing the piano.

"When you work with an orchestra you are working with 75 to 100 people, professional people, who are very possibly as advanced on their instrument as you were on yours, and that have sometimes a rather skeptical²² approach," he says. "And if you can talk an orchestra into first of all understanding what your vision of the music is, if you can persuade them to join you on the quest of realization²³ of this vision, and they come along willingly and make every effort to realize this vision, that becomes a state of ecstasy²⁴. That becomes a kind of joy shared that is beyond words."

Despite his successes, Fleisher never stopped searching for a cure for his hand. Finally, in the late 1990's, a combination of Botox injections and a radical²⁵ massage²⁶ therapy called Rolfing offered some relief. His 2004 comeback album "Two Hands," was a triumph, as was his 2006 "The Journey."

Prodigy. Concert pianist. Master teacher. Conductor. All these lives are recounted in Fleisher's just-published memoir "My Nine Lives," which he co-wrote with Anne Midgette. Now 82, Leon Fleisher hopes that his hand will continue to improve. Whatever happens, he says, he is still awed²⁷ by the mysteries of music.

"You can't see music as it passes through the air. You can't grasp it and hold on to it. You can't smell it. You can't taste it. But it has a most powerful effect on most people. And that's a wondrous²⁸ thing to contemplate²⁹."

1 poignancy   

n.辛酸事，尖锐

参考例句：

• As she sat in church her face had a pathos and poignancy. 当她坐在教堂里时，脸上带着一种哀婉和辛辣的表情。
• The movie, "Trains, Planes, and Automobiles" treats this with hilarity and poignancy. 电影“火车，飞机和汽车”是以欢娱和热情庆祝这个节日。

2 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。

3 retired   

adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的

参考例句：

• The old man retired to the country for rest.这位老人下乡休息去了。
• Many retired people take up gardening as a hobby.许多退休的人都以从事园艺为嗜好。

4 memoir   

n.[pl.]回忆录，自传；记事录

参考例句：

• He has just published a memoir in honour of his captain.他刚刚出了一本传记来纪念他的队长。
• In her memoir,the actress wrote about the bittersweet memories of her first love.在那个女演员的自传中，她写到了自己苦乐掺半的初恋。

5 remarkable   

adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的

参考例句：

• She has made remarkable headway in her writing skills.她在写作技巧方面有了长足进步。
• These cars are remarkable for the quietness of their engines.这些汽车因发动机没有噪音而不同凡响。

6 prodigy   

n.惊人的事物，奇迹，神童，天才，预兆

参考例句：

• She was a child prodigy on the violin.她是神童小提琴手。
• He was always a Negro prodigy who played barbarously and wonderfully.他始终是一个黑人的奇才，这种奇才弹奏起来粗野而惊人。

7 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。

8 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。

9 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。

10 legendary   

adj.传奇（中）的，闻名遐迩的；n.传奇（文学）

参考例句：

• Legendary stories are passed down from parents to children.传奇故事是由父母传给孩子们的。
• Odysseus was a legendary Greek hero.奥狄修斯是传说中的希腊英雄。

11 memorable   

adj.值得回忆的，难忘的，特别的，显著的

参考例句：

• This was indeed the most memorable day of my life.这的确是我一生中最值得怀念的日子。
• The veteran soldier has fought many memorable battles.这个老兵参加过许多难忘的战斗。

12 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。

13 poignant   

adj.令人痛苦的，辛酸的，惨痛的

参考例句：

• His lyrics are as acerbic and poignant as they ever have been.他的歌词一如既往的犀利辛辣。
• It is especially poignant that he died on the day before his wedding.他在婚礼前一天去世了，这尤其令人悲恸。

14 debut   

n.首次演出，初次露面

参考例句：

• That same year he made his Broadway debut, playing a suave radio journalist.在那同一年里，他初次在百老汇登台，扮演一个温文而雅的电台记者。
• The actress made her debut in the new comedy.这位演员在那出新喜剧中首次登台演出。

15 numbness   

n.无感觉，麻木，惊呆

参考例句：

• She was fighting off the numbness of frostbite. 她在竭力摆脱冻僵的感觉。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Sometimes they stay dead, causing' only numbness. 有时，它们没有任何反应，只会造成麻木。 来自时文部分

16 epic   

n.史诗，叙事诗；adj.史诗般的，壮丽的

参考例句：

• I gave up my epic and wrote this little tale instead.我放弃了写叙事诗，而写了这个小故事。
• They held a banquet of epic proportions.他们举行了盛大的宴会。

17 guts   

v.狼吞虎咽，贪婪地吃，飞碟游戏（比赛双方每组5人，相距15码，互相掷接飞碟）；毁坏（建筑物等）的内部( gut的第三人称单数 )；取出…的内脏n.勇气( gut的名词复数 )；内脏；消化道的下段；肠

参考例句：

• I'll only cook fish if the guts have been removed. 鱼若已收拾干净，我只需烧一下即可。
• Barbara hasn't got the guts to leave her mother. 巴巴拉没有勇气离开她妈妈。 来自《简明英汉词典》

18 mentored   

v.（无经验之人的）有经验可信赖的顾问( mentor的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• They had a fantastic dean who really mentored a lot of people. 那儿的教务长非常出色，的确为许多人提供了指导。 来自互联网
• The famous professor mentored him during his years in graduate school. 那位著名的教授在他读研究生期间指导他。 来自互联网

19 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。

20 distinguished   

adj.卓越的，杰出的，著名的

参考例句：

• Elephants are distinguished from other animals by their long noses.大象以其长长的鼻子显示出与其他动物的不同。
• A banquet was given in honor of the distinguished guests.宴会是为了向贵宾们致敬而举行的。

21 solitary   

adj.孤独的，独立的，荒凉的；n.隐士

参考例句：

• I am rather fond of a solitary stroll in the country.我颇喜欢在乡间独自徜徉。
• The castle rises in solitary splendour on the fringe of the desert.这座城堡巍然耸立在沙漠的边际，显得十分壮美。

22 skeptical   

adj.怀疑的，多疑的

参考例句：

• Others here are more skeptical about the chances for justice being done.这里的其他人更为怀疑正义能否得到伸张。
• Her look was skeptical and resigned.她的表情是将信将疑而又无可奈何。

23 realization   

n.实现；认识到，深刻了解

参考例句：

• We shall gladly lend every effort in our power toward its realization.我们将乐意为它的实现而竭尽全力。
• He came to the realization that he would never make a good teacher.他逐渐认识到自己永远不会成为好老师。

24 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。

25 radical   

n.激进份子，原子团，根号；adj.根本的，激进的，彻底的

参考例句：

• The patient got a radical cure in the hospital.病人在医院得到了根治。
• She is radical in her demands.她的要求十分偏激。

26 massage   

n.按摩，揉；vt.按摩，揉，美化，奉承，篡改数据

参考例句：

• He is really quite skilled in doing massage.他的按摩技术确实不错。
• Massage helps relieve the tension in one's muscles.按摩可使僵硬的肌肉松弛。

27 awed   

adj.充满敬畏的，表示敬畏的v.使敬畏，使惊惧( awe的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The audience was awed into silence by her stunning performance. 观众席上鸦雀无声，人们对他出色的表演感到惊叹。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• I was awed by the huge gorilla. 那只大猩猩使我惊惧。 来自《简明英汉词典》

28 wondrous   

adj.令人惊奇的，奇妙的；adv.惊人地；异乎寻常地；令人惊叹地

参考例句：

• The internal structure of the Department is wondrous to behold.看一下国务院的内部结构是很有意思的。
• We were driven across this wondrous vast land of lakes and forests.我们乘车穿越这片有着湖泊及森林的广袤而神奇的土地。

29 contemplate   

vt.盘算，计议；周密考虑；注视，凝视

参考例句：

• The possibility of war is too horrifying to contemplate.战争的可能性太可怕了，真不堪细想。
• The consequences would be too ghastly to contemplate.后果不堪设想。