华语声乐艺术的大跃进

司马勤(Ken Smith) 李正欣

五年前，田浩江这位北京出生的歌剧人，开创了一个大胆的声乐项目。动机很简单：如果可以吸引一班来自全球不同肤色的歌唱家，学习中国声乐作品，中国青年歌唱家就可以跟俄罗斯或者东欧各国看齐，在世界歌剧舞台上也可以扬中华之雄威。他设计的青年歌唱家训练计划，参照了在意大利教导其他族裔歌唱家学习本土歌剧的课程。这项计划名为“我唱！北京”，从此，这个项目让不少金发碧眼的歌唱家们有机会全身心投入到学习中国语言及文化的氛围中来。首届成果展示音乐会在国家大剧院举行。

一开始，这个计划受到多方的重视，尤其在国外。只可惜，我没有机会参加这个项目的首次演出——其实，该项目举办的头两年，我都无法抽空到场去看个究竟。到了我真的碰上“我唱”的时候，大家都不在北京而到了纽约。在2013年年初，“我唱”租用了林肯中心埃里斯-图里音乐厅（Alice Tully Hall）举行音乐会。那一年的年底，田浩江在卡内基音乐厅的桑科尔音乐厅（Zankel Hall）为“我唱”筹款举行了演出。在台上，跟他在一起演唱的，正是参与过训练项目的年轻歌唱家。

那两场演出都令我觉得稍有不足之处。我指的不是制作质量，虽然那些英语投影字幕看起来确实只有业余水平。田浩江创办“我唱”项目的原意，确实令人敬佩。作为一个观众，我认为在节目安排上显得有些局限。创办计划的初衷是为了推广中国歌剧，但中国与俄国不一样。俄国的歌剧艺术（我们也可以套用意大利这个国家）尽管面对政治监管，但都仍然蓬勃发展着。在中国，歌剧经常被政治所凌驾，塑造出来的艺术作品受到了其他因素的影响。欧洲的审查员可能在歌剧完成之后下禁令不让演出。但在中国，从一开始创作，就已经逃不过政治上的考虑。

以上所寓意的，是中国歌剧原创剧目——当然跟传统中国戏曲没有直接关系——不只是几位金头发的歌唱家就可以引进西方，让它发扬光大的。它所需要的，是谨慎的艺术策划，让观众可以洞察一丝丝文化上相同之处，同样明白其中风格差异的所在。身为乐评人，我不介意2013年观看过那两场美中不足的“我唱”演出。让我来做个譬喻：家父经常与亲戚一起钓鱼。倘若他钓上了一条小鱼的话，会把小鱼放回水中，希望过段时日，放生后的小东西会变成大鱼，那么收获不是更大吗？

本年7月份，我终于有机会观看一场“我唱”的演出了，而我观察到重大的改变——首先，训练基地从北京南移至苏州；再者，从前只举行一场大型的“汇报式”压轴演出，现在却在周边的城市举行一连串的小型音乐会。制作质量提高了不少，挑选的曲目更精致了——大家肯定吸取了过去几年的成功经验——而参与训练计划的声乐家，无论男女，他们的资质也比几年前提高了。除了“我唱”指定的语言与演唱风格的基本训练以外，课程更添加了动作与演技进修。演出编排的曲目更用上了我们西方所熟知的“剧作文本”（dramaturgy）作为指导，一气呵成。

演出的标题是“唱响上海：国际青年歌唱家艺术节”（iSING！ International Young Artists Festival），安排在上海夏季音乐节闭幕式的下半场。上海夏季音乐节创办的时候，是为了提供精彩的户外演出，所以英语副标题包括了“夏天的空气”（Summer Air）这些字眼。自从上海交响乐团音乐厅去年开始启用后，夏季音乐节顺理成章也落户音乐厅。尽管音乐厅已经启用了一年，音效还需要进一步调整，尤其当乐团邀请来歌唱家时：他们的嗓子有时会被乐团完全盖过去。这一次的成功演出应该归功于上海交响乐团驻团指挥张洁敏。大部分的时候，她都把控着器乐与声乐的平衡。

演出中真正的成功之处，在于曲目的编排。一直以来，“唱晌”的某些歌曲，好像只是为了带给观众一点惊喜、一点娱乐。华人观众——就算在纽约的演出，大部分观众也都是华人——听到《白毛女》的每一句都笑场，全场鼓掌。在我的记忆中，这种现象有点像西方人从前看小狗玩把戏一样。虽然上海举行的“唱响”还保留了一些“小狗玩把戏”，可是，每一个环节都显得充实，有内涵了。马可作词作曲的秧歌剧《夫妻识字》，由波兰裔女高音阿历山德拉.斯密特（ Aleksandra Szmyd）与美国男高音阿龙·斯卡贝里（ Aaron Scarberry）演唱，他们的演出效果特别吸引人，因为演唱的两个人真的正在学习中文。

独唱环节都特意留给了曾经参加过《唱响》的、更富经验的年轻歌唱家：女高音朱丽叶（Juliet Petrus）演唱由胡廷江改编的哈萨克民歌《玛依拉变奏曲》、王云鹏演绎“普罗旺斯的陆地和海洋”（选自《茶花女》）。本届的学员则参与各种重唱，包括多尼采蒂《拉美摩尔的露契亚》与普契尼《燕子》的选段。各位女歌唱家也都穿上了华美的旗袍，演唱一些老上海流行歌曲。这场演出的最后一个环节，指挥台上换上了上海交响乐团音乐总监余隆。他带领众人演出雷哈尔《风流寡妇》的重唱以及压轴的大合唱《从茉莉花到图兰朵》（这首改编作品合并了这两个家喻户晓的旋律）。

重唱环节都包含了舞台造型——很多中国歌曲合有比较难掌握的“念白”部分——让站在乐团前面的年轻演员，更可以专注发音与歌唱技巧。我认为，同样重要的，是导演那些细致的铺排，让演员与观众都看得出中国与西方曲目的对比与共同之处。国际青年歌唱家艺术节除了请来专业的歌剧艺术指导、声乐老师、语音指导以外，更邀请了歌剧导演马修·巴克莱（Matthew Barclay）与编舞乔安娜-普格里西（JohannaPuglisi）参与。这两位编导编舞，让演员将舞台顿时变成一个富有戏剧性的空间。舞台呈现效果——比如说，“来自远方的一封信”（罗西尼《寒斯之旅》中的14人大重唱）演变成众人忙着用手机“自拍”的逗人发笑、滑稽场面——简直就是神来之笔。

***

好了，“唱晌”不再是一个鱼苗了（还记得我说过家父钓鱼的经验吗？），未来的方向如何？我刚才也提过，要把中国原创歌剧引进到西方，这是有困难的。“唱响”的毕业生们或者可以在当代新歌剧这个范畴找到出路，因为不少当代中国歌剧都有机会在国外巡演。去年由圣达菲歌剧院制作的<中山-逸仙》，主要阵容中就只有两位华人。

另一个前景更好的方向——到现在为止，“唱晌”还没有涉足这个范畴——是中国的艺术歌曲。我当然明白其中的原因，因为其一，绝大部分的歌剧演员，对于艺术歌曲都是避而远之的（田浩江在欧美的歌唱指导们也曾劝阻他别再钻研舒伯特的歌曲）；其二，就算是中国的声乐家们，只有少数会愿意花时间在艺术歌曲上。今天活跃在乐坛的年轻歌唱家之中，只有沈洋把精力放在中国艺术歌曲上了。他整理并研究了中国艺术歌曲的系统，他的敬业精神，就像德国歌唱家们对待德国艺术歌曲一样。

有这样一个现象实为可惜。在过去的一个世纪里，中国艺术歌曲曾代表了两个宏大文化转移的交汇点——西方古典音乐在中国的出现以及在中国致力于发展自己独有的音乐语言的趋势。情况一直以来都不看好——也可能是歌唱家不愿意接触这些曲目的原因——因为每十年八年，政治运动与社会风气的变更就会影响到音乐作品演出的机会。

可是，对于歌唱家来说（这也是吸引作曲家的原因），演出中国歌曲是一件极其容易的事情。无需化妆，也不用穿上什么戏服。制作费用的高与低，完全视乎艺术家的意愿。某些不愿意坐在歌剧院两个小时看歌剧的人，也不会介意聆听一首只有两分钟的歌曲。

真奇怪，为什么我第一次遇上一张精心策划的中国艺术歌曲录音，竟然来自一位金发美国女高音？朱丽叶，她现居芝加哥，曾两度参与“我唱”项目，刚录制了名为《千里之外》的唱片。唱片的曲目包括中国艺术歌曲与运用英译中国诗词的美国作品，连接了“千里之外”的黄自、丁善德、罗麦朔，以及约翰·奥登·卡彭特（John Alden Carpenter）的《水彩画》和约翰·杜克（John Duke）的《四首中国情诗》。

更重要的一个问题：这张唱片怎么样？它真的好吗？朱丽叶是一位歌剧演员，所以她的思维着重戏剧性而不是美妙的嗓音。录音咬字不算完全精准，因为推动她的，是要传达动人的感情（如果有人要批评她的中文发音，我可以告诉你，她唱英文歌曲的咬字功夫也差不多）。可是，这张唱片的选曲真的好极了，整体录音与她的表现都是很出效果的。

朱丽叶从“我唱”懂得了最重要的一课，是在唱片里提供充分的背景资料。除了提供每一位作曲家的简历以外，她那设计精美的唱片小册子里还包含了中英文唱词翻译（她也花了时间，找出卡彭特与杜克选用那些中国诗词的原始材料）。这张唱片是朱丽叶自己策划的，她计划于11月份在芝加哥发行。

在我正准备把稿子交给编辑之际，听说女高音张立萍正在筹备一张中国艺术歌曲专辑（她的德国艺术歌曲录音，去年由Decca唱片公司发行）。我也听说，Decca唱片的小册子将不会提供翻译文字。依据张立萍那张德国艺术歌曲唱片的封面设计来说，我不期待中国艺术歌曲的平面设计会有什么突破。说真的，一位美国年轻歌唱家自己策划的唱片录音竟然要比Decca公司的出品要更好，这家国际唱片公司的中国领导应该觉得惭愧。

Five years ago， the Beijing-born bass Tian Haojiang launched a bold initiative that stemmed from more or less a single insight： If enough non-Chinese singers could learn his native repertory， maybe China could rival Russia and Eastern Europe on the world opera stage. Tian's vocal program， modeled largely after opera courses in Italy for non-ltalians， was dubbed "I Sing Beijing，" immersing some rather blond singers in Chinese language and culture and culminating in a musical program at the National Centre for the Performing Arts.

The program got plenty of initial attention， particularly outside China， but I couldn't make that inaugural season-or indeed any of their events for a couple of years. By the time I did catch up with "I Sing" it was not in Beijing but New York， when Tian & Co. rented Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center in early 2013. Later that year， Tian performed an "I Sing" benefit recital at Carnegie Hall's Zankel Hall， again surrounded on stage by singing alumnae of'the program.

My problem at the time wasn't the production values， though the projected English translations at times looked pretty amateurish. It certainly wasn't the fundamental idea. Rather， I felt the program's biggest limitation was in repertory. Contrary to Tian's initial thesis， the Chinese stage is not like Russia's. Opera in Russia （or Italy， for that matter） thrived in spite of political restrictions. In China， it was shaped by them. European censors might forbid something after it was written. In China， shows were expressly written to fit political dictates from above.

All of' this means that the Chinese operatic repertory needs more than just a few blond singers to bring it to the West. It needs careful curation， a thoughtful way of finding cultural similarities and explaining the differences. So as a critic， I ended up treating these early "I Sing" events much like my father used to treat small fish， pulling them off the line and throwing them back in hopes that they'll grow bigger.

In July， I finally got around to another "I Sing" event， and the changes were strikingly profound-first of all， a shift from Beijing to Suzhou and a change from a single high-profile perf'ormance to a series of smaller showcases on the road. There were also better production values， a more refined music selection and--probably because of their success in previous years-a better caliber of singers involved. Language and stylistic training， which was the bedrock of "I Sing" from the beginning， was now enhanced by movement and dramatic coaching， along with a sense of programming approaching what in the West we would call "dramaturgy."

The show I saw--newly rebranded the "iSING！ International Young Artists Festival"--was the closing event of the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra's annual series Music in the Summer Air. No longer literally "in the summer air，" MISA has moved into the Shanghai Symphony orchestra's the new， highly resonant concert hall， which presents a few problems of its own. Even after a full season learning to handle the venue's aggressive acoustics， the Shanghai Symphony still constantly threatens to run roughshod over singers. The most rudimentary success of the MISA performance was that the orchestra's resident conductor Jiemin Zhang kept firm control and a healthy sonic balance most of the time.

The real success， though， was more on a programmatic level. From its inauguration， "I Sing" had played up its shock value. Chinese audiences-and even in New York， audiences were predominantly Chinese-laughed uproariously after nearly every line， reacting to Westerners performing The White-llaired Girl much as they would applaud a singing dog. The new "iSING，" still had some residual "Singing Dog"syndrome， but for the most part each segment stood on its own. The humor in Ma Ke's duet "Couple Learning to Read，" performed by the Polish soprano Aleksandra Szmyd and the American tenor Aaron Scarberry， took on a whole new level of charm when performed by two singers who were actually learning the language.

Big solo moments were reserved for returning alumnae. While soprano Juliet Petrus sang Mayila Variatzons （a Kazakh folk song arranged by Hu Tingjiang） and Yunpeng Wang performed Germont's aria "Di provenzail mar， il sol" from La Traviata， current fellows were gathered in groups large and small， from ensemble scenes from Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor and Puccini's La Rondine to a cheongsam-clad chorus of women singing classic Shanghai popular tunes. Toward the end of the evening， Shanghai Symphony music director Long Yu himself leapt in to lead male and female choruses from Lehar's Merry Widow and a mashup of the folk song "Jasmine Flower" with Puccini's treatment of the tune in Turandot.

Staged in ensembles--"dialogue" being imposed on most of the Chinese songs--the young performers were better able to focus on pronunciation and maximize their vocal power against the orchestra directly behind them. But equally important were the subtle directorial touches that drew parallels and contrasts between Chinese and Western repertory. In addition to a fine roster of repetiteurs and diction coaches， director Matthew Barclay and choreographer Joanna Puglisi put those singers to full theatrical use. The results--as when the "Gran pezzo a 14 voci" from Rossini's // Viaggz'o a Rez'ms disintegrated into a comic orgy ofphone-camera selfies--were often sublime.

***

So now that iSING is no longer a minnow， to continue the fishing analogy， what are we to make ofits future？ Chinese stage repertory， as I've mentioned， is not an easy fit in the West. A more promising career niche for iSING alumnae would be would be contemporary works， as more Chinese composers get their operas performed abroad. Last summer's production of Dr. Sun rat-sen at Santa Fe Opera， for example， had only two native Chinese speakers in the cast.

A route seemingly richer in possibilities-and one that iSING has apparently chosen not to trod-is the Chinese art song tradition. One can understand the apprehension， since （1） opera singers rarely immerse themselves in song repertoire， and （2） even Chinese singers rarely pay attention to their own song tradition. Among China's current generation， only the baritone Shenyang has delved into Chinese art song with the methodical care that German singers devote to their own lieder catalogue.

This is unfortunate， since the past century of Chinese art song represented the convergence of two great cultural shifts-the appearance of Western art music in China and the homegrown movement to champion Chinese vernacular language. The downside--and perhaps the reason many singers avoid the repertoire- is that the music of one decade has regularly become politically unpalatable by the next.

Chinese song offers opportunities for singers for the same reason it was a boon to Chinese composers： it was cheap. No makeup or costumes are required. Production values can be solely up to the artist. Even listeners who would balk at a two-hour opera could sit still for a two-minute song.

How strange is it， then， that the first collection I've encountered curated with such care is by someone who's not even Chinese？ The American soprano Juliet Petrus， late of the iSING program， has recently recorded A Great Distance， a collection of Chinese and American songs thematically linking vocal works by Huang Zi， Ding Shande and Luo Maishuo with John Alden Carpenter's Water Colors and John Duke's Four Chines～ Love Lyrics， both translated from Chinese texts.

Perhaps a better question is， how good is it？ Petrus has an opera singer's impulse to stress drama over beautiful singing. That same urge can also end up sacrificing clarity in enunciation in favor of emotional impact （for anyone judging this as a def]ciency in her Chinese， I should add that she does the same thing in English）. But her program is carefully thought-though， and her delivery steadily eFfective.

Of all the lessons that Petrus has taken away from iSING， possibly the most significant are a fine sense of contextual packaging and a missionary zeal in promoting Chinese repertory in the West. In addition to biographies of the composers， she provides full translations for each of the songs （including the original Chinese sources for Carpenter and Duke）， all gathered in an appeaIing booklet design. Petrus plans to launch the recording in her hometown of Chicago in November.

As I sign off this month， I hear that soprano Liping Zhang， who recorded a recital of Schubert lieder for Decca last year， is planning an all-Chinese song recital for her next release. Rumor also has it that it will have no translations. Nor，judging from the Schubert， will attractive design be a consideration. If true， this will be a huge embarrassment. The fact that a blonde girl from Chicago， purely on her own initiative， put out a better product than a major record label should make the Chinese executives at Decca hide their heads in shame.