2014-12-07

【Aiden in English】

        Everything that has a beginning has an end. Mom and I had spent an entire day in NYC. Now the finale came upon us, and this awesome day was going out with a huge bang. Mom had brought the tickets to Andrea Bocelli’s Concert at Madison Square Garden (MSG) tonight. I wasn’t so surprised that Mom had planned early this year because she already basically idolized him as a die-heart classical music fan with all his collection.  Bocelli is an Italian blind tenor with a voice that everyone claims to be from heaven. I wanted to see what made everyone so crazy about him. And so I waited impatiently.

        At the beginning of the concert, two guitarists of Carisma, Magdalena Kalcheva and Carlo Corrieri, walked onto the stage. They sat down and the entire audience hushed. Without any words or warning, the duo began to play. The rich tone of their guitars vibrated through the whole stadium. Both players had modern skill and innovative techniques, each and every stroke flourished with sound and color. The first song that they played was lively, quick, and fun. It made me want to move and jump like a little child. The next piece was pretty jolly, too. But except this time, the duo slapped their guitars to give a nice beat to it. That was just an introduction to tonight’s performance. When Andrea and his orchestra came out, the crowd went nuts. However, I just waited calmly. 

        Andrea began with a magnetic song, The Dance of the Hours of La Gioconda by Ponchielli as the guitar duo did. His voice was strong, powerful, and flowing like a stream. As soon as I heard his voice, I knew this was going to be a loud concert, but I was so wrong. The next song, Di quella pira of Il Trovatore by Verdi, was peaceful and soothing. This Andrea could really sing. Just as I thought about it, he made his grand finish to his song by holding a note for … a lot of measures. The voice seemed unwavering and forceful like an army of sound. The army march stopped as the music finished. I was blown away as everyone else was in MSG. Andrea had all the talents of a tenor. The fortes were an unstoppable wave of sound. His pianos were as light as a water droplet on a clear pond. He had spectacular dynamics and really put emotion into the words he sang. His singing was just unbelievable. Even though I couldn’t understand the song in Italian, Andrea sang it as he was painting a picture. In my mind, I imagined turning the tune into the scene of music. When the song slowed down, I thought of a calmer landscape of simple things. Andrea smoothed through the slow notes in a slur, mending them together a tiny bit. When the song speeded up, Andrea sang with a beautiful and a firm voice and I pictured a dramatic scene of Mt. Everest. While Andrea was raising his voice with a full breath, let our audience have it. 

        Then I got a pleasant surprise. Another singer, Heather Headley, walked on to the stage. As soon as they next song, Vicino a te s’aquerta of Andrea Chénier by U. Giordano, began, I knew the new performer was totally not the same style with Andrea. She was a popular pop artist, lively and fast. Yet they were a great duo. 

        The next hour was a blur, partially of the great music and partially of my tiredness. When it was finally over, I realized that this was the one in a life time experience. But that’s not the case for NYC, I’ll be sure to come back some day. 

【紅霞譯文】

        凡事有開頭必有結束。在浪跡紐約城一整天之後，我和媽媽吃喝玩樂的逍遙時光也即將告終，說來好不傷心，更何況媽媽有戲票在握，今晚最後一站要去麥迪遜廣場花園欣賞安德烈·波切利的音樂演唱會。其實我沒啥大驚小怪，媽媽早在年初就已把此事搞定，因為身為古典音樂鐵杆粉絲，她老人家非常崇拜波切利，並收藏有各種磁盤唱片。波切利是一位意大利盲人男高音歌唱家，其優美的歌聲常被視作天籟之音，我倒想藉此機會好好領教一下為何人人對他如痴如狂。正因如此，我委實有點按耐不住焦急的心情。

        演唱開始時，先由 “魅力樂隊” 兩位吉他演奏家馬格達萊納和卡羅登台獻藝，他倆坐定以後，全場立刻變得鴉雀無聲。在沒有任何介紹甚至提示情況下，琴手們直接開始彈奏樂曲，豐富飽滿的音質頓時在體育館上下迴蕩，現代指法以及創新技巧又將作品的音色淋漓盡致地表現出來。第一首曲目彈奏得活潑歡快有趣，我像個孩子似的，禁不住跟着節拍跳動起來；第二首也很喜慶，但在這首作品中，兩位演藝家提高了撥弦力度，強烈的節奏感隨即被烘托出來，今晚的演出就這樣正式拉開了序幕。當波切利及其管弦樂隊與觀眾見面，全場搖旗吶喊一下子沸騰起來，唯我靜坐不動。

        波切利以《龐開利·喬康達》中極富磁性的“時辰之舞”開唱，節奏鈧鏹有力，音質洪亮飽滿，歌聲高亢圓潤。乍聽至此，我還誤以為這將是一場激揚的盛會，其實不然。下一首《威爾第·遊唱詩人》歌劇選曲“看那恐怖的火焰”濃重抒情，彰顯波切利的演唱功底，我像每一位在場的觀眾那樣完全沉浸在他的藝術世界，等幡然覺醒，歌曲已近尾聲，最後一個音符連續長音…保持了好幾個音節，別說換氣，連個磕巴也沒打，仿佛軍號聲響，集結的部隊開始闊步前進，直到樂曲結束，戰士們方才止步。波切利才華橫溢，擁有優秀男高音歌唱家所必備的潛質，強音表現得剛健豪邁，任何力量也無法阻擋；弱音處理得細膩含蓄，宛若水滴靜落池塘。他不僅能夠準確地把握各個音區的旋律變化，而且還可以將人物情感融入到唱詞中去，演技水平簡直不可思議。儘管意大利語我一句都聽不懂，但波切利卻好像是一位畫家，將演唱的劇情統統描繪出來，讓我得以發揮想象力，根據腦海里所浮現的畫面，把聽到的唱腔音符轉換成看到的舞台場景。當節奏放慢，我往往幻想簡約明亮的田園景象；波切利稍作修飾，將慢速的音符連接在一起輕柔唱出。當節奏加快，我立刻勾勒出喜瑪拉雅山的壯闊氣勢；波切利放開喉嚨，讓觀眾盡享舒展激昂的旋律。

        出人意料的，另一位歌唱家希瑟·黑德利加盟同台演唱《焦爾達諾安“德萊·謝尼埃”》中的詠嘆調，我覺得兩位算不上同路人，希瑟是著名的流行歌手，聲音活潑可愛。不過，古典與現代唱法相結合，兩者和聲搭配得蠻不錯的。

        下半場我迷迷糊糊，再好的音樂都無法驅散絲絲倦意。待音樂會結束時，我深知這是自己人生道路上不可多得的寶貴經歷。今後即使紐約沒有波切利的演唱會，我還是要故地重遊的。