Monthly Archives: September 2005

心灵的印记才是真正的绝症——Mysterious Skin, the movie

看了双性恋导演Gregg Araki在2004年的作品Mysterious Skin。这里引一段来自imdb的plot:

“The summer I was eight years old, five hours disappeared from my life. Five hours, lost, gone without a trace…” These are the words of Brian Lackey (Brady Corbet), a troubled 18 year-old, growing up in the stiflingly small town of Hutchinson, Kansas. Plagued by nightmares, Brian believes that he may have been the victim of an alien abduction. Local Neil McCormick (Joseph Gordon Levitt) however, is the ultimate beautiful outsider. With a loving but promiscuous mother (Elisabeth Shue), Neil is wise beyond his years and curious about his developing sexuality, having found what he perceived to be love from his Little League baseball coach (played by Hal Hartley veteran Bill Sage) at a very early age. Now, ten years later, Neil is a teenage hustler, nonchalant about the dangerous path his life is taking. Neil’s pursuit of love leads him to New York City, while Brian’s voyage of self discovery leads him to Neil – who helps him to unlock the dark secrets of their past. Based on the acclaimed novel by Scott Heim, “Mysterious Skin” explores the hearts and minds of two very different boys who come to find the key to their future happiness lies in the exorcism of their collective demons.

同性恋生活中的一项社会性(social)主题就是AIDS。这个不祥的词语背后带着无限的悔恨——却不知是后悔那一次不慎的放纵,还是后悔自己来到这个世界上(因为几乎所有同性依恋症都是与生俱来的)。这是一种困惑的 (confused)悔恨,在众多绝症中,也唯有AIDS才能给人以这种心灵�

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购书

我们上的理论有机化学这门课需要一本参考书,今天早上我就到购书中心去。老师推荐的教材全都找不到,估计是老一辈科学家的作品。现在的书全是拼凑之作,好教材却都不再版了。

正 如高分子物理课的老师所说的,欧洲人发明的东西,美国人将它“商业化”(Commercialize),日本人就将它再做得更精细,更便宜,中国人就只会 把它做得很烂,也很便宜。市场上劣质的产品如果太多,优质产品就不得不退出市场,慢慢就买不到优质产品了。现在的确是这样,比如,小小的一个弹簧锁,市面 上卖的都是很容易坏的劣质品,商店也只卖这种产品。这种小东西,不像电视机,时装那样,能“体现个人身份”,但身份再显赫,总有需要一个锁的时候。偌大一 个国家,买不到一个可靠的锁,不成笑话吗?再比如螺丝批,其钢杆部分应用硬质的工具钢制成。但浙江企业发明了用50号钢,再后来就直接用软质钢做。这就是 现在买到的螺丝批不耐扭力,很容易变形的原因。问题是,现在我们想买好的螺丝批也买不到了。

校园也不是什么净土,教材市场也遭受这种灾难。所以,我从大三开始,能买到或借到外文教材的,都使用外文教材自学;虽然价钱比较贵,但是优秀教材所能给人的,不仅仅是知识,而是思想。

我 找到了世图引进的一本Physical Organic Chemistry,要166元,我还是咬咬牙买了下来。同时,我还买了周公度的《化工词典》。此词典我曾在图书馆借用过,与其他词典比较,感觉比较好。 同时我还看到了王箴先生的《化工词典》已有第四版上架了。化工专业的同行们都应该拥有一本第一或第二版的绿皮化工词典,上面写着“王箴”二字。实际上,周 公度与王箴两位先生,对我这个后辈之后辈来说,都是高山仰止的大人物,我选周公度之作完全是因为价钱。对共和国老一辈的科学工作者,我都是心存敬意的。

我 也不忘到音乐部去逛逛。买了辛丰年的听乐笔记,以及一本调音师Franz Mohr的自叙——此调音师曾为Horowitz钦点的随身护琴使者,也为Rubinstein,Gilels及Gould调过琴并成为朋友。从他的叙述 中,名人与名琴间的往事在似乎超然的音乐之外,道出了毫不例外的人之常情。

晚上,我 回暨大与以前同在艺术团的两个师弟吃顿饭喝喝酒,顺便看看他们排练。其中一个弹钢琴的,说这个学期想上Chopin的Waltz No.7。这恰好是我拿手之作。我也很久没碰那个Yamaha的三角琴了。可恶的是我第一次弹得一塌糊涂,幸好重来一遍时终于恢复正常。我采用了夸张的 rubato,希望能给师弟带来点浪漫感。记得在《From Mao to Mozart》记录片的Extra中,Isaac Stern对一个四重奏的第一小提——一个十七,八岁的少年——说,要假设自己有一件很特别的事情要告诉女朋友,这不是一两句话能说清楚的感情,也许想了 一晚上,也想不好如何启齿,然而心中的感觉却又异常地清晰而强烈。要怀着这种情感去演奏。只是,我慢慢发现,rubato不是深刻的表现。虽然大多数时候 我都更容易沉浸于大量rubato所营造的浪漫中,但我也曾被内敛的,自省的风格所打动。尤其是在某些莫扎特协奏曲的慢乐章,滥用rubato只会显得媚 俗。

三角琴的感觉的确是爽。什么时候,我才有机会试试Steinway的感觉呢?

Fig. Vladimir Horowitz, Steinway Hall, New York, 1985

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Heifetz Plays Gershwin

听Heifetz Plays Gershwin,感受这位风格有如英勇战士的演奏家柔情的另一面。

Gershwin的钢琴作品比较闻名,但未见有小提琴作品。这张专辑是Heifetz从Gershwin作品改编的小提琴小品。其技术要求自然是不低的,但更引人入胜的是浪漫不羁Jazz风格,双音、大胆的滑弦不绝于耳。关于这几个改编作品的来历,请看以下引文:

In the roaring 1920s, George Gershwin, then a sleek young Broadway songwriter, was invited to the swellest New York parties. To the delight of his hosts, he’d head straight for the piano and play his songs for hours. Sometimes he’d look up and see another frequent guest, Jascha Heifetz, the stunning violin virtuoso, who himself was quite the man about town.

When Gershwin spotted Heifetz, he’d break into “Mischa, Yascha, Toscha, Sascha”, a song he and his brother Ira had written about Heifetz and three other Russian violinists (see Judaic Treasures of the Library of Congress: George Gershwin-Andrew Sun). Soon the two men became friends. They played music together, and of course Heifetz asked Gershwin to write a work for him. Gershwin, however, was preoccupied with other projects, and in 1937, two years after the premiere of Porgy and Bess, he developed a brain tumor and died at the tragically young age of 39. He never wrote a major piece for the violin, but Heifetz, as if to fill the void, made violin arrangements of five Porgy and Bess songs, along with the Three Preludes, originally for piano.

以下是专辑的曲目:

An American in Paris
Five Selections from Porgy and Bess:
-Summertime and Woman is a Sometime Thing
-My Man`s Gone Now
-It Ain`t Necessarily So
-Bess, You is My Woman Now
-Tempo di Blues
Three Preludes for Piano

许多人都喜欢说Heifetz的风格很cold,我相信其中“看”音乐之人居多。如果闭着眼音,不看Heifetz演奏时的高傲的神情,就能感到一股热。他的Sibelius,Tchaikovsky和Brahms协奏曲就是明证。若说在这些协奏曲中,Heifetz虽热情但缺乏柔情,那么在他的小品录音中就可以看到他的另一面。除了Gershwin的这几个作品外,Heifetz还改编了如Chopin的Nocturne,Mendelssohn乘着歌声的翅膀等,其浪漫可与Kreisler比美。

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