Old-time musicians

On a quiet summer night at school, the sounds of piano and violin intertwined, and Mendelssohn's abbreviated version of "Violin Concerto in E minor" flowed among the lights and tree shadows in the villa area.

After the last note faded, Fan Ning lifted his hands from the keyboard and turned to look at Sheeran: "How do you feel?"

"I remembered that sentence." The little girl was still holding a bow, her eyes a little lost.

"talk?"

“Tulungarian rhetorical sentences discussed last year.”

"I walked across the fields in the early morning?"

"Another sentence."

"Oh it was easy for you?"

"It can be sight-reading directly, but there are many delicate aspects that need to be carefully considered and processed." Sheeran put the violin down from his shoulder and adjusted his hairpins.

"Carolon, I thought about it. It does seem to be the simplest violin concerto I have ever played, but it is also the most beautiful and touching violin concerto. Dad's violin concerto written when he was a boy is also good, gorgeous. His dazzling skills have earned him a reputation as a young composer, but in this piece of yours, I feel that it uses the least skills to present the most beautiful melody and the deepest emotion."

Fan Ning smiled and said: "It seems that after I finish arranging the orchestration, I can directly lead you to play with the orchestra."

Sheeran said "hmm".

Mendelssohn's "Violin Concerto in E minor" is indeed not very difficult in terms of technique. In its previous life, its first movement was a grade 10 examination piece for amateur violinists, similar to the difficulty of the piano's "Fantasy Impromptu". Sheeran was able to sight-read with the piano partner for the first time, which didn't surprise him at all.

And the choice of this song also has a little bit of Fan Ning's personal understanding.

Among the "four major violin concertos in the world", if the three "Violin Concertos in D major" by Beethoven, Brahms and Tchaikovsky are full of masculinity and boldness, this one by Mendelssohn Elegant and sentimental, gentle and soft, it is a concerto with a feminine temperament... Although Sheeran can master all four songs at her level, Fan Ning still wants to hear her play this one first.

The night passed quickly, and the two played a few more pieces together and agreed on some personalized processing methods. Fan Ning recorded them one by one on the piano score, so that he could transplant his own performance processing to the conductor symphony in the future. On the regiment.

"Caron, what should I do if all my heart is filled with its melody?"

"The beginning of the first movement?"

“My favorite... In addition, there is the minor-key color theme in the middle of the Andante of the second movement. It makes me feel like I am staring at the autumn scenery in the back garden of a gorgeous palace on a gloomy afternoon. It gives me a solemn and poignant sense of tragedy. "

Fan Ning sat in front of the piano, imagined the scene she described, and agreed: "Wonderful description. Now you finally stop calling me that?"

"I'll bark again next time." Sheeran rolled her eyes at him, but then she laughed, stretched out her bow, and gently poked his back, "Caroen Van Ning, help me with some reference. The bow technique of this place.”

Fan Ning left around ten o'clock in the evening. He was walking alone on the gaslight path in the villa area. He began to think about the conversation during the day and investigate the problems of the workhouse, the predecessor of the hospital. Suddenly, his mind flashed back to Roy and Roy a few days ago. In my own words:

"Dean Graham of the Chemistry Department spent a lot of money to prepare a medium- and long-term elixir for the two injured principals, which should be able to rule out permanent damage..."

A strange idea came to his mind, and he walked around the villa area several times without stopping.

Vice-Principal Huxley seemed to have mentioned his address at the school during a chat one day. Fan Ning had no memory of it. After calling some inspirations, it seemed that there were several possible number plates, but the house was dark. He was not sure whether it was correct or not. Not sure if it is here, after all, he has more than one house in Ufranser.

So Fan Ning turned around and walked towards the main administrative building. When he saw that there was no one in the vice president's office, he returned to the former office of Professor Anton of the School of Music - the title on the door plate had now become Honors Associate professor and permanent conductor of the symphony orchestra.

Fan Ning dialed Roy's personal phone: "Are you asleep, Miss Roy?"

"I haven't fallen asleep yet," the girl's soft and lazy voice came from the other end of the receiver, "Good evening, Mr. Fan Ning."

"I'm sorry to bother you so late. Let me confirm something. You said before that Dean Graham prepared an elixir for the two injured principals, right?"

"Yeah" the girl's voice was long.

"I won't be able to find anyone for a while. Can you help me get a sample?"

"I'll ask someone to pick it up. Can I bring it over to you when you meet with the orchestra tomorrow morning?"

"Okay, ask me about the refining price."

"No need, is there anything else?"

"No, thank you, see you tomorrow."

"Good night then." Roy hung up the phone.

At 7:30 in the morning the next day, Fan Ning walked into the Conservatory of Music wearing a formal dress and carrying a black briefcase.

In the office with the nameplate of the music director of the Santa Lenia Symphony Orchestra, Fanning met the chief conductor, Professor Commons. He was about fifty years old, neatly dressed, thin, and his brows were always frowned. There is a pair of thick square citrine glasses on her nose.

"Professor Fan Ning, take a look at the commercial performance program. If you have any comments, please put them forward first."

Apart from a simple greeting, the leader of the symphony orchestra showed no courtesy. After Fan Ning sat down across from him, he slowly rotated the notebook open in front of him and pushed it towards Fan Ning.

Fan Ning looked at the two sets of repertoire written purely by hand and read them slowly: "In the first half, Svelink's symphonic poem "Summer Nights in Lebich" and Niemann's "Piano Concerto No. 1 in C minor", in the second half Schillings' "First Symphony" or "Fourth Symphony"? ...Except for the opening piece, which can be played with two or three pipes, the rest are Romantic works arranged for three pipes?"

"Yes, they are all classic masterpieces of the masters." Commons said, "...At the same time, they are relatively easy to perform. They have a certain market popularity and take care of the students' level. The piano concerto can be signed by a professional pianist. contract to improve the professional level of the performance.”

"Professor, I don't think it's appropriate." Fan Ning said bluntly.

"Oh?" Commons raised his eyebrows.

The professor who is currently the oldest conductor is exactly the kind of academic musician who comes from an orthodox family, has extremely solid foundation, and has a serious and old-fashioned personality. Although he admits the influence of Fan Ning's premiere of "Symphony No. 1", He also admits that Fan Ning has the qualifications to be called a "young composer" in the music industry, but this does not prevent him from thinking that those musical styles are deviant.

He had long expected that Fan Ning might have objections to the selection of the symphony's repertoire, for example, replacing it with several symphonies by Anton Konard, or replacing it with Fan Ning's own "Symphony No. 1."

"So Professor Fan Ning, what piece of music do you think is more suitable?" Commons was already ready to criticize Fan Ning.

For example, if Fanning proposes to perform a work by Anton Konard, he will immediately point out that "those music is not accepted by mainstream music fans, and it is unwise to take risks and bet on the box office of this performance that is related to the ranking of the orchestra..."

"For the second half, I chose "Symphony No. 3 in F major" by Master Gilles." Fan Ning said.

"...Performing a work from the period of Authenticism? It's not impossible, but why this one? What's the reason?"

Naturally, authentic works are also an extremely important part of today's serious music performances, just like in the era when Chopin and Liszt were famous in the previous generation, Beethoven's music is still performed every day around the world.

Commons could not attribute Fanning's suggestion to anything other than music. He could only ask him further for his thoughts and discuss it matter-of-factly.

Therefore, the old professor was very surprised. When he saw Fan Ning raising objections, he thought that he would export private goods as soon as he took office. Unexpectedly, Fan Ning did not follow the routine at all.

Fanning explained: "The Third Symphony is similar to those other songs in terms of popularity and difficulty of performance, and meets the basic conditions. But what is special is that it is a milestone work for Master Gilles to establish his mid-term style. Although it is still the original scale and structure, the length has been greatly increased, the use of harmony is bolder, the polyphonic texture is more complex, and the development of the brass group is also innovative... This gives us more room for processing in interpretation , will not lack highlights due to being 'too simple'."

Commons did not directly refute Fanning's point of view, because Fanning was completely correct, but he raised a question that needs further explanation:

"I wonder if Professor Fan Ning thinks that those romantic works also have broad room for interpretation and will not lack highlights due to being 'too simple'?"

Fan Ning nodded slightly: "I agree, but there is a big difference between them."

"Oh? What's different?"

"Master Gilles's Third Symphony is in a two-pipe arrangement, while Master Schillings's symphonies are all in a three-pipe arrangement."

Commons had a very ridiculous smile on his face, as if a middle school student was repeating the difference between algebra and geometry in front of a mathematician.

"So what does this mean?"

"It means we only need about 60 team members to play."

The old professor continued to shake his head and smile: "Professor Fan Ning, on the day you took office, you didn't know that the Santa Lenia Symphony Orchestra has more than 80 official members, and it has already met the requirements of the three controls, right?"

"Of course I know." Fan Ning also smiled slightly.

"For the excess number of people, I will eliminate them one by one during this rehearsal time."

The air in the office became quiet for a moment.

During this time, various thoughts flashed through Professor Commons' mind.

In fact, he had never thought that Fan Ning, who had just graduated at the age of 23, was qualified to serve as an honorary associate professor and permanent conductor of the symphony orchestra in this world-class public school.

However, he knew that this was a decision made by the "high-level school" behind the school, and he was vaguely aware of what happened in the symphony hall on the day of the graduation concert. In his opinion, the school allowed Fan Ning to sit in this position entirely because of the extraordinary factors behind this series of events, and not because of music at all.

So what does the Extraordinary Factor have to do with his conductor Commons?

There is a vacancy in the leadership of the symphony orchestra. He is in charge of both operations and music. He is indeed too busy to focus on one and neglect the other. However, the school parachuted Fan Ning, the "second in command", just to add to his troubles!

The eyes under Commons' citrine thick-soled glasses were very serious at the moment: "Professor Fan Ning, the school hired you to hold this important position in the symphony orchestra with a high salary. I think what they trust is your rehearsal and conducting ability, not your personnel management ability. ”

Fan Ning looked calm: "Rehearsal is for rehearsing musicians, conducting is for conducting musicians, and the ability to select and employ people is a kind of conducting ability."

"...Since I promised the school that my name will always be written on the record of the orchestra's permanent conductor during this period, then there is only one goal: performance results and the related orchestra rankings...I can't guarantee how the Saint Lenya Symphony Orchestra will rank in the future, but in the annual evaluation of the Imperial Culture and Media Committee in 913 of the new calendar, it must get the first place among student orchestras."

"..."The old professor was stunned by Fan Ning's words.

After a while, he murmured: "You are crazy. If you have seen the ranking of the Saint Lenya Symphony Orchestra in the past ten years, you will not set such an outrageous goal..."

The top three of the list of the Imperial Student Symphony Orchestra have been firmly occupied by the "Imperial Royal Academy of Music", "Theolian National Academy of Music" and "Santaramborg University" for many years, and the quantitative scores are far ahead of the others.

As for Saint Lenya University? It has always been competing with the Eagles Conservatory of Music for the fourth and fifth positions... Of course, universities that are firmly in the top ten are considered first-class music universities.

"The St. Lenya Symphony Orchestra should not have been at this level for a long time." Fanning said calmly: "A hundred years ago, this was the place where the graduation concerts of Masters Meyer and Tarakan were premiered. The three masters of the Benguet era, except for Master Gilles of the Holy Janus Kingdom, the other two came out of here... It is not just competing for the top spot in the student orchestra list?"

"Although the nature of the student orchestra determines that the grown musicians will graduate quickly, it should at least have a place in the world's first-class professional symphony orchestras."

Professor Commons' eyes changed.

Although he still did not accept Fanning's ideas in the field of symphony, his family of five generations of music family all studied and taught at St. Lenya University. Fanning's words awakened things like the sense of honor and impulse that had been dormant in his heart for many years.

After a brief moment of excitement, he returned to calm reality: "If you really want to stage Gilles's Symphony No. 3, go ahead, but don't take the ranking for granted. Even if you can really make a leap in your performance level in just over a month, there are other pieces... The response from the music industry and mainstream media will not favor us just because of an outstanding Symphony No. 3..." Fanning said: "The first half will also change the piece. My new violin concerto will be completed soon, and then this concert will have the gimmick of a premiere..." Professor Commons looked at Fanning with a scrutinizing look behind his thick-bottomed glasses: "Another one of those Four-pipe or a large orchestral work? You chose a two-pipe work in the second half. You don't have to ask a large group of people to leave after your work is finished? "

Fanning shook his head: "No, this will be a pure romantic style work, similar to my string quartet "Death and the Maiden". I guarantee that it will be favored by mainstream academic musicians. I will still keep the arrangement unified so that the two-pipe can be competent..."

"Pure romantic style? Guaranteed to be favored by the mainstream? ..." The old professor's expression and behavior changed several times in a row. First, he held the pen tightly, his eyes brightened, and then he hesitated and doubted.

He had heard of Death and the Maiden, and was obviously moved by what he said: "…If the orchestral work you write this time can really be as good as the previous chamber music, instead of being as messy as the First Symphony in D Major, the premiere is indeed a bonus gimmick. You can try it if you want. At least this time, we will try to beat the Eagles Conservatory of Music..." But as he spoke, he sighed again, "But don't even think about the top three. Even in terms of attendance and box office revenue, we can't compete with them. Their popularity has been accumulated for a long time... These are factors that affect the annual evaluation ranking." Attendance and box office revenue? ... By the way, this is a commercial performance, and the pricing plan is also an important part. Fanning's heart moved, and he continued to look at the content of the old professor's handwriting behind. "The performance venue has 2,760 seats, and the regional price levels are: 6 pounds (VIP ticket), 4 pounds, 3 pounds, 2 pounds, 1 pound, the average price is 25 pounds, and the total box office is 8,970 pounds?..."

So Fanning suggested: "Change the price plan to 18, 12, 9, 6, 3 pounds."

As soon as this was said, Professor Commons' serious and old-fashioned face could no longer hold back.

"I always thought you were crazy, and now I find that you are indeed crazy!"

"Do you want us to perform in an empty stadium at that time!?"