APP下载

蒋国基:水乡梦,一支笛

2017-07-24苏唯谦孟建军

文化交流 2017年7期
关键词:笛子竹笛水乡

苏唯谦+孟建军

“回想起曾经的一路,竹笛是我全部的梦,这个梦因我的真心喜爱和坚持而成真。如今唯一的念想,就是把自己的笛声,再应着这从未改变的水乡味道带给更多的人。”这是中国民族管弦乐学会常务理事、浙江省民族管弦乐学会会长、著名笛子演奏家蒋国基把新出版的专辑送给笔者时说的一番话。蒋国基常喜欢用“生命不息,笛声不止”勉励自己。他的专辑名为《水乡梦,一支笛》真是既贴切又准确。据他介绍,这是深谙外公心愿和为人的外孙女郑迪提议命名的。

“老老实实做人,认认真真吹笛”

“老老实实做人,认认真真吹笛”是蒋国基做人的准则。青年时代,他师从笛子大师赵松庭。在41年前的那一届全国民族器乐大赛中,蒋国基以一曲自己创作并演奏的《水乡船歌》崭露头角。自此,他在全国各类民乐比赛中连连夺冠,声誉日隆。

如今,人们但凡说到笛子名曲,就不能不提蒋国基吹奏的这首《水乡船歌》。作家陈韶华认为,这首曲子虽只有短短4分多钟,但它传达了丰硕深厚的江南、水泽、行舟等风光美、人情人性美及意境美,让人浮想联翩,美不胜收。业界认为,《水乡船歌》是一首里程碑式的曲目,它给演奏者提供了足夠的尽情发挥、再创作的愉悦。在中国笛界,《水乡船歌》属于流传不衰和隽永的名曲。另一首具有典型“蒋氏风格”的曲目《采桑曲》也被人津津乐道,用大C、小C——曲笛与梆笛有机结合的排笛演奏,整首曲子变调、换笛,听众感觉却是天衣无缝,一气呵成。蒋国基演奏的两支笛子音域宽广,音色丰富而又各具特色,听起来意趣盎然,让人回味无穷。

自幼成长于西子湖畔的蒋国基,对杭州的一草一木、一事一物都怀有独特的情感。近年,他与作曲家谢鹏合作为弯管笛创作的《雷峰塔遐想》,就是以闻名的雷峰塔为引,以《白蛇传》故事为主题的大型竹笛曲。乐评人杨伟杰认为,《雷峰塔遐想》演绎出一段动人的竹笛叙事诗,此曲将山水风物、传奇故事、宗教哲理、人生思想合而为一,演奏者除了要纯熟掌握弯管笛在气息与技巧上的要求外,对乐曲故事背景的了解,以及对人生的感悟也缺一不可。这是蒋国基从艺生涯中沉淀与累积的心血结晶。

在传统笛子吹奏的基础上,独具匠心的蒋国基喜欢不断变换手中乐器的形制,比如三人笛、弯管笛、双人笛、骨笛、口笛、石笛等,他的每一次演奏,都能在视觉和听觉上带给观众新奇、美好的享受。

“只有民族的,才有世界性”

在蒋国基近半个世纪的艺术生涯中,有几件事令他记忆犹新。上世纪80年代,他曾赴芬兰参加高斯迪宁国际艺术节。当时,智利的演奏家用排箫等民间乐器加上现代电声乐器演奏,场面异常热烈、火爆。中国代表团是继智利节目演出后出场的,我方代表团负责人担心地问:我们能行吗?“没问题,将我的《鹧鸪飞》换到第一个就好了。”蒋国基信心十足地回答。他决定吹奏赵松庭先生改编的《鹧鸪飞》,这是一首慢速、宁静、江南味浓郁的笛子独奏曲。“音乐艺术讲究对比,他们的节目闹,我就来个以静制动。”蒋国基上场后,将循环换气的演奏技巧以及颤、叠、打、蹭等手法灵活运用到演奏中。一曲吹毕,体育场沸腾了,观众起立长时间鼓掌。大会破例让蒋国基演奏了第二首、第三首,第四首……最后他以一曲芬兰作品《在森林里怎样为你歌唱》结束了演奏。本来规定每个国家演出20分钟被打破了,这场演出几乎成了蒋国基的个人独奏音乐会。第二天,芬兰各大媒体盛赞中国笛子为“魔笛”“不可多得的神笛”,认为蒋国基是“充满魅力的笛子演奏家”。

另一次出访演出是在瑞士阿尔卑斯山音乐厅,蒋国基与浙江交响乐团合作,他用中国古老的河姆渡骨笛,吹奏了表现远古人狩猎场面的《原始狩猎图》,更是引起了瑞士观众的强烈反响。

蒋国基对笔者说:“通过演出,我深深感到我们民族的东西具有世界性,世界能接受我们的民族音乐。所以,我每次出国演出,均自信满满。中国笛子不但在中国,也定能在世界站住脚。”

“艺术生命力,就在于创新”

在蒋国基的笛子世界里,求新、求变是他追求的目标。如今,他已是才华横溢的音乐家、作曲家和吹管乐器的发明家了,但仍初心不改。在与蒋国基的交谈中,时时能感受到他那股不甘平庸的心劲儿和涌动的创作激情。“创作永无止境,艺品也永无止境,当今的竹笛艺术无论从演奏技巧到表现题材,都得到了空前拓展。我会一如既往地不断探索和传承创新。”他说,日新月异的时代,为艺术工作者提供了丰富的创作素材。

“艺术的生命力就是在创新中延续发展的。”演出中,蒋国基喜欢打破传统笛子的演奏模式,让观众耳目一新。有时他会走下舞台,贴近观众吹奏,让演出更有亲和力。有一次,广州博览会邀请蒋国基去演出,他觉得仅吹一支笛子过于单调,便与广州军区的作曲家合作创排新节目《南疆春早》。演出时,只见他的巨笛从舞蹈演员中间像船一样缓缓推出,在婀娜优美的群舞中,蒋国基先后用巨笛、骨笛、普通笛、口笛演奏,极大地丰富了笛子的表现力,受到观众热烈欢迎。

蒋国基常说,民族乐器从内容到形式都要不断创新,要与时俱进才会有市场。“只要观众认可,我都愿意尝试。”在赴西班牙参加宗教音乐节演出时,主办方要求每个国家代表团在开幕式演出15分钟。中国代表团排练了一个小合奏,上演前蒋国基向领队提出:“我先即兴演奏一首《禅》后,再合奏吧。”只见他手持竹笛,双目微闭,脑海中浮现出杭州灵隐寺僧人诵经声、木鱼声、钟钵声,吹出了参禅的感受。那种神游天外、物我两忘的意境,引起了各国佛教人士共鸣。事后他说,“如果我们的节目是合奏到底的,就会失之于平铺直叙,不可能收到这么好的现场效果。在国际舞台上,我常这样胆子大,敢玩,会根据现场情况随时作出改变。”一个“玩”字,足显其“艺高人胆大”。

在浙江省温岭长屿硐天的自然岩洞音乐厅里,蒋国基同样带给人们惊艳。在中国首届岩洞音乐会上,他用当地凝灰岩制作的石笛,吹奏了他新创作的《长屿硐天》,让千年的石头飞出欢乐的旋律。在湖州举办的湖笔文化节上,蒋国基将当地用毛竹编制的竹筐、竹箩等生活竹制品融入节目中,演员们配合着他的笛子演奏有节奏地敲打,富有创意的节目《竹子世界》效果出奇地好,中央电视台录制了这一独特节目的全程,并多次播放。

“玩好,是一種艺术境界”

蒋国基回忆道:“在学习竹笛过程中,我跟随老师赵松庭学,就吹老师的曲子。后来我创作自己的作品,将北方与南方的音乐元素融合一起,且注入自己对人生、艺术的感受,以形成与众不同的作品风格。从学习竹笛演奏至今,巨笛、双人笛、口笛、石笛、弯管笛都试着为我所用,并不断变化。但有一点始终没变,那就是勤奋学习、不断奋斗。”

蒋国基对笛子演奏的执着探索与追求,他的同事们有目共睹。他笑说:“当年老歌舞团的邻居很烦我,在他们吃饭、睡觉时,我还在不停地吹,因为要不断琢磨和总结,努力摸索和掌握笛子演奏的内在脉络,并试图从源头去寻找规律……”现在,他的学生吹笛子入门都比较快。“这与我独特的学习体会和经验有关。这种教学方法让学生喜欢吹笛子,并能很快掌握吹奏要领。”

“我把吹笛子当成玩儿了。”蒋国基认为:“玩,是一种境界。观众来欣赏音乐,我定要尽心尽力吹奏,尽量玩好。”这种心态,使他的演出状态始终放松而自在,即便是为国内外领导嘉宾演出也从不紧张。笔者曾多次随浙江民乐团出访,见证过蒋国基在欧洲各国顶尖音乐厅舞台上的风采和受欢迎程度,而他对此却是云淡风轻:“玩得好,鞠个躬下去;玩得不好,也鞠个躬,下次再来。”

“好多年过去了,从黑发走往白鬓,什么都可以放下,唯有最珍惜的,终究还是一支笛。”交谈中,蒋国基无限感慨:“近些年我特别忙,不断给自己加码,脑子里不断涌出有关笛子从内容到形式的新思路。”看来,不久他还会搞出令人叫绝的新东西。“我感觉这样很开心很痛快,做人很有价值。”蒋国基如是说。

Jiang Guoji, a master of bamboo flute based in Zhejiang, has recently released a new album of flute music. “Flute is my lifetime dream, my passion and my love. I want to reproduce the beauty of Zhejiang, a land of rivers and lakes, in my flute performance,” enthused the master in an interview with us the other day.

In his youth, Jiang Guoji studied under the tutelage of Zhao Songting, a bamboo master of Zhejiang. The young flutist rose to national fame 41 years ago at a national competition for traditional musical instrument performers. He played “Boat Song of Water Homeland”, a flute piece he composed and performed. He won a top prize. The piece has long been included in the flute repertoire. Some consider it a milestone in the history of traditional flute music. Chen Shaohua, a composer, comments that the four-minute flute composition vividly poeticizes Jiangnan, a region south of the Yangtze River Delta characterized by numerous rivers and lakes and ponds. Jiangnan in Chinese poetry, art and national imagination is equivalent to Shangri-La where peace rules, prosperity makes a beaul life, dreams come true, and people reside in happiness.

As a flutist of Zhejiang, Jiang never swerves away from singing of his love for the land of natural beauty and material prosperity through the bamboo flute. In fact, almost all of the pieces he has composed and performed are about Zhejiang. is a piece about sericulture, which started in Zhejiang thousands of years ago and started the world-famed Silk Road in the first place. Unlike the boat song, this piece is played on two flutes tied together.

Jiang Guoji is innovative in ideas about flute music. is a composition jointly created by Jiang in partnership with composer Xie Peng. The piece was created especially for the elbow flute, a bamboo instrument invented in modern times for bass effect. The poetic piece musically renders the , a popular legend of China.

Jiang is able to play all kinds of traditional flutes such as ordinary bamboo flutes, bone flutes, whistle flutes, stone flutes, and the huge flute. These different flutes give him a wide space to maneuver various kinds of bamboo flute compositions.

A bold and experience performer, Jiang thinks fast and responds amazingly to various performance situations. At an international music festival in Finland in the 1980s, he was to perform after a group of musicians from Chile. The pan flute in the accompaniment of electronic music by the Chilean group made the audience in the sports stadium wild. The leader of the Chinese musicians was worried about Jiang for the fear that he might be outplayed by the Chilean musicians. Jiang had an idea. “Let me play first,” he said. The piece portrays the serenity and beauty of Jiangnan in a slow melody, rearranged by his master Zhao Songting. His performance conquered the audience totally. The organizers had given each performer twenty minutes to play something. But now seeing Jiang was dazzling, they decided there and then to let him go wild too. The night almost became his solo concert. The next day, the media in Finland gave raving reviews on Jiangs flute music.

At a religious music festival in Spain, each participating country was given 15 minutes to play a composition at the opening ceremony. Jiang Guoji and his colleagues had prepared a band piece to present. Before the Chinese musicians were to step onto the stage, Jiang asked the band leader to allow him to improvise a short solo before the band composition. Knowing him well, the band leader agreed. Jiang walked onto the stage and improvised a piece which he named Zen. While he played, he imagined Lingyin Temple in Hangzhou he had visited many times. The improvised melody appealed amazingly to the religious people at the opening ceremony. “I dare to make changes on the spot. I keep my mind playfully open to different situations and options for best possible performances,” he comments on his overseas experiences.

猜你喜欢

笛子竹笛水乡
山里有间笛子铺(中)
山里有间笛子铺(上)
My Mother
唱不尽水乡幸福多
梦里水乡画里藏
水乡哪里美
我的坚守
水乡的美,最美在人
竹笛
笛子演奏家