Chopin’s ballad

Ming Wang, M.D.,Ph.D.
1801 West End Ave, Ste 1150
Nashville, TN, 37203, 615-321-8881
drwang@wangvisioninstitute.com
www.drmingwang.com

On a beautiful sunny Florida afternoon, a white Rolls Royce was rolling along, on a highway, in it, the driver, Mr. Jack (I don't remember his name, a great gentleman, he graduated from Harvard also) was in the driver seat, and Diana, June, Misha, and me. The wind was blowing, and we were all excited. Coming from a delicious lunch at waterfront, we were looking forward to hearing this wonderfully talented Chinese pianist, Tao Lin.

We arrived at the Steinway Piano Gallery. The owner greeted us at the door. Wahoo, pianos, pianos, were everywhere. White, black, and other colors. I looked at the intricate design of the internal structure of a piano; they had one piano all opened so you could see in amazing detail the wooden bars, the tiny weight, the long wooden arm, and the small leather insulator...

We walked into a private rehearsal hall, about dozen or so piano lovers had already seated. When the concert was about to start, a slender gentleman of about 30 walked onto stage, in an unassuming manner, sat down at the piano chair. The audience (about 30) became quite. The pianist hands were slowly raised, and under it, we were brought back to 18th century, Poland (Chopin's Ballad #1).............

It began, like a dream........ Chopin's dream...... the idyllic farmland, the beautiful green, the tall church against the background of a blue sky and white cloud... the beautiful country of Poland...... the world was so soothing, so quite, so idealistic, and so dreamy.....

It flows... the water, the spring water, high above it, the mountain, it flows.... down the stream.... Chopin had such a unique approach to music, so poetic, and so pure. He was a frail young man, extremely sensitive and charming, so pale, he could create the most delicate melody of unspoken beauty, conquer the most dazzling of virtuosity on the keyboard, but yet, he was so unfit for the dusty world, with its imperfection and cruelty, that he could barely take care of himself physically that he would need her, a beautiful lady who actually nursed him back to health when he was extremely ill. They broke apart because of Chopin's sister's unkind intervention, and he never saw her again, except once, at a party, when he and she had a chance meet, she gazed away and walked out, trying very hard not to turn back to return to him. They both had the desire to reconcile, but they did not have the courage to do so, to face the world.............

To face the world, a world with so little beauty, with Amies, rifles, invading Poland, from Russia........... the sky became dark, the water frozen, the church collapsed, and grass turned yellow.......... the nation crumbled and fell apart, her people cried, yelled, raised their fists, and they were crushed, stumped upon, the freedom and the beauty, of the country, shattered, the character, the character of a nation, was threatened, her culture, her beautiful art and her music, was trashed and spilled upon....

Amidst the agonizing turmoil, the fight, the screams, the frustration, a world which as if had come to an end, was the hand of one of the greatest pianists of all time, creating and striking down a roll of notes that were from the deepest corner of his heart, with the most devastating frame of mind, with the most longing for freedom, for the lost beauty, with the most unimaginable stark contrast of music qualify when compared with the beginning of the piece which was so idyllic and with such an exquisite beauty and tenderness, now to the roll of angered and anguished notes at the end of the piece, an ending that had forever been regarded as the most ferocious, distraught, and tumultuous line of piano notes that was ever created, by a human being.......

.....

On the way back, we were riding back in our car and still talking about the music. I could not erase in my mind the image of a lean Chinese artist, playing a piece of music of extraordinary beauty there was created by another artist, centuries ago, and the composer’s heart connected to the performers, his Poland under the suppressive dictatorship of Russian rulers, to his struggle and millions like him in China, in the devastating culture revolution; their souls, connected; their music inspiration, resonated; their longing, their aspiration, shared, human aspiration....

I thought of an idea of mine, that I had for a long time: what if I created a movie, in which great artists such as Chopin came alive, and sat in a concert hall like the one that we were in today, listening to a 21st century Chinese pianist, playing his compositions, to see the expansion of human mind, the heritable virtue of human aspiration, the music, under the modern pianist's hand, has not only vividly recreated the composer’s world, but also exceeded the boundary of imagination that Chopin had in his original design of his music. It created a new meaning, new dimension. Perhaps, that, is the essence of human race, of our living, of our not having to be afraid of death: Though we live once through this earth, only once, but the greatest things in our mind and what we create can last and grow, forever, from the mind of a great musician such as Chopin, to the finger tips of a talented 21st century pianist.......... seeing all that, the coming alive of his world, but more importantly the expansion of his original ideas and dreams, to a bigger scope and carrying more and deeper meanings, Chopin was moved to tears, sitting in the great concert hall, he could no longer hold his tear, it ran down his face, landed on his lap.... he finally saw that his music had not only had not died, but it lived on and continued to inspire, and further, it grew, it had only become much more meaningful, more beautiful, not only to himself, his dear Poland, but also, to the modern world, to modern musicians and people, to the whole human race...........

随想

佛罗里达的午后阳光和煦, 微风习习, 一辆白色的Rolls Royce 轿车在高速公路上行驶. 一位名叫Jack的先生驾驶着车(我记不得他姓什么, 他是一位很有绅士风度的人,和我一样毕业于哈佛), 车里还有Diana, June, Misha和我. 大家在海边餐厅品尝了美味的午餐, 有幸去参加一位才华横溢的中国钢琴家- TAO LIN的演奏会.

当我们来到Steinway 剧院门口, 主人向我们示以亲切的问候. 哇,太壮观了,大厅里到处可见到不同颜色的钢琴. 使人目不暇接…有一架钢琴全部是敞开的, 我看着钢琴内部令人惊奇的详细构造: 木质的音板, 木质的支架, 木质的音棰, 令人感叹不己. 我们走进一间预演大厅, 大约有12位钢琴爱好者已经就座. 钢琴演奏将要开始, 一位身才瘦而洒脱的, 大约30岁的 TAO LIN走上舞台, 他高雅谦和的坐到钢琴椅上, 观众席上顿时鸦雀无声, 一曲优美流畅的旋律随着演奏者的手指起伏滑脱出来，瞬刻间仿佛把我们带进了18世纪的波兰（肖帮的ballad）．．．

那美奂绝伦的音乐,那缭绕着迷人旋律的音群，犹如一个梦境．．．肖帮的梦．．．．　蓝天,白云衬托着辽阔的原野，青青的田园风光，碧绿的小草，高耸的教堂, 美丽的波兰．世界因此而变得祥和，宁静，梦幻般的美好．

春天的小河, 细水潺潺，奔流不息; 瀑布从群山间泻入河流．肖帮将他如此独特的构思融入到他的音乐中，他创造出的美妙悦耳的音符，是无法用语言来表达的．他从键盘上征服了大多数有艺术鉴赏能力的人, 是在浪漫主义时代最有独创性的艺术家之一．但是，他却无法融入这个充满丑陋, 残忍和肮脏的世界．肖帮重病期间，他几乎不能料理自己，一位美丽的姑娘来为他护理，帮助他康复．由于肖帮姐姐的干涉，他们最终分手了. 在一次聚会上,他们再次相遇了,然而她还是痛苦的离肖帮而去, 从此他再没有见到过她. 他们倆虽然都期望能够和解，但是他们却没有勇气去做，去面对这个世界．

美好的一切总是短暂的，战争，掠夺，俄国的侵略，使天空因此变得混暗，水因此而冻结，绿野因此而变得枯黄，教堂倒塌，波兰分瓜解体，祖国的文化，艺术和优美的音乐因此而变得毫无价值．她的子民在哭泣，呐喊，他们握起拳头反抗，反对外国奴役, 争取国家的独立, 自由和解放．

在这场痛苦难忍的混乱中，战争，挫败，世界好象到了末日．肖帮用他所有的时间，用一双手创造出了惊人的音符: 这些音符是发自他内心深处的呐喊-爱国之情,亡国之痛,对敌人的激愤痛恨和争取自由的向往. 这与乐曲开始那种充满诗意的，优美亲切的, 线条流畅的旋律形成了鲜明的对比．整个乐曲在愤怒痛苦的旋律中结束．

在回家的途中，我们坐在车里，仍然陶醉在令人遐思不忘的音乐中. 在我的脑海里一直不能抹去这样一个镜头：一个瘦瘦的中国艺术家，演奏着在几个世纪以前另一位艺术家创作的作品，作曲家和演奏者的灵感达到了极为和谐的共鸣. 一位是在俄国统治者专政下的波兰人，他的挣扎就如同中国文化大革命中的数百万中国人，他们的渴望是全人类的．

在我的脑海里因此而跃动出这样一个设想，如果我导演一部电影：一位伟大的艺术家如肖帮，他好象又复活了，坐在一个音乐会大厅里，就象今天的我们，听一位２１世纪中国钢琴家演奏他的作品，观察人类的发展，人类的追求, 人类的向往.音乐在现代钢琴家的手中，不仅仅是重新创作了作曲家的世界，而且还超越了想象的界限，肖帮有他原始的构思，而现代人却创作出了一个新的意义，新的高度. 或许，这就是人类的本质. 我们不再恐惧死亡, 虽然生命只有一次, 然而我们的精神和我们创造的财富将发扬,光大和永存.伟大音乐家如肖帮的思想从一位２１世纪有才华的钢琴家的手中体现出来，他原始创作的梦想得到了具有深远历史意义的影响．肖帮坐在音乐厅里，泪水止不住的流了下来，落在他的腿上．．．他终于看到他的音乐不仅没有死亡，而且得到了更进一步的发展成长，更具有真正的生命力, 更加意味深长，更加美丽. 他的音乐不仅仅属于他自己，不仅仅属于亲爱的波兰，而是属于全世界音乐家和全世界人民的，是属于全人类的．肖帮的音乐得到了永恒.