Chapter 434: Being Put in the Center Position

After Li Yinghai said Zhou Yan's name, the audience applauded after a delay.

The reason why the applause was delayed was because no one expected Zhou Yan to win the second prize.

Zhou Yan has indeed been exposed a lot in front of the public in the past two years. If we just talk about his popularity in front of the public, everyone else in the hall today is not as good as Zhou Yan.

But in this professional field, Zhou Yan's qualifications are too young, and he has no particularly well-known works. He has never appeared in any major composition awards before.

This time he suddenly appeared and won the second prize. Most people were a little surprised.

Especially when Zhou Yan's name appears together with the three seniors Xu Zhenmin, Zhu Jian'er and Luo Zhongrong, it is really surprising.

Everyone thought that the last second prize winner was at least a composer from the same group as Xu Zhenmin. Unexpectedly, it was Zhou Yan who was in his twenties.

Not only were others surprised, but Zhou Yan himself was also surprised. He didn't expect that the organizing committee actually gave him a second prize.

There is a huge gap between the second prize and the third prize, because there are only six first prizes and second prizes in total, which means that Zhou Yan is at least in the top six this time.

Among the top six, there are also industry giants such as Xu Zhenmin and Luo Zhongrong.

When he was even more surprised, the organizing committee actually changed the name of his work without authorization.

When he submitted his work before, he did not change the name of the work to cater to this solicitation. He still used the original name "Xu Sanguan", but the organizing committee changed the name to "Third Symphony" 》.

Why did the main organizing committee change the name to "Third Symphony"? Is there any special reason?

Generally speaking, if a writer's symphony works are named with "symphony number", then this is his symphony number, which is related to the timing of creation.

It's called naming, but it's actually just a number.

Since there is a "Third Symphony", it usually means that there has already been a "First Symphony" and a "Second Symphony".

In fact, before "Xu Sanguan", Zhou Yan wrote more than two multi-movement symphonies, but the only one that was performed publicly was "Eternal Night".

If the organizing committee had followed the symphony he had performed publicly before, then it should have named "Xu Sanguan" "Symphony No. 2" instead of directly jumping from first to third.

Or is it simply because the name "Xu Sanguan" has the word "三" in it, so the organizing committee just used it?

This reason is somewhat far-fetched.

Having said that, no matter what the reason is, can the organizer change the name of the participating works without authorization?

Even if you want to change it for some reason, shouldn't you tell him in advance?

There was no time for Zhou Yan to think about these things at this moment, as countless eyes were already cast on him.

Huang Wencan next to him was very excited when he heard that Zhou Yan had won the second prize. He clapped his hands loudly, and Zhou Yan felt pain just looking at it.

For those who didn’t know, they would have thought that Huang Wencan and Zhou Yan had such a deep friendship that he was so happy when Zhou Yan won the award.

"Teacher Zhou, go up and receive the award." Huang Wencan said with a smile. He looked even more anxious than Zhou Yan.

Zhou Yan nodded and stood up.

But he didn't rush away. Instead, he stood there for a while, waiting for the other three winners.

Among the four second prize winners, the age gap between him and the other three is too big, so the seniors should be allowed to take the lead.

Xu Zhenmin, who was in the front row, turned to look at Zhou Yan, then smiled and said, "Let's go, Teacher Zhou, let's go together."

"After you."

Xu Zhenmin nodded and walked forward without being polite, with Zhou Yan following closely behind him.

Zhu Jian'er was the first to go up and took the medal and certificate from Li Yinghai. The two of them smiled and chatted for a few words.

Later on, the same was true for Luo Zhongrong and Xu Zhenmin. The speed of awarding the second prizes was obviously much slower, mainly because Li Yinghai had to talk for a while after giving out the prizes to each person.

After the first three people got their prizes, Zhou Yan also walked up to Li Yinghai.

Li Yinghai first handed the medal and certificate to Zhou Yan, and then said with a smile, "Seeing you young people standing on the stage, I feel that our country's music is becoming more and more promising. Your "Third Symphony" I’ve heard it, it’s very good, I heard it was inspired by a novel by Yu Hua?”

Zhou Yan nodded, "Yes, the original name of this work is "Xu Sanguan"."

"This work has a bit of a Bach flavor. The emotions gradually reach a climax through constant repetition. This is very consistent with Mr. Sun Yat-sen's revolutionary career. The repetition is difficult and ups and downs, but in these repeated difficulties and failures, we can learn from them Gain strength, and the name of the Third Symphony is also interesting. When everyone hears the Third Symphony, they will think of Beethoven’s Eroica Symphony, and that piece itself was composed in memory of the great man.”

Zhou Yan raised his eyebrows. Perhaps the organizing committee changed the name of this work to "Symphony No. 3" to have this meaning.

Beethoven's "Third Symphony", the title of the original manuscript is "Napoleon Bonaparte Symphony", was written to praise Napoleon Bonaparte, so the Third Symphony gives people the impression of praising the hero.

From this perspective, it is indeed very consistent with today’s event.

Perhaps the organizing committee really wanted to give him the award, but felt that the name "Xu Sanguan" was really irrelevant, so they changed the name without authorization, making it more reasonable for this work to win the award.

However, there are other stories behind the "Third Symphony".

Originally, Beethoven's "Third Symphony" was indeed written for Napoleon Bonaparte, because Napoleon was a revolutionary ideal in Beethoven's mind, a modern Prometheus, a spark of hope for mankind, and a hero of the world.

But later, when Napoleon proclaimed himself emperor and Beethoven heard the news, he tore off the title page and changed the title to "Heroic Symphony - In Memory of a Great Man".

Facing Li Yinghai's praise, Zhou Yan said modestly, "Teacher Li, you are too kind. I still need to learn more from you."

"No, you should keep working hard. Although you are young, your skills are mature and your creative ideas are very advanced. Many things in the score have also given me some inspiration." After praising him, Li Yinghai said earnestly, "You can usually write some sketches, or even pop songs, but you can't fall behind in big works. You are so young, you shouldn't waste your talent. Your teacher was also very worried when he chatted with me before. Today, this work won the second prize, and your teacher should be very pleased."

Hearing Li Yinghai talk about his teacher, Zhou Yan was somewhat moved.

The teacher rarely told him these things. He told him not to be idle when he was not yet graduated from undergraduate school. But later, he didn't say it again as his fame grew.

In fact, Zhou Yan also understood that in the eyes of his teachers, the new age and pop songs he wrote could only be regarded as entertainment in his spare time at most. If he wanted to enter the music world, he still had to study in depth and create more big works.

But Zhou Yan has always believed that the traditional music circle is too small and not powerful enough.

His senior brothers, Tan Dun, Qu Xiaosong and others, are all amazing talents and have made a name for themselves abroad, but their influence is limited to a small circle and cannot bring confidence to the Chinese public at this stage.

How many of the excellent works written by Tan Dun and others have ordinary people heard of?

On the contrary, those skits and new century works that are looked down upon by people in the circle can allow more ordinary people to participate.

Although Zhou Yan has his own ideas, he still nodded in response to Li Yinghai's instructions and said, "I understand, Teacher Li."

Li Yinghai smiled and grabbed Zhou Yan's arm, "Let's go, this is a rare opportunity, let's take a photo together."

Although Li Yinghai's strength is not great, he grabbed Zhou Yan, and Zhou Yan did not dare to move at all, for fear that if he struggled, he would drag the old man out, so he could only be held by him and walked in the middle of the other three.

The other three consciously left a place in the middle for Li Yinghai, and he directly dragged Zhou Yan to the middle.

Zhou Yan was startled and said quickly, "Teacher Li, I'll just stand next to you."

Are you kidding? He is a young man in his twenties. He took a photo with a group of seniors and stood in the center position. That's too outrageous.

Li Yinghai pretended to be angry and said, "Why, you still look down on us old guys?"

Zhou Yan hurriedly explained, "I'm not..."

"I'm not just standing here. If you look at us carefully, you will know that you should stand in the middle."

Luo Zhongrong said with a smile, "Yes, Zhou Yan, you are young and tallest. Stand in the middle. The four of us stand on both sides, so it's symmetrical."

"Today, we will also take advantage of your vitality as a young man."

Before Zhou Yan wanted to say something else, Luo Zhongrong also came up and grabbed Zhou Yan's arm. He and Li Yinghai almost stuck Zhou Yan in the middle.

The two gentlemen were old and weak. If Zhou Yan wanted to break free, he would swing his arms. Even if there were ten of them, they couldn't catch him. But the problem was that he couldn't move around.

Since he couldn't resist, he could only bear it obediently.

Standing between the four seniors, Zhou Yan was numb.

If this happened 20 or 30 years later, the news that he grabbed the center position that night might have made the headlines.

Zhu Jian'er said with a smile, "Zhou Yan, let's take a photo, smile."

Zhou Yan could only force out a smile, which was not uglier than crying, but it was not much worse.

Finally, the photo was over, and the two old gentlemen let go of Zhou Yan's arms. He was as if he had been pardoned. He quickly bowed to them and turned to walk off the stage.

Luo Zhongrong said with a smile in the back: "Young people have good legs and feet."

"That's right, this guy looks quite thin in his clothes, but when you hold his arm, you will know that he is really strong."

"Let's go, we will go down too."

...

After the second prize was awarded, the host walked to the front with a microphone and said, "Next, please enjoy Zhou Yan's "Third Symphony."

The symphony orchestra in the back was ready. As soon as the host finished speaking, the lights in the back came on and the conductor gave a start gesture.

Unlike most of the other winning pieces, this was the first public performance of "Xu Sanguan". The audience in the audience was looking forward to it, after all, it was a second-prize piece.

The key is that Zhou Yan is too popular now, and many people want to see how good Zhou Yan is.

People in the industry want to see how good Zhou Yan's new piece is, while people outside the industry are interested in this new piece because of Zhou Yan's fame.

Only a selection of this piece was played, but a lot can still be seen from these few minutes of selection.

When Huang Wencan heard the middle part, he couldn't help but look at Zhou Yan next to him.

Zhou Yan's "Third Symphony" is very amazing in its application of polyphonic techniques.

The interweaving of parts is complex and delicate. The multiple parts are independent of each other and echo each other. Each part has its own unique melody line and rhythm pattern, and the texture is very rich.

A harmonious musical dialogue can be formed between the upper and lower parts, which gives people the feeling that different voices appear at the same time, telling different stories, but these stories are all in a big story and do not deviate from the main line.

The reason why it is so harmonious is inseparable from the rigorous counterpoint between the parts.

In terms of melody, the melody of this work is beautiful and smooth... maybe the main thing is smoothness.

Compared with the works of the Romantic period, the melody of this "Third Symphony" does not have exaggerated emotional ups and downs, but is more like a gurgling stream, steady and smooth.

Looking at the melody of a certain paragraph alone, you can't feel anything, and even feel mediocre, but looking at it as a whole, you can taste something special.

This overall sense of melody is mainly presented when multiple parts are interwoven.

In the composition of harmony, Zhou Yan made a lot of semitone progressions and perfectly integrated harmony and polyphony.

Naturally, Huang Wencan thought of Bach.

Could it be that Zhou Yan is a believer of Bach?

However, when he heard the second half, Huang Wencan felt that Zhou Yan only paid a little tribute to Bach in terms of technology, but the content presentation was completely different. For example, he actually heard some Chinese folk tunes from it.

Huang Wencan remembered what Li Yinghai said just now.

Isn’t the combination of Chinese and Western that Mr. Li talked about Zhou Yan’s kind?

Speaking of which, Zhou Yan is really bold to write. He directly took the skeleton of others, filled it with flesh and blood, and put on clothes. In this way, what others see is what he wants to present.

In recent years, some composers in the circle have been thinking about innovation, experimentation, and pioneering, while some have been thinking about developing the nation and tradition, and some have been thinking about integration.

Zhou Yan should be the third type of person, but Huang Wencan has never seen such a bold person before.

Saying that Zhou Yan is bold does not mean that he used something that no one has used before. On the contrary, Zhou Yan used things that have been used before.

Many people are reluctant to do this because they are afraid of being accused of not having their own works.

But what Zhou Yan made today still shows the uniqueness of his creation.

From this point, it can be seen that Zhou Yan was very confident when he was creating. (End of this chapter)