From the 1984 movie "Yellow Earth" to the movie "Red Sorghum", to today's cello concerto "Zhuang Zhoumeng" and "Violin Concerto No. 1", Zhao Jiping's ** has accompanied me from a 26-year-old boy to an old man. In the past 40 years, Zhao Jiping and I have had dozens of conversations, sometimes with him at the premiere of his works, sometimes with him for dinner, sometimes in the hospital, sometimes at my home with Zhang Jialin, Liu Xiaolong, Zhang Meng, Wang Linlin, Kong Yi, etc., and sometimes at the ......lecture of *** college in front of the teachers and students of the whole collegeCoupled with the appreciation and research of dozens of his works, I have the key to Zhao Jiping's creation.
At the end of November 2023, the Beijing Chinese Orchestra performed "Salute to the Master - Zhao Jiping's Works" at the ** Hall of Zhongshan Park in Beijing. After that, Zhao Jiping and I had a conversation again, and I also told him about the research experience.
At the end of November 2023, the Beijing Chinese Orchestra staged the "Salute to the Master - Zhao Jiping's Works ** Meeting", Zhao Jiping (left) came to the scene in person and joined hands with conductor Tan Lihua to greet the audience Beijing Chinese Orchestra.
Get acquainted with folk art.
Later, I fell in love with the folk**, and it entered the cracks of the bones and melted into the bone marrow."
In 1970, Zhao Jiping graduated from Xi'an ** College, mainly learning Western composition techniques, and was assigned to the Shaanxi Provincial Opera Research Institute. "It was frustrating. I like symphonies and operas so much, and the ideal unit is an orchestra or a cabaret theater studio. I went to Yunyang Town to report to my father, who was wearing a straw hat and picking cotton in the cotton field. My father was very happy to see me coming, and I told him in frustration that I had been assigned to the Academy of Chinese Opera. He said, 'All right! We have many local operas in Shaanxi and rich folk song resources, and if you eat them thoroughly, the Western style you learn will come in handy. Because of my father's rightist problem, I didn't get a satisfactory job. Looking back now, my father was trying to make me a big deal in art, and those words were too strategic. This determined the trajectory of my life for the rest of my life. ”
Zhao Jiping plunged into the Academy of Chinese Opera, and for 21 years, he studied in-depth Qin dialect, Wanwan dialect, confused tune, Tongzhou Bangzi, Lao dialect, Qianxian Xianban dialect, Hancheng's line household, Guanzhong Taoism, Northern Shaanxi Taoism, Errentai, etc. Not only did he study theories and music scores (he had a cart on the sheet music he put together), but he also listened a lot, and he was familiar with the bantou together, and he could sing along, whether it was a slow board, a flower sound slow board, a seven-hammer board or a double hammer.
That's not all, at that time, Zhao Jiping had to go to the countryside for at least half a year every year to act for the peasants. Carrying luggage, carrying stoves and pots, he slept on the table in a rural school ......In the evenings, he conducted; During the day, he collected folk songs from local farmers, and traveled to Yulin, Fugu, Jiaxian, Mizhi, Suide and Yan'an in northern Shaanxi. Later, I fell in love with the folk**, and it entered the cracks of the bones and melted into the bone marrow."This is the aesthetics of the Chinese nation and the public. I just felt that all of them were treasures, and I simply fell into a **treasure trove. I wrote "Yellow Earth", "Red Sorghum", "Alive", "Qiu Ju Lawsuit", "Peach Blossoms Full of Red" and other hundreds of films and television ** all have elements in this treasure trove. ”
It is hard to think that Zhao Jiping's ** elements that integrate public aesthetics are mostly our ancient and folk things. But he can renovate and blend the aesthetics of the masses. Integrating aesthetics is not like engaging in revolution, the leader gives an order, and the masses follow suit. Aesthetics is the most free and democratic, and no one can force it or order it. In this regard, Zhao Jiping believes: "Just because of love." If you love it, it will flow naturally, not deliberately. There is also a lot of inventory, and every time I create a work, I can show new treasures, so that the public will not be aesthetically fatigued. Then there is the grasp of the spirit of the times, and you have to express the spirit of the times that has been surging and has not yet formed a wave. Like in "Red Sorghum", 'Sister, you boldly move forward, don't look back'. This also alludes to the spirit of the times that reform and opening up have been moving forward, so the public feels very cool when they listen to it, and as soon as the movie is released, it becomes a pop song. ”
Another reason why Zhao Jiping's ** can integrate public aesthetics is that it sounds good, and I haven't heard it before. This is due to his appropriate use of some modern compositional techniques. Zhao Jiping's modern techniques are very deep, and the public just thinks it sounds good, but how do you know what techniques there are! Like the male chorus of the movie "Yellow Earth" ** "Song of Sacrifice to the Rain", he used atonal techniques to make the audience feel real and shocked when they see this scene of sacrifice to the rain; Another example is the movie "Red Sorghum", there is a scene in which the arrangement of big sword drums, four shengs, and more than 30 suona uses the most avant-garde group sound block technology; The female voice in the movie "The Red Lantern Hangs High"** hummed the cycle, using the technique of series transposition; The movie "Farewell My Concubine"** used anomalous counterpoint technology; The TV series "Smiling Proud Jianghu"** uses tonal drifting technology, which is also pantonal technology. If you want to study the history of contemporary China, Zhao Jiping is still the first composer to use modern technology, but the public is unaware of it in the process of aesthetics. Forgetting technology is the highest level of technology.
Zhao Jiping said: "I mainly study traditional techniques in Xi'an ** College, and I mainly study ethnic and folk ** in the Xi'an ** Academy. After the reform and opening up, I won the opportunity to study in the first college, and I worked hard to learn new modern composition techniques. My father told me that Yiduo is not pressing, and no matter what technology I have, I can use it in the future. When it comes to creation, forget all the technology, and let it all depend on the inner surge, and if there is modern technology, it must be the most suitable, and it is also the most integrated with the content. ”
At present, there is a popular saying, or a kind of creative idea-to learn Western modern composition techniques and combine them with Chinese elements. However, Zhao Jiping believes that we must learn the best in the West, not only to learn the techniques, creative concepts, the philosophy behind the composition and the entire sound elements, all excellent human works, regardless of the place of creation in Germany, Italy, Hungary or France, once born, is the spiritual food shared by all mankind. In addition, we have learned from the West and copied the carriers of the West, such as violin, cello, Western symphony orchestra, etc., but these carriers can still be used to tell Chinese stories.
The re-enactment rate of the work is extremely high.
At the end of November 2023, Zhao Jiping greeted the audience at the Beijing Chinese Orchestra's "Salute to the Masters - Zhao Jiping's Works ** Meeting" Beijing Chinese Orchestra.
What could be more praised than the song I wrote to be considered a local folk song by the local people."
In August 2023, at the Xi'an Qujiang ** meeting, I listened to "Violin Concerto No. 1" again. Until the next day, it was like massaging my soul and it was wrapping around. In the national and world tour, the British felt that this work was telling their story, the Americans felt that their emotions were abstracted, the people of Guizhou felt that "this is our authentic folk song flowing", and the people of northern Shaanxi felt that "this is our Xintianyou".
The birth of "Violin Concerto No. 1" was originally an informal suggestion by violin educator Lin Yaoji. Zhao Jiping still remembers the scene at that time: "One day, I met Lin Yaoji in the academy, he and my brother Zhao Zhenxiao are good friends and classmates in the expert class. He got off Erdaoliang's bicycle and said, 'Ji Ping, the ** theme of your "Tsing Yi" TV series has been expanded and expanded, and you can make a violin concerto. Teacher Lin's student Li Chuanyun once told me in Shenzhen, "Sometimes ** will return, and I will play the theme of "Tsing Yi", which is very popular. This became a knot in my heart. I've been hiding in my heart, looking for an opportunity. In 2016, Chen Ping, then director of the National Centre for the Performing Arts, asked me to write a violin concerto, which hooked my mind. ”
In 2017, Violin Concerto No. 1 premiered at the National Centre for the Performing Arts. After that, Lu Jia, director of the National Centre for the Performing Arts Orchestra, took this work to the United States to perform, and Ning Feng served as a violin soloist. The performance was a huge success, and American audiences couldn't believe that it was written by a Chinese composer.
The creative process is too difficult, but it is also a pleasure and enjoyment. Every morning, I start composing at the point, first writing the piano score, and using the fugue technique in the opening part to enrich the connotation of **. The feeling in my heart was very strong, not the simple joy or pain, but the expression of human love. Zhao Jiping said. So far, Violin Concerto No. 1 has become the most frequently performed Chinese violin concerto in China and around the world after Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai.
Another characteristic of Zhao Jiping's works is the delay. His composition for the film "Farewell My Concubine" was condensed and developed into a symphony, which was invited by the Berliner Philharmoniker to perform at their annual Forest ** in 2000. He created ** for the TV series "Mansion Gate" and "Qiao's Courtyard", and a few years after the TV series was broadcast, it was adapted into the "Mansion Gate" suite, which was premiered by the China Philharmonic Orchestra in Beijing, and then performed all over the country and around the world. The soprano solo "Dream of the Broken Bridge" and the tenor solo "Dajiangnan" created by him have not only become a regular repertoire for soprano and tenor, but also often sung by contestants at the TV Young Singer TV Grand Prix.
Postponement means that after the premiere, the work is performed again and again, and there are more and more places and performers. The re-enactment rate of Zhao Jiping's creation is extremely high among domestic composers: almost all Chinese orchestras in Hong Kong, Taiwan and other places have held Zhao Jiping's works, violin soloists compete to interpret Zhao Jiping's "Violin Concerto No. 1", and cellists have a soft spot ......for his "Zhuang Zhou Dream".
You see the great composers, Mozart, Beethoven, Mahler, Tchaikovsky, Debussy, their works have been postponed to the present and become classics. I still get a shock every time I listen to it, and I learn a lot of new things. Zhao Jiping also wants his works to be postponed and passed on, but "whenever I create, I don't think about this, I am only responsible for the present, and I only pay attention to whether every phrase I write can move me."
Regarding the delay, Zhao Jiping told two short stories: "It has been many years since the TV series "Kangxi Weifu Private Interview" broadcast in 1998, one day I went to the farmers' market to buy vegetables, and I heard a vendor selling melon seeds singing the interlude "Infinite Rivers" in the play. He sang well, I don't like to eat melon seeds, I bought a lot of melon seeds from him that day. Another time, in 2000, I listened to the ** on the street that was very interesting, so I asked my son Zhao Lin, who wrote this? Zhao Lin said, this is the ** of the movie "Journey to the West", which was written by you. Alas! I forgot, it was a 1990 movie for Stephen Chow's **. As long as it's a good thing, no matter how many teenagers there are, it will be circulated. Zhao Jiping recreated and sold symphony works such as "Mansion Gate", "Qiao's Courtyard", "Yellow Earth", "Farewell My Concubine", "The Red Lantern Hangs High" and other film and television works, also in order to let these ** get out of the film and television pictures and delay them for a longer time.
Zhao Jiping watched a concert of folk songs in northern Shaanxi one year, including "Fifth Brother Herding Sheep", "Walking to the West Exit", "Driving Animals", and a farmer sang the movie "Yellow Earth" episode "Daughter Song". "I talked to her after the concert and she didn't know who I was. She said, 'Daughter's Song' is our authentic folk song of northern Shaanxi! When I heard this, I was very moved. We composers don't just come from the people and end up returning to the people! What could be more praised than the song I wrote to be considered a local folk song by the local people."”
It's not like that".
It's better to say that it's a bubbling inspiration than a thick accumulation in the past, and it can be transferred out of the inventory in time at a critical moment."
Since I fell in love with Zhao Jiping's ** in 1984, I especially wanted to meet him, **the secret of his creation. I could have interviewed him through a friend's introduction, but I believe in fate more.
One day in 1992, I was discussing Lao Zhuang's conformity with nature in the "Lao Tzu Zhuangzi Philosophy Class" offered by *** college. I randomly clicked on Zhao Lin and asked him to talk about how to realize Taoism and nature on Zhao Jiping's ** creation. The whole class laughed, and Zhao Lin blushed and stood speechless. I said, "Don't be afraid, speak up and speak your mind." Didn't Zhao Jiping write "Sister, You Go Forward Boldly"? At this time, Hao Weiya, a composition student from Shaanxi, said, "Zhao Jiping is his father. I was stunned and hurriedly asked Zhao Lin, 'Is it true?' Zhao Lin said, "Zhao Jiping is indeed my father." I lost my temper, forgot what I was supposed to teach, and said, 'I've been looking for your dad for seven years, and you will tell me when your dad arrives in Beijing.' Zhao Lin said, "Definitely." In this way, through Zhao Lin, I met Zhao Jiping, and became friends at first sight. In 2002, Zhao Jiping authorized me to write a biography of him - "Zhao Jiping, the Miracle of Music".
Zhao Jiping's creative inspiration has been bubbling out for more than 40 years, and each work shines with aura. "Does this have something to do with concentration? "I gave a new perspective on concentration.
Zhao Jiping said: "I completely agree with you. This one relies on storage, and the other relies on diligence, isn't this all long-term and persistent 'concentration'? The so-called aura is something that others think is not good, and you think it is good! ”
Zhao Jiping gave an example: "For example, the old dialect, the soil pipa played by the artist is covered with a layer of grease. At that time, when filming the movies "Qiu Ju's Lawsuit" and "Alive", someone said that they wanted to give him a new, brand-name instrument, but I said no, only this kind of instrument has the taste of old-fashioned. and "Qiao's Courtyard", I want that 'Tu Bu Laji' Jin Hu, and I want the artists in the Shanxi Jin Opera Troupe. As soon as the work came out, it was this Jin Hu that made ** taste at once. I heard that the creative staff slapped his thigh, 'That's what you want, why don't we who were born and raised in Shanxi know it?' 'Concentrate, you explain this well. Gather all the essence together, these gods, the gods of the earth, and the gods of all things, have emerged from under the earth, descended from the sky, and met you from all directions. Isn't my creation like God's help? ”
In August this year, I watched your work in Qujiang, Qin Liwei played the cello concerto "Zhuang Zhoumeng", this dream is too rich. Hearing me say this, Zhao Jiping replied: "That was induced by our conversation about Zhuangzi more than 20 years ago." Later, Yo-Yo Ma commissioned me to write a cello work, and I wanted to write Zhuang Zhou Mengdie. I wrote two drafts, and the first draft was completely scrapped. ”
Why start anew? I asked. Zhao Jiping said: "The writing is too realistic, and it does not conform to the romantic spirit of Zhuangzi. It wasn't until 2006 that I finished the second draft, which not only expresses the romance of Zhuangzi, but also the feeling of unity between heaven and man, and finally expresses a kind of hope. The creative process is difficult, and when I can't write, I just look at the ceiling and think about it for a long time. Suddenly inspiration came, and dreams should be unlimited. This work seems to have a title - Zhuang Zhoumeng, but it is actually the most free. At this moment, the inspiration was bubbling up, and I turned all the ups and downs of reality and fantasy that I experienced into sound. The version of Qin Liwei you watched was still a Western symphony orchestra, and Yo-Yo Ma premiered a folk music version. ”
Zhao Jiping also told the story of Guo Baochang asking him to write "Mansion Gate". When Guo Baochang saw Zhao Jiping, he punched him in the chest: "Ji Ping, I have always wanted to use Peking Opera ** with my "Mansion Gate", but it was used in Kaige's "Farewell My Concubine", and Yimou's "Hanging the Red Lantern" was used. This time I also want Peking Opera, you have to turn it over. ”
He gave me ten days, I don't even have enough ideas, how can I write? But the four machines cut ** there, and the TV station broadcast time was set. I'm done writing it in such a daze, and this is also God helping me! The theme song of "Mansion Gate" sung by Hu Xiaoqing borrowed the singing method of Peking Opera and Beijing Yun drums. Although the TV series is not broadcast often, the theme song has become a repertoire of the ** club. In the 2023 China ** Golden Bell Award Vocal (National) Competition, Zhang Li won the Golden Bell Award for the theme song of "Mansion Gate".
Zhao Jiping has never had enough time to write film and television, "Qiao's Courtyard" is also ten days. Also, "Water Margin", "Kangxi Weifu Private Interview", "The Granary of the World" ......It's too much, it's not a long time. Therefore, it is better to say that it is a bubbling inspiration, but it is better to say that it has accumulated thick in the past, and it can be transferred from the inventory in time at a critical moment. ”
Nearly 80 years of non-stopping.
Creation allows me to enter an infinite world, just like doing qigong".
The ending song of the TV series "Smiling Proud Jianghu" was sung by Liu Huan and Faye Wong, and Liu Huan shouted "Yi-ya" at the beginning like a flash of cold light, the sword was unsheathed, and the martial arts supreme appeared.
I absorbed the elements of Sichuan Qingyin and high tone. uses the contrast between Liu Huan and Faye Wong's voices to show that Chinese martial arts overcomes rigidity with softness, and there are no tricks to win. Zhao Jiping said that when learning Chinese martial arts, you must learn one move at a time, practice one by one, and you must abide by the rules and regulations. But after learning, in actual combat, you must break the box of moves, as long as you can defeat the enemy, you can use any routine and any trick. That's how to win without a move. Zhao Jiping felt that the martial arts sword fighting was **, and it was so accurate, plus the ** of the guqin and the flute at the beginning of the film, it was wonderful.
At the beginning of the 21st century, the seven children of Zhao Wangyun, the founder of the Chang'an School, donated more than 300 of their father's paintings to the National Art Museum of China. After the donation ceremony, Zhao Jiping and I admired Zhao Wangyun's masterpiece in the exhibition hall. Walking to a painting, Zhao Jiping said: "This is one I saw my father paint, although I was still an active child at that time, but as long as I watched my father draw, I could sit in a daze for a long time until my father finished painting." It's very strange, I had ** in my head at that time, especially with my dad's painting. At that time, I thought that when I grew up, I would write this **, and when this painting was exhibited in the future, it would be accompanied by this **.
I said, "You're so small, you can turn visual synchronization into **." Aren't the soundtracks of your famous works such as "Yellow Earth", "Red Sorghum" and "The Red Lantern Hangs High" a continuation of your fantasy of soundtracking your dad's paintings when you were a child? ”
Zhao Jiping said: "This is too much in my creation. In "The Red Lantern Hangs High", there is a female voice singing Peking Opera "Longli Gelong", constantly transposing the cycle, showing the fate of this woman - one by one, the reincarnation circle, which can't get out. ”
I said: "When I watched the movie, I was too impressed, you fully expressed the theme of the movie, at least it is a metaphor for the fate of this feudal family, and at worst, it is the blockade circle of feudal society." How did the inspiration come from? ”
Zhao Jiping told me about the scene when he was creating: "In order to write "The Red Lantern Hangs High", I rushed to the location in Shanxi, and it snowed heavily the next day. The fourth wife they filmed Gong Li hanging upstairs, and I talked to Yimou next to me**. For **, he has his thoughts. I said I watched the scene, and I will think about it when I go back. I went back to Xi'an and had a high fever for two days, lying in bed, my mind was full of **, that is, the door in the play, lingering, burning. Later, I pondered the design of this passage into an infinite loop circle, using the way of a female voice humming, all the time in the **, making people feel that this compound has a ghost, and these are the fate of women in the compound, the cycle repeats, and no one can escape this fate. "The compound is closed, and a closed ring is also circled.
When Zhao Jiping created the movie "Fengyue" for Chen Kaige, he saw Gong Li with tears in his eyes every time he appeared, and his face was peachy, and there seemed to be a sound of pipa kneading strings in his ears. It's like watching his father paint when he was a child. He gave Gong Li's appearance a picture with a pipa playing Suzhou Pingtan element.
In the decades that I have been in contact with Zhao Jiping, I have found that he writes at a very high level, and the articles he writes are at the level of a professional writer; He is eloquent, good at speaking, and his jokes are comparable to that of a cross talk actor; He can play erhu, which he learned in the first two years of his undergraduate studies; In the band, he is still a percussionist......But none of these have developed into a career, and he only left a sufficient artistic sense for the outlet of composition.
Zhao Wangyun is versatile, can sing Peking Opera, Henan Opera, can play erhu, banhu, but he founded the Chang'an School of painting by painting ordinary people, cultivated Huang Zhou, Fang Jizhong and other Chinese painting masters, and also cultivated three ** sons - composer Zhao Jiping, cellist Zhao Zhenxiao and oboeist Zhao Baoping. Zhao Wangyun's genes were replicated and strengthened in Zhao Jiping.
The children donated Zhao Wangyun's paintings to the National Art Museum of China, a total of more than 300 paintings, to be auctioned at market prices, which are worth a lot of money. Zhao Jiping said: "My father often told us that our art comes from the people, and in the end it must return to the people. The National Art Museum of China is the best place for them, and the people can observe and appreciate them at any time. If it is sold by private individuals, the paintings will eventually be scattered, and it will be difficult for ordinary people to see them. ”
As he grew older, Zhao Jiping missed his father more and more. "The older I get, the more I feel that my father is great. In the past, I thought his works were great, but now I think his personality is great. Whenever I had a little achievement, pride, and looked down on others, he warned me that I should be kind to others, everyone has strengths, and we must learn from others' strengths. I have been able to get to this day because I always feel that my old father is by my side and shelters me. ”
In 2017, "Violin Concerto No. 1" was composed and premiered. Before and after this, Zhao Jiping was actually recuperating from his illness, "As soon as I entered the state of creation, I forgot all about my illness. I said, "It's a memorial and a death." Creation is the best way to maintain health. Zhao Jiping said: "Creation allows me to enter an infinite world, just like doing qigong." Today, I am nearly 80 years old, and I still create every day. ”
Today, Zhao Jiping lives in Qingcheng Mountain, a holy place of Taoism, and is concentrating on writing one of his most important and favorite works. "I can't move every day, I create in the morning, and I don't pick up any **. Walk in the mountains for an hour and a half every morning. Here, I feel like I'm a mountain dweller. I also have good friends here, all of whom are authentic farmers. After hearing that I was sick, the old farmer took out 3,000 yuan from his clothes, his eyes were full of tears, and he said, "Teacher Zhao, make up for your body." I was moved to tears. They also thought of me as a mountain dweller, and when they saw me and said, 'New food has come down, you can get it.' Zhao Jiping said in a Sichuan accent.
There is a famous saying in the Book of Changes: "Virtue carries things." "Zhao Jiping is virtuous and simple. He is thrifty, kind, and hardworking, like an authentic mountain folk in Qingcheng Mountain, so he can carry his creative inspiration that lasts for more than 40 years, move his genius as heavy as a mountain, win many domestic and international awards, and withstand the ups and downs of life. These seem to have nothing to do with Zhao Jiping's creation, but they are indeed the keys to his creation, which can crack all the passwords of his**.
Zhao Shimin.