北京國際音樂節紀念本杰明?布里頓百周年誕辰演出

布里頓驚世杰作: 北京國際音樂節紀念本杰明?布里頓百周年誕辰系列演出

為紀念本杰明?布里頓百周年誕辰，北京國際音樂節向中國觀眾推出這位英國二十世紀作曲家的兩部功成名就的大型作品的首演。由著名指揮家夏爾?迪圖瓦執棒倫敦之聲合唱團、上海交響樂團及上海之春兒童合唱團演繹布里頓的《戰爭安魂曲》（10 月5 日）。在鄧肯?沃德率領下的杭州愛樂樂團與倫敦之聲合唱團，首次演繹布里頓以一個被棄鄉村漁民悲慘故事為題材的成名之作—歌劇《彼得?格賴姆斯》（交響音樂會版，10 月8 日）。

《戰爭安魂曲》

時間：2013年10月5日星期六19:30

地點：保利劇院

票價：RMB VIP / 180 / 120 / 80

這部驚世杰作于1962年的首演，也是考文垂大教堂在第二次世界大戰期間被德國炮火摧毀后的重建落成的典禮日。在北京國際音樂節上，《戰爭安魂曲》將在中國首演。

布里頓的《戰爭安魂曲》可謂二十世紀音樂史上的里程碑，若與莫扎特、勃拉姆斯、威爾第和福萊的安魂曲相提并論也毫不遜色。《戰爭安魂曲》受益于威爾第《安魂曲》戲劇效果的影響，而與勃拉姆斯將傳統祈禱書和本國方言并置的做法不同。《戰爭安魂曲》的唱詞摘自在第一次世界大戰中喪生的士兵威爾弗雷德?歐文的詩歌，充分體現了布里頓的和平主義及反戰思想。當年世界首演的三位獨唱演員也分別來自俄羅斯、英國和德國，突顯了全世界對和平的渴望。 2013年的中國首演，同樣來自俄羅斯、英國和德國籍的獨唱演員陣容更將給人留下深刻的印象。天才布里頓的神來之筆，在其作品中加入了童聲合唱—兒童純樸的聲音既是對無辜生命逝去的嘆息，也能激起人們對未來的憧憬。本場音樂會是一個絕對不容錯過的音樂歷程。

歌劇：《彼得?格賴姆斯》

時間：2013年10月8日星期二19:30

地點：保利劇院

票價：RMB VIP / 180 / 120 / 80

被譽為兩個多世紀以來最重要的英國歌劇《彼得?格賴姆斯》，創作于第二次世界大戰期間。當年，布里頓暫居于加利福尼亞州，偶然讀到英國小說家E.M.福斯特撰寫一篇關于18世紀詩人喬治?克拉布的詩詞文章。克拉布筆下那位漁夫的悲慘人生深深吸引了作曲家，令他感觸地共鳴：“個體與群體的斗爭—這是一個非常接近我內心的主題。”

歌劇于1945年在薩德勒威爾斯劇院的首演令布里頓聲名鵲起，成為了英國當時最偉大的青年作曲家。翌年，倫納德?伯恩斯坦在坦格爾伍德指揮該作品，演出大獲成功，將布里頓置于世人面前，其國際天才的形象由此確立。《彼得?格賴姆斯》的管弦樂部分，尤其是穿插在各幕之間描繪大海不同情境的著名間奏曲，不僅在歌劇院甚至在音樂廳演出也同樣受到觀眾的青睞。

“家是什么？寧靜如深海。我的家在哪兒？在平靜水面的深處。海水會吸干我的憂傷，潮汐終將涌來。” —取自蒙泰古?斯拉特所作的《彼得?格賴姆斯》腳本（第四幕）

“布里頓創作的《彼得?格賴姆斯》簡直就是國寶，是最具標志性的英國歌劇。” —《衛報》

Best of Britten

The 16th Beijing Music Festival celebrates Benjamin Britten’s centenary by introducing two of the composer’s most successful large-scale works to Chinese audiences. Charles Dutoit conducts the London Voices, the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra and the Shanghai Spring Children’s Choir in the China premiere of Britten’s War Requiem, Three nights later (Oct. 8), London Voices returns with the Hangzhou Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of conductor Duncan Ward in the China premiere of Peter Grimes, the tragic tale of an outcast village fisherman and the first of Britten’s operas to become both a critical and popular success.

A Tribute to Benjamin Britten - War Requiem, Op. 66 (China Premiere)

Time: 19:30, Saturday 5 October 2013

Venue: Poly Theater

Tickets: RMB VIP / 180 / 120 / 80

For the centenary year of Benjamin Britten, the Beijing Music Festival presents the China premiere of War Requiem, his landmark work which premiered in 1962 for the consecration of Coventry Cathedral, newly rebuilt after being destroyed by German bombs during the Second World War. A musical milestone of the 20th century and a worthy addition to the canon of Requiems (alongside those of Mozart, Brahms,Verdi and Fauré), Britten’s War Requiem is indebted to the dramatic arc of Verdi’s Requiem yet similar to Brahmsin juxtaposing traditional liturgy with vernacular texts. In Britten’s case, the poetry was written by Wilfred Owen, a soldier killed in combat during the First World War, a choice fully reflecting Britten’s own pacifist, anti-war sentiments. The three soloists in the world premiere were from Russia, Britain and Germany,emphasizing the universality of peace. For the work’s 2013 China premiere, soloists from these countries make an equally impressive lineup. One of Britten’s most inspiring strokes of genius was adding a children’s chorus—treble voices both to accentuate the innocence of lives lost and to offer hope for the future. This is an event not to be missed.

A Tribute to Benjamin Britten - Peter Grimes, Op. 33, Concert Version (China Premiere)

Time: 19:30, Tuesday 8 October 2013

Venue: Poly Theater

Tickets: RMB VIP / 180 / 120 / 80

Hailed by many as the most significant British opera in more than two centuries, Peter Grimes was conceived during the Second World War while the composer was living in California, when he came across an article by E. M. Forster on the 18thcentury poet George Crabbe. A tragic story about a sadistic fisherman named Peter Grimes became to Britten an allegory of “a subject very close to my heart—the struggle of the individual against the masses. The more vicious the society, the more vicious the individual.”

The opera’s premiere in 1945 in at the Sadler’s Wells Theatre marked Britten’s reputation as England’s greatest young composer. Its subsequent success the following year at Tanglewood under the baton of Leonard Bernstein thrust Britten into the limelight as a major international talent. Orchestral music from Peter Grimes—especially the Interludes, depicting different moods of the sea—has earned many fans not only in the opera house but also the concert hall.

（來源：英國使館文化教育處，編輯 Helen）