百聲頌自然

主持：Joanna C. Lee 編譯：辛時雨

從門外漢到歌劇通

How to become an opera expert

小瓊：

這個月，送上來自紐約的問候。我在這里觀看了一場出色的世界首演，共600位歌唱家和14位指揮家參與其中。該演出于8月11日在紐約圣約翰大教堂舉行，但我想說說更多背后的故事。

小薇：

之前你跟我說過，會到紐約去參加莫扎特音樂節。這該不會是莫扎特作品的世界首演吧？

小瓊：

近年來，莫扎特音樂節主辦方開始策劃更多元的表演項目。曾獲普利策大獎的作曲家約翰·路德·亞當斯（John Luther Adams，注意：他的名字與寫《尼克松在中國》的約翰·亞當斯很像，但他們是完全不同的兩個人！），寫了這部大規模的合唱作品——《以地球之名》（In the Name of the Earth）。

小薇：

我在網上查了一下，發現這是一個免費向公眾開放的活動。

小瓊：

基本上，亞當斯為四個大型合唱團（分別代表北方、南方、東方、西方）譜寫了這首作品，但他特意讓歌唱部分易于掌握。幾個月前，莫扎特音樂節發布了一份公開邀請函：想參加此次演出的人士只需在網上報名并出席幾次排練即可。這部作品幾乎沒有伴奏，除了演唱者手持的小響鈴之類的無音高打擊樂器。

在紐約圣約翰大教堂舉行的大規模合唱《以地球之名》現場

小薇：“

以地球之名”，這是個非常吸引人的標題。這部作品的歌詞寫了些什么呢？

小瓊：

亞當斯對這部作品的靈感來源給出了一些富有洞察力的見解。對他來說，《以地球之名》是一張描述北美洲的“音樂地圖”。他曾經居住在阿拉斯加，所以特別關注環保問題。

小薇：

因此所有的歌詞都是地名？

小瓊：

山峰和山脈；江河和冰川；森林、平原和沙漠——它們的名字都包括在歌詞里。歌詞選用的語言，都是居住在這片土地上的人們所使用的——英語、西班牙語，還有北美土著居民使用的印第安語。

小薇：

我在此次作品世界首演的照片中看到，合唱演員們在演出時會在臺上來回走動。

小瓊：

不僅是歌手們按照具體的編排設計走動（我覺得其中一個段落，他們的演出簡直制造出了聲浪！），制作方也鼓勵觀眾們在演出期間走到不同地點去聆聽。我很期待在露天聆聽這部作品——在戶外，觀眾可以更自由地走動，因為最初的計劃是在室外的中央公園舉行世界首演。8月11日當天，雷電和傾盆大雨迫使演出移師室內。我相信，在戶外的聆聽體驗會完全不一樣。

Joan:

Greetings from New York, where I attended a beautiful world premiere involving 600 singers and 14 conductors. The event took place on August 11 at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, but there’s a bigger story behind it.

Valery:

You told me earlier you were in New York to attend the Mostly Mozart Festival. This couldn’t possibly be a Mozart world premiere, could it?

Joan:

In recent years, Mostly Mozart began to embrace more diverse presentations. This massive choral work, In the Name of the Earth, was written by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer John Luther Adams(important: despite their similar names, he is different from John Adams who wrote Nixon in China!).

Valery:

I went online and realized this was a free event open to the public.

Joan:

Basically, Adams scored it for four large choirs(representing North, South, East, West) but he deliberately made the singing parts easy to master.Months before, the Mostly Mozart Festival sent out an open invitation to anyone in the community who wanted to participate and the only thing they had to do was sign up, and then attend a few rehearsals. The composition was largely unaccompanied, except for unpitched hand-held percussion instruments played by the choristers, such as small bells.

Valery:

In the Name of the Earth is such an evocative title. What text is used?

Joan:

Adams gave some truly insightful comments on his inspirations. To him, In the Name of the Earth is a “musical map” of North America. He used to live in Alaska, which made him very environmentally conscious.

Valery:

So all of the texts are names?

Joan:

Mountain peaks and ranges, rivers and glaciers,forests and plains and deserts in multiple languages used by people who’ve inhabited this land—English,Spanish and Native American.

Valery:

I see from the photos of the world premiere that choral singers also moved around.

Joan:

Not only did the singers walk according to specific choreography (at one point, I felt they formed a sonic tidal wave!), but the audience was encouraged to explore the work from all different angles. I’m looking forward to a second hearing—out in the open air where the audience can move even more freely, which was the original intention of putting this in Central Park. On August 11, thunderstorms and rains forced us to move indoors. The outdoor experience will be completely different.