我问郑京和,经历了这么多事情,重新站上舞台是什么感觉?
Interview: Kyung Wha Chung
郑京和访谈
Kyung Wha Chung is back. “It’s hard to believe,” says the 66-year-old violinist, cheerfully slapping the coffee table as if to confirm that yep, all of this is real. “In some ways I feel like I haven’t been away, but on the other hand I had an incredibly enriching life while I was gone. Coming back onto the stage was completely unexpected. But here I am! Ha!” She lets out a raucous, hearty laugh. Chung is a lot of fun to interview. She’s feisty, spontaneous and caring; at one point she leaps up to wrap a jumper around my shoulders because she thinks I look chilly. In recent years she has been through the kind of painful experiences that might dampen the most resilient spirits, yet today she is as sparky and passionate as her classic fiery performances.
郑京和重回乐坛。“这实在难以置信”,这位六十六岁的小提琴家一边激动的说道,一边高兴的拍打着桌子,好像在确认这是真的。“一方面我感觉我从未离开过舞台,但另一方面,我在离开舞台之后,生活变得非常充实、多样。重新回到舞台绝对是意料之外的事情,可我就是回归舞台了!”说完她开怀大笑起来,笑声中还带着些沙哑。郑京和在整个采访过程中非常有趣,她充满着活力也很注意他人的感受。她会突然跳起来,帮我放松我的肩膀,因为她认为我看起来很冷。最近几年,她所经历的痛苦在不断地打压着她坚韧的性格,可她依然像在进行那些经典的表演时一样,充满着激情与活力。
One of the great performers of the past century, Chung was born and raised in South Korea and moved to New York at 13 to study with the legendarily uncompromising teacher Ivan Galamian. Her major career breakthrough came in 1970 when she stood in last-minute for Itzhak Perlman in a concert with Andre Previn and the London Symphony Orchestra. She wore a flame-red dress and played Mendelssohn with a fearless attack that is still thrilling to watch on video. The following day she was flooded with international concert offers.
她被称为上个世纪最伟大的表演家之一,郑京和在南韩出生并长大。13岁搬到纽约,跟随伊万·加拉米安(Ivan Galamian)老师学习音乐,这是一位具有传奇性色彩的老师。1970年,她替代伊扎克·帕尔曼与安德烈·普列文执棒的伦敦交响乐团合作了一场音乐会。这场音乐会称为她事业的重要转折点。那晚,她身着一袭红色长裙,用一种无所畏惧的心态演奏者门德尔松,即使现在回看音乐会录像,依然是震撼人心的。第二天,她便收到了很多国际音乐会的邀请。
Chung describes her former self as a shy young woman; where, then, did that fearless bravado come from when she walked out in front of an audience? “I always loved being on stage,” she says. “I could do anything there – I could express myself. The violin gave me a voice I didn’t otherwise have. It was my friend. I could talk to it and it would talk back. It told me incredible stories. What more could a child want?”
郑京和认为自己以前是个非常害羞的年轻人,我问她,那后来那种自信是台下的观众带给你的吗?她回答道“我总是非常的热爱舞台,我可以在舞台上做任何能表达出自我的事情。小提琴赋予了我本没有的声音,它就是我的知己,我可以同它对话、交谈,同时它也会给我回应。它还会告诉我很多难以置信的故事,这对一个孩子来说还不够满足吗?”
The command to walk on stage as if she owned the place came from her mother. “She was a gutsy woman,” Chung says. “In polite company she could appear quiet and sweet, but actually she was like a general. She used to tell me, ‘when you go on stage you are the best. You tell them exactly what you want to say.’ To me that always felt totally reasonable!”
她有很强的舞台控制力,仿佛站上舞台这里只属于她。这种强大的控制力从她母亲那里继承来的,郑京和解释道:“我母亲是一位非常胆大又细心的女士。在公共场合她非常的安静而且体贴他人,但其实她的内心就像一位将军,她曾今告诉我‘当你站上舞台时,你就是最棒的。用你的音乐告诉他们你想表达什么”。对我来说,这非常的有道理并且让我受用一生。
Chung talks a lot about her mother, who does indeed sound like a formidable woman. She had seven children who played chamber music together every day. She would organise picnics every week and pack the family off to the beach each summer. “Mum would put up an army tent on the beach and that’s where we lived for two months every year,” Chung remembers. “We played music in the headlights of the jeep. I have wonderful memories. I wouldn’t say it was abnormal – abnormally happy, maybe.”
郑京和谈论了很多关于她母亲的事情,她的母亲听起来确实是一位非常令人敬佩的人。她母亲有七个孩子,坚持每天与他们一起演奏室内乐,她每周也会组织野餐,每年夏天还会带全家一起去海边度假。郑京和回忆道:“每年妈妈都会在海滩上搭起帐篷,我们会在那呆两个多月。我们把吉普车的前灯打开,借着灯光玩音乐。我有非常棒的回忆,我不得不说这是最平凡的幸福。”
Perhaps it isn’t surprising that Chung was committed to creating her own version of a balanced family life when the time came. At 32 she married and had children – a decision that didn’t go down well among some of her teachers and peers, who disapproved of her shift in priorities. Chung describes the moment as “like a train going full speed and suddenly you put the breaks on and jump out and say ‘Oh my god, what is my life really about?’. But it was the best experience to put myself through because from the age of 32 I looked at my life differently.”
32岁的郑京和决定结婚生子,她开始努力地去平衡自己的家庭生活,这似乎并没什么惊讶的。但在她的一些老师和同行们看来,这时候结婚生子并不应该是她最优先考虑的事情。她回忆道:“我就好比在开一辆火车,一直在以最快的速度向前,突然有一天我停住了,然后跳出来反问自己‘天啊!我的生活到底应该是什么样的?’在我的32岁之后我看到了我人生的各种可能,这一决定的确成为我人生中最棒的经历。”
A couple of decades later she suffered a severe strain in her left index finger and couldn’t play the violin for five years. During that time she lost her mother and her sister. Many people might have chosen to step away from the international career at that point, but Chung’s outlook seems indelibly positive. Part of that is her strong Christianity, she says, citing the Old Testament parable of Job who loses everything as a test of his faith. Part of it is a robust character clearly inherited from her mother. “She lived through the most difficult times in Korea: times when things couldn’t get any worse, only better. My life was different, of course. Everyone wanted to be me. They had no idea what it was like to be me, but still they wanted to be me. Everyone’s life is filled with pain and difficulty, so the key thing is outlook. Even the most difficult periods can be a source of strength.”
几十年后,她的左手食指遭受了很大的疼痛,以致于她五年内都不能再演奏小提琴。在这期间,她又接连失去了她的妈妈和姐姐。大多数人可能在这样的情况下,会暂停自己的事业。但郑京和并不这么认为,她的心态似乎永远都是积极的。这种积极地心态一部分是因为她虔诚的基督教信仰,她引用旧约中关于工作的寓言解释道,失去了一切,是对一个人信仰的考验。另一部分原因还是来自于她的母亲,她继承了母亲一颗强大的内心,她解释道:“我母亲生活在韩国最困难的时候,那个时期所有的事情不会更糟糕了,一切只会慢慢变好。我的生活是与众不同的,很多人都想成为我,但又不知道成为我究竟会经历什么,可他们依然想要成为我。每个人的生活都是充满着痛苦与挫折的,所以成功才会那么耀眼,即使那些最困难的日子才是力量的源泉。”
Eventually Chung’s index finger recovered and she began performing charity concerts around Asia and Africa. This month she returns to the UK for the first time in over a decade for concerts in London, Liverpool and Perth.
在郑京和的手指恢复之后,她开始在亚洲、非洲进行慈善音乐会的表演。这个月她重返英国,这是她十多年以来首次在伦敦、利物浦和珀斯的音乐会上演出。
Her decision to return to the main stage is simple, she says: profile. “In order to help charitable causes I have to be visible. I have to have strong leverage. I don’t need a career; I don’t want a career. But I do want to help people. And that requires my name to be strong. It’s an unusual situation for somebody of my age to start playing recitals again. I’m perfectly aware of that!”
她重返舞台的目的非常简单,她说道:“为了去帮助慈善事业,我必须现身,我必须要有很强大的影响力才可以去真正的帮助。现在的我已不需要一个头衔,我也不再想要去拼命的追求自己的事业。但是我很想去帮助他人,这一想法要求我的名字必须要有影响力。我完全能意识到,在我这个年纪重新开独奏会,是一个很有挑战性的事情。”
Thankfully the index finger hasn’t caused her any more grief but she has recently had trouble with her left thumb. In September she tried steroid injections but to no effect, so her doctor decided to operate. “I don’t think there are many surgeons who would want to put a knife on my hand,” she says in something of an understatement. “But this guy, who is 71 years old, is like a serene Buddhist monk. He knew that he had to clean out the joint, so he operated the very next day.”
值得庆幸的是,食指的伤并没有给她带来更多的伤痛,但她最近左手的拇指又出现了问题。九月她尝试注射类固醇但是似乎没有任何作用,所以他的医生决定给她进行手术。她说道:“我不认为会有医生愿意在我手上动刀,但是这位医生已经71岁高龄了,就像一位平静的佛教徒。他知道他必须立刻给我清理关节问题,所以第二天,就给我手术了。”
That was two months ago and Chung is determined to uphold her much-hyped UK comeback. “It’s going to be fine,” she says, wiggling her thumb as if to prove the point. “Some days I feel stronger than others but I know I’ll get through the concerts. All this, all these health problems, it’s inevitable. This is not a young body. Nobody plays for this long without problems – except maybe Ida Haendel! She goes on and on!” There’s that wonderful laugh again.
手术两个月之后,她决定大力宣传她英国的回归演出。“我相信一切都会变好”她扭动着她的手指对我说道,似乎在向我证明这一点。“有时候我会觉得自己比其他人更加强大,但我清楚其将要完成一场音乐会。所有的这些健康问题都是必然的,我早就不是年轻的女郎了,没人可以演奏这么长时间还没有任何问题。要是伊达·哈恩黛尔就不一定了,她可以一直这么拉下去!”说完,又是一阵爽朗的笑声。
I ask how it feels to walk on stage after everything she has been through. “It’s a miracle,” Chung replies, simply. “Every time I go on stage is a miraculous blessing. Every time might be my last, so I’m sure going to make it count.”
我问她在经历了这么多事情之后,再重新站上舞台是一种什么样的感觉。她很直接的告诉我:“这是一个奇迹,每次我走向舞台都像一次奇迹般的祝福,每一次演出也许都是我的最后一次演出,所以我很确定,我会万分的珍惜这次演出。”