The God of Conducting Starting from Absolute Pitch

Chapter 353 Debussy, the Sea
Chen Qiu looked at everyone in the orchestra and spoke slowly.

"Everyone, gather together, we are ready to go on stage."

As soon as he finished speaking, everyone who was preparing around him put down what they were doing and gathered around Chen Qiu.

Just like when I was in China before.

Everyone looked at Chen Qiu, waiting for him to continue speaking.

Looking at Chen Qiu, Chen Qiu slowly exhaled, then spoke with a smile.

"By the way, this should be the first time for most of us in the band to perform on the European stage. How do you feel? What do you think?"

There was a commotion in the orchestra.

Ai Gu, who was not far away, scratched his head first and said with a chuckle.

"I'm sorry, Conductor Chen Qiu, this isn't my first time on a European stage. I've been on a European tour with my school since I was very young, and it was even the Vienna Golden Hall!"

"Tsk, who hasn't been to Vienna's Golden Hall? It's a performance you paid for. Forget about this kind of tour. I've also been to the Sydney Opera House."

"Uh... am I the only one going to Carnegie Hall?"

"No, how come you have all performed abroad? Aren't you all ordinary people? How come you all become so awesome in the blink of an eye?"

"What a joke! There are ordinary people who can join the Harmony Symphony Orchestra. Look at the classmates around you. Who has joined the Harmony Symphony Orchestra?"

"That's right, so it should be said that... those in the band who have never performed abroad are the minority, right?"

"..."

Everyone started talking.

Chen Qiu felt helpless after hearing this.

"The performance I'm talking about is being invited to perform, like Su Yue's performance. Who told you that you paid for the performance? Don't get me wrong!"

Everyone laughed.

Zhao Xi said with a smile.

"There shouldn't be many of them...but there are still some who go abroad to compete."

"Let's not talk about going abroad for competitions. As far as I know, it seems that Su Yue is the only one invited to perform. Who else is there?"

Everyone looked at each other, and finally saw Qin Xian, their eyes filled with anticipation.

Among the wind instruments, Su Yue is the strongest and he overwhelms everyone else.

If there is no big boss on the string music side, then Su Yue will be the only one who can rule the world and crush everyone.

Qin Xian looked at everyone's expectant eyes, couldn't help but sigh and shook his head.

"I'm sorry, I've never performed before. My previous practice was just for my own interests."

"what……"

The crowd howled.

Seeing everyone so relaxed, Chen Qiu couldn't help but smile and waved his hand.

"Okay, don't make it difficult for Qin Xian. After all, this is the first time for me to be invited to perform abroad. If it weren't for the relationship with the Haicheng Broadcasting Symphony Orchestra, I wouldn't have been able to get such an opportunity. So... this performance is more important than any previous one. This is our first stop on the European stage. It is also the first stop for us to make a name for ourselves. Do you hear me?"

"Yes! Chen Qiu is in command!"

Everyone shouted.

Such a loud noise startled the busy staff around.

They looked towards the enthusiastic Harmony Orchestra, their expressions showing a hint of helplessness and sympathy.

They all knew that ticket sales today were not that good.

I really don’t know if they can maintain the same momentum as in their previous performance under such circumstances when they go out and see the sparse audience under the stage.

People don't care about the eyes of people around them.

They just looked at Chen Qiu excitedly, looking forward to their first performance.

Under the gaze of everyone, Chen Qiu slowly exhaled and smiled at everyone.

"Okay, now that we are all ready, let's get ready to go on stage. Once on stage, just perform your best performance just like we did in our previous rehearsal. Don't worry about the stage or the audience, because for us, the only thing we care about is music!"

"So, again, that sentence..."

"Don't worry, I'll take care of everything."

Chen Qiu looked at the staff member next to him and nodded slightly to him. The staff member stepped forward and opened the stage door.

Chen Qiu turned his back to the brightly lit stage, smiled at the crowd, and raised his hands.

Everyone understood instantly.

Everything is the same as before.

Everyone high-fived Chen Qiu with great enthusiasm and walked onto the stage.

But the next second.

wow...

There was some loose applause from the audience, which almost gave the band a sense of intimidation.

Although they had anticipated that because the venue was in a less famous place, there might not be so many viewers.

But they never expected that the audience would be so small.

The opera house could hold around 2,000 people, but looking around, there were only a few hundred people sitting there.

From the looks of it, it seems like there are only slightly more people in the concert hall than before.

It is estimated that there are about 700 people.

“This number of people…”

Zhang Yu stood near his seat and was about to sit down, but his eyes caught sight of the group of people under the stage and he couldn't help but hesitate.

He originally thought that the orchestra's arrival would attract many people to listen to their concert, but he never expected that only so many people came.

This gap made him feel a little uncomfortable.

"Conductor Chen Qiu just told you to focus our attention on the music. Have you forgotten so quickly?"

Song Ge said casually.

He played with the flute in his hand, glanced at Zhang Yu beside him, shook his head slightly, looked towards the podium, and spoke very seriously.

"Just like Chen Qiu said, focus on the music, then feel the music, enjoy the music, and understand the music. Don't care how many people listen to our music. As long as our strength is strong enough, then... sooner or later, we will be famous all over the world!"

"I didn't say I was particularly disappointed, I just felt a little disappointed..."

After Zhang Yu muttered softly, he shook his head vigorously and his eyes became firm.

"But no matter what, I will definitely try my best. After all, this is our first public performance!"

"Well, come on!"

After Zhang Yu and Song Ge bumped fists with each other, they sat in their seats, waiting for the Qin string to start tuning.

After a few seconds, when everyone was seated, Qin Xian stood up and signaled the oboe not far away to play the standard note A.

After the oboe sound ended, the orchestra members immediately adjusted their voices to the standard sound of the same frequency as the oboe.

It only took a few seconds for the orchestra to complete all their adjustments and wait for Chen Qiu to appear.

At this moment, backstage.

Chen Qiu stood alone backstage, closed his eyes, and took a deep breath.

He was listening to the sound of the orchestra beside him.

Listen to the pulse of the orchestra.

Under the pulse of music, he slowly opened his eyes and nodded slightly to the staff around him.

The backstage door slowly opened.

Applause started again.

It seemed that the applause this time was even louder than before.

It was obvious that the people present seemed to identify more with Chen Qiu than with the Harmony Symphony Orchestra.

After all, in the orchestra's history, there is a record of Chen Qiu defeating China's number one conductor.

Listening to the applause ringing in his ears, Chen Qiu's face returned to that smile.

He stepped out, and amid the applause of the crowd, walked to the podium in the center of the stage. After bowing slightly to the crowd, he turned around and looked at the musicians in front of him again.

Peace returned to the concert hall.

Everyone is looking forward to Chen Qiu's performance.

At the edge of the concert hall, someone has carefully posted the songs that the Harmony Symphony Orchestra will perform next.

Achille-Claude Debussy: La Mer

Three sketches for orchestral symphonies

Haicheng Harmony Symphony Orchestra
Conductor: Qiu Chen

Debussy's Sea.

Chen Qiu closed his eyes and quickly went through the content of the music in his mind.

Debussy's three symphonic sketches "The Sea" were written between 3 and 1903. During this period, Debussy began to write at his wife Lilly's house. In 1905, he abandoned Lilly and eloped with Emma to Jersey Island, where he completed the orchestration by Emma's side.

This may sound dissolute, but for Debussy at that time, it was actually quite restrained.

At that time, Debussy was actually already very famous in Europe.

But he is famous not because of his music, but because of his romantic scandals.

He had so many romantic scandals that even people in the music industry were ashamed to be associated with him. Coupled with his musical style, his already not-so-good popularity made it even worse.

But... so what?

Just because he’s not doing well in the music industry doesn’t mean he’s unpopular with women.

Perhaps it was his rich emotional experience that inspired him to write this piece.

Of course, Debussy believed that this piece of music was created from memory.

He wrote in his memoirs: "Why is the sea washing the slopes of Burgundy? I have countless memories. These are more useful to my senses than the real scene. Because the charm of reality is generally too heavy a burden for thinking."

"Who knows the secret of music creation? The sound of the sea, the curves drawn by the sea and the sky, the breeze blowing on my face in the deep shade of the green, the singing of birds, all of these form rich and varied impressions in my mind. Suddenly, these images will expand outward from a point in memory without any reason; then music appears, which naturally contains harmony itself."

This is what this piece of work wants to express.

There's nothing particularly profound about it.

Just describing a scene.

That is to describe the sea.

It is said that at that time there was a gentleman in Paris who had never seen the sea in person. When he listened to Debussy's symphonic tone painting "The Sea", he seemed to really see the scene of the sea with waves crashing against the shore, which left an indelible impression on him.

Later, when he traveled to the seaside and saw the real sea, he felt that it was not "enough".

When he returned from his trip and was able to appreciate Debussy's symphonic sound painting "The Sea" again, he regained his original feeling. At this time, he couldn't help but exclaimed: "Oh! This is the sea!"

This may be what Debussy wanted to express most in his music.

"The Sea"!
As a representative of Impressionism, even though Debussy never acknowledged Impressionism, he still had that hazy feeling.

After all, the classical music world at the time was in tatters due to Wagner's new musical aesthetics, and there was no way forward for music. One could either add to the understanding of Wagner, or engage in some so-called neo-classicism, re-pick up the previous musical logic and put old wine in new bottles.

Only a handful of people were able to bypass the musical disaster caused by Wagner and re-establish a new musical logic.

Therefore, in this piece of work, you actually need to give a little "new" feeling.

The intrinsic connection between the three movements with different contents together constitutes a complete work.

The scenery of the "sea" and its dynamic character are expressed extremely strongly through the different vocal ranges of the entire orchestra, showing the colors of various pictures in the "sea".

Let the music give people a complete impression of "sea" and fantasy of the sea in time and space.

Novel harmony, short melody, rich timbre, and free development.

Combine it all.

Music is no longer just something you listen to with your ears.

Instead, the music needs to be turned into a painting.

An impressionist painting.

By utilizing synaesthesia, people’s thinking is no longer limited to hearing, but can be extended to vision and smell.

Only in this way can it be considered a perfect performance.

After everything passed through Chen Qiu's mind, Chen Qiu slowly exhaled and looked at Ai Gu not far away.

He has rehearsed this piece with the orchestra countless times, and now it is time to test the results of the performance.

Chen Qiu raised the baton in his hand slightly, looked at the Ai drum not far away, and raised it slightly.

hum.

The drumstick in Ai's drummer's hand gently landed on the drum.

The sound is not outstanding.

If you don't pay attention, you may even ignore the sound of the timpani.

However, the moment this sound came out, it radiated from the center of the stage to the surroundings like ripples on the sea.

Radiate throughout the concert hall.

Chen Qiu's ears moved slightly, and after hearing the radiation of the music, he soon heard the echo of music not far away.

He raised his hand slightly and pointed to the harp on the other side, which were some people in the color instrument group, and raised his hand slightly towards them.

hum.

The sound of the harp is combined with the sound of the timpani, blending together.

An indescribable feeling rose from the stage.

At this moment, almost everyone seemed to see the sea.

The sea under the night sky.

Shrouded in darkness, hidden in darkness, the sea is beyond your reach.

You can only hear through your ears.

Listen to the faint sound of the tide.

Feel the flow of music.

This feeling?

Many audience members who did not understand the Harmony Symphony Orchestra seemed to gradually feel a sense of vitality at this moment.

They looked at everything on the stage with great surprise, finding it a little hard to believe what they were hearing.

this is……

Debussy's sea?

this is……

China's symphony orchestra?
Chen Qiu turned the baton in his hand.

The strings not far away trembled slowly.

The light slowly emerged from their strings and flashed away.

This is a sign that heaven is bright.

The color of the tone also gradually changes from cold to warm.

But this warm color did not last long.

After just a few seconds, the warmth turned back into cold.

The light seemed to be swallowed up by the sea.

The transition between light and dark in the music is so rapid.

The power of the sea is gradually rising.

Accompanied by the gradual rise of light.

The power of the sea is also growing.

It is no longer like before, just existing in the darkness.

Instead, he showed his strength to everyone.

The tone is perfect.

This tone is really perfect!
Hubble's originally nonchalant expression, when he heard this part, he couldn't help but change from leaning on the music to sitting up.

This music is worth him sitting up and listening carefully.

This music is very interesting.

You can also hear it in the details of the music.

The sun's rays roll over the sea.

He couldn't help but take out the performance list in his hand, and looking at the contents on it, a hint of hesitation appeared in his eyes.

Is what I am hearing now really a C-level symphony orchestra?
A symphony orchestra of just 50 people?
Compared with yesterday's symphony orchestra, this symphony orchestra is probably only slightly inferior in terms of personnel configuration...

However, the overall strength of the orchestra completely crushed the symphony orchestra he heard yesterday.

This symphony orchestra...

Is it really composed of a group of students?

It's not like he hasn't heard of a symphony orchestra composed of students.

He listened to several completely different student symphony orchestras, each of which had its own strengths.

But one thing that is common among them is that those student symphony orchestras are relatively immature.

Perhaps because they only produce one work every six months, and because they all have their own majors, their performances are very complete, but lack a lot of content in their expressions.

Compared with the music processing of a professional orchestra, it lacks a lot of content, that is, some things that the orchestra itself possesses.

That is, it is not professional enough.

And what about the current student symphony orchestra?
You won't hear anything studenty in the music of this symphony orchestra.

You can totally treat this symphony orchestra as a professional symphony orchestra.

Not only that.

The strength of this symphony orchestra is terrifying.

Their strength is even stronger than some ordinary professional symphony orchestras.

not far away.

The sound of wind instruments also emerged at this time.

They blew their trumpets loudly.

The music alternates between warm and cool tones.

A red sun gradually emerged from the sea level.

And climb towards the sky.

This is……

The red sun rises over the sea!
Hubble couldn't help swallowing his saliva, and his originally relaxed sitting posture became more serious at this moment.

There was no assistance and no reminders.

Just rely on music.

At this moment, a picture seemed to appear in front of everyone.

This is……

What kind of strength?

(End of this chapter)