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. 

【红霞译文】

        凡事有开头必有结束。在浪迹纽约城一整天之后，我和妈妈吃喝玩乐的逍遥时光也即将告终，说来好不伤心，更何况妈妈有戏票在握，今晚最后一站要去麦迪逊广场花园欣赏安德烈·波切利的音乐演唱会。其实我没啥大惊小怪，妈妈早在年初就已把此事搞定，因为身为古典音乐铁杆粉丝，她老人家非常崇拜波切利，并收藏有各种磁盘唱片。波切利是一位意大利盲人男高音歌唱家，其优美的歌声常被视作天籁之音，我倒想借此机会好好领教一下为何人人对他如痴如狂。正因如此，我委实有点按耐不住焦急的心情。

        演唱开始时，先由 “魅力乐队” 两位吉他演奏家马格达莱纳和卡罗登台献艺，他俩坐定以后，全场立刻变得鸦雀无声。在没有任何介绍甚至提示情况下，琴手们直接开始弹奏乐曲，丰富饱满的音质顿时在体育馆上下回荡，现代指法以及创新技巧又将作品的音色淋漓尽致地表现出来。第一首曲目弹奏得活泼欢快有趣，我像个孩子似的，禁不住跟着节拍跳动起来；第二首也很喜庆，但在这首作品中，两位演艺家提高了拨弦力度，强烈的节奏感随即被烘托出来，今晚的演出就这样正式拉开了序幕。当波切利及其管弦乐队与观众见面，全场摇旗呐喊一下子沸腾起来，唯我静坐不动。

        波切利以《庞开利·乔康达》中极富磁性的“时辰之舞”开唱，节奏钪镪有力，音质洪亮饱满，歌声高亢圆润。乍听至此，我还误以为这将是一场激扬的盛会，其实不然。下一首《威尔第·遊唱詩人》歌剧选曲“看那恐怖的火焰”浓重抒情，彰显波切利的演唱功底，我像每一位在场的观众那样完全沉浸在他的艺术世界，等幡然觉醒，歌曲已近尾声，最后一个音符连续长音…保持了好几个音节，别说换气，连个磕巴也没打，仿佛军号声响，集结的部队开始阔步前进，直到乐曲结束，战士们方才止步。波切利才华横溢，拥有优秀男高音歌唱家所必备的潜质，强音表现得刚健豪迈，任何力量也无法阻挡；弱音处理得细腻含蓄，宛若水滴静落池塘。他不仅能够准确地把握各个音区的旋律变化，而且还可以将人物情感融入到唱词中去，演技水平简直不可思议。尽管意大利语我一句都听不懂，但波切利却好像是一位画家，将演唱的剧情统统描绘出来，让我得以发挥想象力，根据脑海里所浮现的画面，把听到的唱腔音符转换成看到的舞台场景。当节奏放慢，我往往幻想简约明亮的田园景象；波切利稍作修饰，将慢速的音符连接在一起轻柔唱出。当节奏加快，我立刻勾勒出喜玛拉雅山的壮阔气势；波切利放开喉咙，让观众尽享舒展激昂的旋律。

        出人意料的，另一位歌唱家希瑟·黑德利加盟同台演唱《焦尔达诺安“德莱·谢尼埃”》中的咏叹调，我觉得两位算不上同路人，希瑟是著名的流行歌手，声音活泼可爱。不过，古典与现代唱法相结合，两者和声搭配得蛮不错的。

        下半场我迷迷糊糊，再好的音乐都无法驱散丝丝倦意。待音乐会结束时，我深知这是自己人生道路上不可多得的宝贵经历。今后即使纽约没有波切利的演唱会，我还是要故地重游的。