PBS高端访谈:《沙滩上的爱因斯坦》古典音乐剧的复兴

 　　GWEN IFILL: Finally tonight: a genre-bending musical look into the mind of Albert Einstein.

　　Jeffrey Brown tells the story.

　　JEFFREY BROWN: It's called "Einstein on the Beach." And it's now receiving a rare revival¹ and a world tour, most recently at the Brooklyn Academy of Music.

　　But there's no beach, and it's not about Einstein, at least in any traditional storytelling sense. It's also called an opera, though, according to its composer, Philip Glass, that too is up for grabs.

　　PHILIP GLASS, Composer: You can call "Einstein" anything you want to, but the only place it fit was in an opera house.

　　JEFFREY BROWN: So, therefore, it's an opera?

　　PHILIP GLASS: Well, you know, that's not a bad definition.

　　And when I look at the work I have done and people say, which are operas and which aren't, I say, well, the ones we do in opera houses are operas. Good definition.

　　JEFFREY BROWN: So, what is "Einstein on the Beach"? It had its premiere in Europe in 1976 and then in two sold-out performances at the Metropolitan² Opera in New York.

　　It mixes experimental forms of music, swooping³ arpeggios that repeat and vary, dance, theater, and contemporary art into a long—and I mean long—nearly five hours—event. It's abstract without a story to follow, more a collage⁴ of sound, movement and images, a musician in an Einstein wig⁵ playing the violin, singers chanting numbers, clocks moving forward and backwards⁶.

　　PHILIP GLASS: The amazing thing is that what you see or almost everything you see is things that Einstein talked about. When he was talking about his theories, he talked about space and time, he talked about trains moving. He talked about clocks.

　　If you look at the stage, you're looking at the furniture of his imagination.

　　JEFFREY BROWN: Thirty-six years ago, "Einstein" thrilled many viewers and critics and infuriated others. No one had seen anything quite like it.

　　Its admirers hailed it for tearing down borders between different arts in ways that are still with us today. But for Glass and his collaborator⁷, director Robert Wilson, captured in a 1976 photograph by Robert Mapplethorpe, it was the culmination⁸ of years of working out ideas and working with other artists.

　　PHILIP GLASS: We were part of a generation of people who were furiously experimenting with collaboration⁹. It was a great thing of that generation, and still going on today.

　　What we were doing was putting together what he knew and what I knew into something that would be new. But we weren't thinking of a seismographic change of the art world at all. We were trying to get through the piece. We were trying to put it together.

　　JEFFREY BROWN: In fact, "Einstein on the Beach" began with a series of drawings done by Wilson, each imagining a scene or idea they had discussed.

　　So he did the drawings.

　　PHILIP GLASS: Yes.

　　JEFFREY BROWN: And you looked at the drawings.

　　(CROSSTALK)

　　PHILIP GLASS: And it was as simple at that.

　　JEFFREY BROWN: As simple as that?

　　PHILIP GLASS: Yes. It really was.

　　JEFFREY BROWN: Philip Glass grew up in Baltimore, where his father owned a record store with a wide-ranging collection. By age 15, young Philip was the unpaid¹⁰ classical music buyer for the store, getting a hands-on education.

　　PHILIP GLASS: My father took a liking¹¹ to modern music, because he found he had records in the store that nobody would listen to. So, he would take them home to listen to them. He didn't know anything at all about music really. He was a—ended up in this odd business.

　　JEFFREY BROWN: Right.

　　PHILIP GLASS: But he was a very smart fellow and learned a lot along the way.

　　And at one point, he took the records home and he said, well, if they don't—I have to listen to find out what's wrong with them. And if I find out—if I know what's wrong with them, I won't buy the bad ones anymore.

　　JEFFREY BROWN: So, this was contemporary classical music?

　　PHILIP GLASS: It was Shostakovich and Bartok and we would listen to it. And after a while, we—and I was his companion in listening.

　　JEFFREY BROWN: He went on to study at Juilliard and also in Europe and also worked with non-Western musicians, such as sitar virtuoso¹² and composer Ravi Shankar, before helping¹³ pioneer a musical style known as minimalism.

　　Glass prefers to describe himself as a composer of—quote—"music with repetitive structures." And that's what he's become famous for, indeed perhaps the most famous contemporary composer, captured in a well-known portrait by artist Chuck Close.

　　But it wasn't until his 40s, Glass says, that he was able to make a living at music and quit his day of driving cabs in New York. "Einstein on the Beach' first made his name, but also left him broke.

　　PHILIP GLASS: What we didn't know—and this is because our naivete was that we thought, since we had sold out the house, we didn't—couldn't possibly have lost money. What we didn't understand is that operas always lose money when they sell out of the house.

　　JEFFREY BROWN: You just didn't know.

　　PHILIP GLASS: We didn't know. We never expected to make a living at it, to be truthful¹⁴.

　　JEFFREY BROWN: You didn't?

　　PHILIP GLASS: No.

　　JEFFREY BROWN: So it just seemed impossible?

　　PHILIP GLASS: Well, it seemed unlikely.

　　JEFFREY BROWN: Unlikely perhaps, but many years later and after numerous operas, symphonies and Oscar-nominated film scores such as "The Hours," Glass is still thriving.

　　PHILIP GLASS: I'm delighted to be involved with "Einstein" again, to see the energy of it and how it connects with the younger performers. It's inspiring, actually. They're finding things in it in and ways of performing that we didn't know. It gives you a lot of hope for the future.

　　JEFFREY BROWN: In his 75th year, Philip Glass is being honored and celebrated¹⁵ in concerts around the world, and "Einstein on the Beach" is back to confound, challenge and engage audiences.

　　GWEN IFILL: The "Einstein on the Beach" tour continues this coming weekend in Berkeley, California.

1 revival   

n.复兴，复苏，（精力、活力等的）重振

参考例句：

• The period saw a great revival in the wine trade.这一时期葡萄酒业出现了很大的复苏。
• He claimed the housing market was showing signs of a revival.他指出房地产市场正出现复苏的迹象。

2 metropolitan   

adj.大城市的，大都会的

参考例句：

• Metropolitan buildings become taller than ever.大城市的建筑变得比以前更高。
• Metropolitan residents are used to fast rhythm.大都市的居民习惯于快节奏。

3 swooping   

俯冲，猛冲( swoop的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• The wind were swooping down to tease the waves. 大风猛扑到海面上戏弄着浪涛。
• And she was talking so well-swooping with swift wing this way and that. 而她却是那样健谈--一下子谈到东，一下子谈到西。

4 collage   

n.拼贴画；v.拼贴；把……创作成拼贴画

参考例句：

• A collage of coloured paper covers a table top.一副彩纸拼贴画盖在桌面上。
• He has used a mixture of mosaic,collage and felt-tip pen.他混合使用了马赛克、拼贴画和毡头笔。

5 wig   

n.假发

参考例句：

• The actress wore a black wig over her blond hair.那个女演员戴一顶黑色假发罩住自己的金黄色头发。
• He disguised himself with a wig and false beard.他用假发和假胡须来乔装。

6 backwards   

adv.往回地，向原处，倒，相反，前后倒置地

参考例句：

• He turned on the light and began to pace backwards and forwards.他打开电灯并开始走来走去。
• All the girls fell over backwards to get the party ready.姑娘们迫不及待地为聚会做准备。

7 collaborator   

n.合作者，协作者

参考例句：

• I need a collaborator to help me. 我需要个人跟我合作，帮我的忙。
• His collaborator, Hooke, was of a different opinion. 他的合作者霍克持有不同的看法。

8 culmination   

n.顶点；最高潮

参考例句：

• The space race reached its culmination in the first moon walk.太空竞争以第一次在月球行走而达到顶峰。
• It may truly be regarded as the culmination of classical Greek geometry.这确实可以看成是古典希腊几何的登峰造级之作。

9 collaboration   

n.合作，协作；勾结

参考例句：

• The two companies are working in close collaboration each other.这两家公司密切合作。
• He was shot for collaboration with the enemy.他因通敌而被枪毙了。

10 unpaid   

adj.未付款的，无报酬的

参考例句：

• Doctors work excessive unpaid overtime.医生过度加班却无报酬。
• He's doing a month's unpaid work experience with an engineering firm.他正在一家工程公司无偿工作一个月以获得工作经验。

11 liking   

n.爱好；嗜好；喜欢

参考例句：

• The word palate also means taste or liking.Palate这个词也有“口味”或“嗜好”的意思。
• I must admit I have no liking for exaggeration.我必须承认我不喜欢夸大其词。

12 virtuoso   

n.精于某种艺术或乐器的专家，行家里手

参考例句：

• He was gaining a reputation as a remarkable virtuoso.作为一位技艺非凡的大师，他声誉日隆。
• His father was a virtuoso horn player who belonged to the court orchestra.他的父亲是宫廷乐队中一个技巧精湛的圆号演奏家。

13 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

14 truthful   

adj.真实的，说实话的，诚实的

参考例句：

• You can count on him for a truthful report of the accident.你放心，他会对事故作出如实的报告的。
• I don't think you are being entirely truthful.我认为你并没全讲真话。

15 celebrated   

adj.有名的，声誉卓著的

参考例句：

• He was soon one of the most celebrated young painters in England.不久他就成了英格兰最负盛名的年轻画家之一。
• The celebrated violinist was mobbed by the audience.观众团团围住了这位著名的小提琴演奏家。