西方乐评人如何评论中国音乐?
音乐评论家（Music Critic）在国内还属于较新兴行业，虽然有音乐学专业人士，但还没有真正意义上的音乐评论家。通常我们会看到音乐会前期由娱乐记者写的“宣传介绍”文章，而音乐会后很少在报刊中读到对音乐作品创作和表演艺术的评论(review)。有些专业文章往往是作为研究课题在业内的专业音乐期刊中发表，往往是半年甚至一年后才可以读到迟来的文章。
音乐评论人，在欧美国家是音乐领域中非常重要的一部分。各大报刊一般都有艺术栏目，包括音乐、舞蹈、戏剧、美术等专栏的专职评论人。他们有自己写作风格，音乐会的第二天就见报，文字篇幅不会太大，没有“讨好”的评价，而是一针见血地对音乐作品或演奏艺术本身直接表达个人观点，有时甚至有点评头论足的“讨厌”。。。无论你是多大的腕儿，大众往往会读了评论而决定是否买票进音乐厅去欣赏你的艺术。
以下是加拿大《温哥华太阳报》在11月22日一场以中国音乐为主题的评论文章。简短明了，不啰嗦太多的政治术语，直入音乐会内容，清晰地读到乐评人的观点。——编者
“中华风韵”为温哥华交响乐团带来富有诗意的作品集锦
乐评人：David Gordon Duke
日期：2022年11月23日
周二晚上，在奥芬音乐厅，温哥华交响乐团举办了一场名为 【印象中国：东西方交响音乐会】（编者注：中华风韵项目）的特别节目，由生于上海的陈彤以充满活力和热情的方式指挥了中国和西方作曲家的音乐作品集锦。
音乐会以方鸣（Fang Ming）的歌剧《勇士》（2016 年曾在温哥华上演）的序曲，一段富有诗意的开场，巧妙地选择了管弦乐的色彩，然后是带有大量铜管乐和打击乐的轻快的快节奏片段。
接下来是让·库特哈德（Jean Coulthard） 的介绍和来自加拿大多元文化的 3 首民歌。这件作品应该盖上“温哥华交响乐团版权”的字样；它是 1970 年代为当时乐团计划去中国巡演而创作，由于政治原因阻碍了该项目，但库特哈德关于多元文化民间素材的印象派音乐已成为加拿大经典，尤其是在这个缩编的管弦乐队版本中 （特说明：我曾帮助库特哈德将这首曲子改编为室内管弦乐队）。陈指挥对这种柔和、令人回味的音乐表现出了一种自然的感觉。
赵季平的《第二琵琶协奏曲》为上半场节目画上了圆满的句号，成为当晚的音乐会亮点。正如许多作曲家所发现的那样，将中国传统乐器与西方管弦乐队结合起来尤其棘手。以许多成功的电影配乐而闻名的赵先生，清楚地知道他想要什么，采用略微的扩音（编者：琵琶使用麦克风）并将琵琶的声音有效地结合起来，与管弦乐背景相得益彰，为独奏者带来愉快的补充。
协奏曲采用单一乐章，并结合了大量不同的音乐材料，却不显得零散或纯粹插曲式。独奏家吴蛮的演奏非常出色，无比自信，适时炫耀，始终具有深刻的音乐性。这首作品和演奏都应该为温哥华交响乐团常规演奏的大师曲目（Masterworks）增光添彩。在这个特别的夜晚，对于当晚观众来说，这是一项令人印象深刻的成就。
音乐会下半场的主要作品是陈钢和何占豪创作于50年代后期的《梁祝》小提琴协奏曲。这是一首生硬地融合了老派的精湛技艺和一系列不同（故事）片段的叙事曲，这首作品从那个年代以来一直享有良好的认可。如果将其视为真正意义上的协奏曲有点牵强，但它是一首无可争议的取悦观众的作品。由侯伊嘉 (Yi-Jia Susanne Hou) 以堪称典范的风格演绎。
虽然陈彤指挥的大部分作品都有庄重的气氛，但结局却更加轻松，当然也更加精力充沛。出色的男低音田浩姜演唱了莫扎特，随后是他与女高音拉克尔·苏亚雷斯·格伦共同演释了（百老汇作曲家）安德鲁·劳埃德·韦伯的二重唱，并带领观众即兴合唱《希望的田野上》。
英文原文如下：
Image China delivers a poetic compositional sampling for VSO
The concert sampled music by Chinese and western composers, conducted with verve and enthusiasm by Shanghai-born Tong Chen.
Author of the article:
David Gordon Duke
Publishing date:
Nov 23, 2022
Pipa virtuoso Wu Man. PHOTO BY VSO
At the Orpheum on Tuesday night the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra offered a one-off program titled Image China: East/West Symphonic Concert, which sampled music by Chinese and western composers, conducted with verve and enhusiasm by Shanghai-born Tong Chen.
In lieu of an overture, the program began with an excerpt from Fang Ming’s opera Warriors (seen here in 2016): a poetic introduction with adroitly chosen orchestral colours, followed by a brash up-tempo segment with lots of brass and percussion.
Tong Chen conducted with verve and enthusiasm. PHOTO BY VSO
Next up was Jean Coulthard's Introduction and 3 Folk Songs from Canada Mosaic. This piece might as well be stamped "Property of the VSO"; it was created back in the 1970s for a proposed VSO tour of China. Political change nixed the project, but Coulthard's impressionistic essay on multicultural folk materials has become a Canadian classic, especially in this version for reduced orchestra.(Full disclosure:back in the day I helped Coulthard adapt the piece for chamber orchestra.) Conductor Chen showed an instinctive feel for this gentle, evocative music.
Zhao Jiping's Second Pipa Concerto, which rounded out the first half of the program, proved the musical highlight of the evening. As many composers have discovered, combining traditional Chinese instruments with western orchestra is especially tricky. Zhao, best known for his many successful film scores, knew exactly what he wanted, and effectively integrated the sound of the pipa, slightly amplified, with orchestral backdrops that delightfully complemented the soloist.
The Concerto is cast in a single movement and combines a wealth of different materials without seeming patchy or purely episodic. Soloist Wu Man's performance was nothing short of remarkable: supremely confident, showy when appropriate, always profoundly musical. Both the piece and the performance should grace a regular VSO Masterworks program; this was an achievement far too impressive for a targeted audience on a single special evening.
The main work on the program's second half was the Butterfly Lovers Violin Concerto, created in the late 1950s by Chen Gang and He Zhanhao. An uneasy blend of old-school virtuosity with a narrative sequence of disparate moments, it has enjoyed a good run ever since. To consider it a concerto in the accepted sense of the word is a bit of a stretch; but it is an undisputed crowd pleaser, and was played with exemplary style by Yi-Jia Susanne Hou.
While most of Chen's program had a formal air, the finale was more relaxed and certainly more exuberant. The excellent bass Hao Jiang Tian sang Mozart, followed by a duet by Andrew Lloyd Webber with soprano Raquel Suarez Groen, and led the audience in an impromptu sing-along in On the Field of Hope.
