becoming

創作是很奇妙的事情。

你寫了一首歌，樂譜上會寫上「作曲」是你。某某填了歌詞，那「填詞」就是他／她。但為何我們要標榜「主唱」者是誰？你寫了一本書，作者是你，說明了就是。你看過讀書要註明「朗讀」者是誰嗎？

「作曲」是創作，「填詞」是創作， 「主唱」是否創作？

「作者」是創作，「讀者」是否創作？

「畫家」是創作，「看畫」的又是否創作？

是否因為音樂需要發聲，所以分了「演繹」與「聽眾」？那麼「演繹」是創作，「聽眾」就不是？

如此，文字不發聲，所以不需要「演繹」 ，或者說，文字的「演繹」者就是「讀者」，所以「演繹」者就是（或不是？）創作？

還是所有都是創作，我們只是要標榜靚仔靚女來速銷？

創作是很奇妙的事情。

The Freesound Project

The Freesound Project aims to create a huge collaborative database of audio snippets, samples, recordings, bleeps, … released under the Creative Commons Sampling Plus License. The Freesound Project provides new and interesting ways of accessing these samples, allowing users to

• browse the sounds in new ways using keywords, a "sounds-like" type of browsing and more
• up and download sounds to and from the database, under the same creative commons license
• interact with fellow sound-artists!

Today marks the 250th birthday of 18th-century composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

Jim has been blogging on Mozart for a while, I think he should be voted as the #1 "living" [see Jim’s comment] fan of Mozart in blogdom.

As for me, I will be listening to his K.626 throughout the day to remember this great composer. By the way, Requiem is the second piece of music which I own most recordings on. The first remains to be J.S. Bach’s Goldberg Variations.

So which recording of K.626 am I listening right now? It is the 1977’s recording performed by ASMF with N. Marriner conudcting. In my opinion, this is the best (Beyer’s edition) among them all. ASMF & Marriner are perfect! 

And no matter how historically inaccurate is Amadeus, it is still one of my favorite movies of all times! 

And how could I end this post without a quote from Barth:

"….because [Mozart] had heard, and causes those who have ears to hear, even today, what we shall not see until the end of time—the whole context of Providence." — Karl Barth

My cousin-in-law Agnes Man just released her 2nd Christian album, pathétique, check it out!

在安生安太的極力推介下，我也學人聽FIR。在「悶到發瘟」的華語樂壇中，這總算一個忽然的驚喜。可以說他們大致上擺脫了「我愛你—你不愛我—不過能恨你也是我的福氣」那種白痴式的流行曲戀愛邏輯。信息空間寬了許多，讓聽眾遇上他們個人以外的世界。「應許之地」是一個例子：

應許之地

多事之秋　耶路撒冷的天空
破碎的夢　應許之地　消失中
你神聖的外表之中有多少無奈
這純粹的仇恨啊　你想證明的是什麼

我不應該　對你有任何遐想
就任憑你　無止無盡地訴說
You used to be like an angel but now a devil
多殘酷的笑話　我逃離我冷靜不下來

就讓仇恨隨風　帶走傷　帶走痛
讓眼淚不再流　為生命找個出口
當血染紅天空　卻用愛　去承受
願天使從廢墟灰飛淹沒中　把愛降落

但比較可惜的是，除了歌詞專注於對世界那種「無奈」和「無助」的悲涼外，就只有一廂情願的「盼望」—望「仇恨隨風」、望天使「把愛降落」。這是叫人停止前行的「盼望」，是靜止的、等待式的「盼望」，未能跳出八十年代「 明天會更好」所設的框框。 但從另一個角度看，在現今的樂壇，你能找到多少個可以寫出這樣的旋律和這樣的歌詞的音樂人？ 「應許之地」還未走到 — 但不遠矣。

I start listening more Bach since ’93, all because of Glenn Gould‘s ’55 & ’81 recordings of Goldberg Variations. Many have argued about the tempo and techniques Gould employed (apart from his eccentricity), but it is through these recordings that bring me in awe to the mathematical beauty and grand structure of Bach’s music, and encourage me to dare to question orthodoxies.

Other than Gould’s version, I have also listened to Hewitt’s and Perahia’s recordings. I think Perahia’s recent recording is the finest on piano since Gould’s. For Hewitt’s, it is clean and delightful. I always compare it to listening Mitsuko Uchida’s Mozart Sonata. While it works for Mozart, I personally don’t prefer such style on Bach’s.

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Recent BBC’s programme “Discovering Music” on Goldberg Variations

[updated – photos added]
Mom and Dad, happy 40th anniversary!
May the Lord bless you always. You are such an inspiration to us all.

Slide presentations (IE only):
1) Memories
2) Lyrics

Song written by your daughters:
給爸媽—因你燃亮了我們

[audio:Cc Parents 40th Anniversary/you_lighted_up_our_lives.mp3]

Arvo Pärt (1935-)

Here are some audio samples from Saint Paul Sunday.

In particular, give Spiegel im Spiegel (8:48 mins.) a try. You will understand why I like his music.
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[Taken from Musiclog website]

Born in Paide, Estonia in 1935, Pärt’s musical studies began in 1954 at the Tallinn Music Middle School, interrupted less than a year later while he fulfilled his National Service obligation as oboist and side-drummer in an army band. He returned to Middle School for a year before advancing to the Tallinn Conservatory in 1957 where his composition teacher was Professor Heino Eller. Pärt started work as a recording engineer with Estonian Radio, wrote music for the stage and received numerous commisions for film scores so that, by the time he graduated from the Conservatory in 1963, he could already be considered a professional composer. A year before leaving, he won first prize in the All-Union Young Composers’ Competition for a children’s cantata, Our Garden, and an oratorio, Stride of The World. [Read more]