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如果要细数我们这个时代的殿堂级人类瑰宝,美国钢琴家、作曲家、指挥家兼电影配乐宗师约翰·汤纳·威廉姆斯(John Towner Williams)必在其列。从惨烈的巨轮(《海神号遇难记》)到迷离的祗园(《艺伎回忆录》),从苦难的集中营(《辛德勒的名单》)到奇幻的魔法城堡(《哈利·波特》系列),作为获得奥斯卡提名第二多的人(仅次于华特·迪士尼),他的曲子几乎就是美国电影发展的背景音乐。尽管已经取得数不胜数的艺术成就,这位音乐泰斗从不固步自封;纵使年过耄耋,他至今仍在指挥台上活蹦乱跳——就连岁月,都无法阻止他对音乐的挚爱追求!
For well over 50 years, John Williams’music has taken us to galaxies far, far away...(Soundtrack from “Star Wars”)
On adventures here on earth...(Soundtrack from “Indiana Jones”)
Made us feel 1)giddy joy... (Soundtrack from “E.T.”)
And occasionally scared us to death.(Soundtrack from “Jaws”)
He might be the most recognized contemporary composer in the world, but John Williams says writing music wasn’t what he started out to do. He wanted to be a concert pianist, and studied at 2)Juilliard with renowned teacher 3)Rosina Lhevinne.
John: I played pretty well. I did hear players like John Browning and Van Cliburn around the place, who were also students of Rosina’s. And I thought to myself, if that’s the competition, I think I’d better be a composer.
Williams moved to L.A. where he became a popular session musician, playing piano on movie and television soundtracks. He began getting jobs 4)arranging music and then composing it. He worked at Universal Studios, writing TV scores.
John: We had 12 shows a week at Universal that had to be recorded, which meant there were 12 three-hour sessions with orchestra, of some kind, on the stage every week—three sessions a day, usually. So I filled one or two of those as a composer, and conducted all of my own work also for seven years. So that, it was a, I suppose, a graduate program in, if nothing else, how to get things done.
Williams wrote his first film score in 1960, and hasn’t looked back. Whether he’s writing for Steven Spielberg, or George Lucas, or Oliver Stone, Williams says his process has always been the same. He writes music the old-fashioned way—with pencil and paper—and doesn’t begin composing until he’s actually seen a rough cut of the film.
John: I, over the years, have always felt more comfortable if I could go into a projection room, look at a film and not really know what to expect. If you read the script first, you form all kinds of 5)preconceptions about how things look, and what the location’s like, what the actors are like. And then you may look at what the director’s chosen, and it doesn’t 6)comport with your conceptions at all.
On the other hand, if I have the luxury of going into the dark projection room, and being surprised when the audience is surprised, and being bored when they’re bored, I think that gives me a sense of what my job is, where I can press the 7)accelerator button if I need to, or support an emotion, or don’t.
Lukas Kendall (Editor): His themes sound inevitable. They sound like they’ve always existed. It’s extraordinary how you get just two notes for Jaws or five notes for Close Encounters and have them feel like they’ve always existed. (Soundtrack from“Close Encounters of the Third Kind”)
Williams says it takes two to three months on average to compose a film score, going back and forth from his studio to his screening room to make sure everything 8)syncs up properly.
John: I’m happy to be busy. I’m happy to have a wonderful family. And I think also…especially for practicing musicians, age is not so much of a concern, because a lifetime is simply not long enough for the study of music anyway. You’re never anywhere near finished. So the idea of retiring or putting it aside is unthinkable. There’s too much to learn.
半个多世纪以来,约翰·威廉姆斯的音乐曾经带着我们遨游遥远星系……(《星球大战》电影音乐)
在人世间踏上冒险旅程……(《夺宝奇兵》电影音乐)
让我们感受到令人目眩的快乐……(《E.T.外星人》电影音乐)
偶尔还会把我们吓得半死。(《大白鲨》电影音乐)
他也许是当今世上最有名的作曲家,但约翰·威廉姆斯说,作曲并不是他刚开始学习音乐的方向。他本想当一名钢琴演奏家,还去茱莉亚音乐学院上学,拜入名师罗西娜·列文涅门下。
约翰:我的琴技还挺不错的。但我后来听说像约翰·布朗宁、范·克莱本这些人都在那里混,他们也是罗西娜的学生。于是我心想,如果要和这些人抢饭碗,我还不如去当个作曲家好了。
威廉姆斯后来搬到了洛杉矶,在那里成为一名很受欢迎的客席音乐家,为影视音乐弹奏钢琴。他逐渐接到一些改编曲子的活计,随后开始自行作曲。当时他在环球影城工作,负责给电视节目配乐。
约翰:在环球影城,我们一星期有12个电视节目要录音,也就是说,每周都有12场类似演出的活计,要和管弦乐团在台上演奏三小时——通常一天要安排三场。我会在其中一两个配乐任务里充当作曲,同时还要为自己所有的作品担任指挥,就这样干了七年。所以那是……我想,即使没有其他好处,这段经历也算是我的研究生项目,让我学会如何按时完成任务。
威廉姆斯在1960年第一次为电影配乐作曲,从此义无反顾,不断前行。威廉姆斯说,无论他是在为大导演史蒂文·斯皮尔伯格、乔治·卢卡斯还是奥利弗·斯通的电影配乐,他的工作流程一直保持不变。他一直用纸和笔这种老方式进行创作,而且要等真正看过一部电影的初剪版了,他才会开始作曲。
约翰:这么多年来,如果能够在放映室里看电影,而且事先完全不知道剧情的话,这会让我创作起来更自如。如果提前读过剧本,你就会对事物的模样、场景的面貌和演员的形象产生各种先入为主的想法。然后你看到导演所选择的内容,也许它和你的构思根本是风马牛不相及。
反之,如果我有幸走进那昏暗的放映室,在观众吓了一跳的地方同样大吃一惊,在观众觉得沉闷的时候同样乏味无聊,我想,那会让我明白自己的职责所在,在需要时哪里可以踩下油门,哪里可以调动情绪,哪里不能这么做。
卢卡斯·肯德尔(编辑):他的主旋律让人无处可逃,给人的感觉仿佛一直就在耳边。你在《大白鲨》里只听到两个音符,在《第三类接触》里只听到五个音符,这样就能带来似曾相识的感觉,那实在太了不起了。(《第三类接触》电影音乐)
威廉姆斯说,为一部电影进行配乐平均要花上两到三个月的时间。他总是在工作室与放映室之间来回奔波,确保整体效果能够完美同步。
约翰:我很乐于忙碌,也很高兴自己能拥有一个美满的家庭。同时我想……尤其是对于一直工作的音乐家而言,年龄基本上不是个问题,因为不管怎样,人的一生对音乐研究来说实在太短暂了。你永远不会接近终点。所以从这行退休或者将音乐置之不理,这类想法都是绝无可能的。要学的东西实在太多了。
2) Juilliard 即茱莉亚音乐学院(Juilliard School),1905年在美国纽约创立,是世界上最著名的专业音乐院校之一,为有艺术才能的青少年提供专业音乐教育与指导。
3) Rosina Lhevinne 罗西娜·列文涅,著名钢琴家兼教育家约瑟夫·列文涅的妻子。罗西娜是一位个性鲜明的传奇教师,教出来的许多学生后来都成了著名钢琴家和音乐家,如范·克莱本、约翰·布朗宁、约翰·威廉姆斯等。
For well over 50 years, John Williams’music has taken us to galaxies far, far away...(Soundtrack from “Star Wars”)
On adventures here on earth...(Soundtrack from “Indiana Jones”)
Made us feel 1)giddy joy... (Soundtrack from “E.T.”)
And occasionally scared us to death.(Soundtrack from “Jaws”)
He might be the most recognized contemporary composer in the world, but John Williams says writing music wasn’t what he started out to do. He wanted to be a concert pianist, and studied at 2)Juilliard with renowned teacher 3)Rosina Lhevinne.
John: I played pretty well. I did hear players like John Browning and Van Cliburn around the place, who were also students of Rosina’s. And I thought to myself, if that’s the competition, I think I’d better be a composer.
Williams moved to L.A. where he became a popular session musician, playing piano on movie and television soundtracks. He began getting jobs 4)arranging music and then composing it. He worked at Universal Studios, writing TV scores.
John: We had 12 shows a week at Universal that had to be recorded, which meant there were 12 three-hour sessions with orchestra, of some kind, on the stage every week—three sessions a day, usually. So I filled one or two of those as a composer, and conducted all of my own work also for seven years. So that, it was a, I suppose, a graduate program in, if nothing else, how to get things done.
Williams wrote his first film score in 1960, and hasn’t looked back. Whether he’s writing for Steven Spielberg, or George Lucas, or Oliver Stone, Williams says his process has always been the same. He writes music the old-fashioned way—with pencil and paper—and doesn’t begin composing until he’s actually seen a rough cut of the film.
John: I, over the years, have always felt more comfortable if I could go into a projection room, look at a film and not really know what to expect. If you read the script first, you form all kinds of 5)preconceptions about how things look, and what the location’s like, what the actors are like. And then you may look at what the director’s chosen, and it doesn’t 6)comport with your conceptions at all.
On the other hand, if I have the luxury of going into the dark projection room, and being surprised when the audience is surprised, and being bored when they’re bored, I think that gives me a sense of what my job is, where I can press the 7)accelerator button if I need to, or support an emotion, or don’t.
Lukas Kendall (Editor): His themes sound inevitable. They sound like they’ve always existed. It’s extraordinary how you get just two notes for Jaws or five notes for Close Encounters and have them feel like they’ve always existed. (Soundtrack from“Close Encounters of the Third Kind”)
Williams says it takes two to three months on average to compose a film score, going back and forth from his studio to his screening room to make sure everything 8)syncs up properly.
John: I’m happy to be busy. I’m happy to have a wonderful family. And I think also…especially for practicing musicians, age is not so much of a concern, because a lifetime is simply not long enough for the study of music anyway. You’re never anywhere near finished. So the idea of retiring or putting it aside is unthinkable. There’s too much to learn.
半个多世纪以来,约翰·威廉姆斯的音乐曾经带着我们遨游遥远星系……(《星球大战》电影音乐)
在人世间踏上冒险旅程……(《夺宝奇兵》电影音乐)
让我们感受到令人目眩的快乐……(《E.T.外星人》电影音乐)
偶尔还会把我们吓得半死。(《大白鲨》电影音乐)
他也许是当今世上最有名的作曲家,但约翰·威廉姆斯说,作曲并不是他刚开始学习音乐的方向。他本想当一名钢琴演奏家,还去茱莉亚音乐学院上学,拜入名师罗西娜·列文涅门下。
约翰:我的琴技还挺不错的。但我后来听说像约翰·布朗宁、范·克莱本这些人都在那里混,他们也是罗西娜的学生。于是我心想,如果要和这些人抢饭碗,我还不如去当个作曲家好了。
威廉姆斯后来搬到了洛杉矶,在那里成为一名很受欢迎的客席音乐家,为影视音乐弹奏钢琴。他逐渐接到一些改编曲子的活计,随后开始自行作曲。当时他在环球影城工作,负责给电视节目配乐。
约翰:在环球影城,我们一星期有12个电视节目要录音,也就是说,每周都有12场类似演出的活计,要和管弦乐团在台上演奏三小时——通常一天要安排三场。我会在其中一两个配乐任务里充当作曲,同时还要为自己所有的作品担任指挥,就这样干了七年。所以那是……我想,即使没有其他好处,这段经历也算是我的研究生项目,让我学会如何按时完成任务。
威廉姆斯在1960年第一次为电影配乐作曲,从此义无反顾,不断前行。威廉姆斯说,无论他是在为大导演史蒂文·斯皮尔伯格、乔治·卢卡斯还是奥利弗·斯通的电影配乐,他的工作流程一直保持不变。他一直用纸和笔这种老方式进行创作,而且要等真正看过一部电影的初剪版了,他才会开始作曲。
约翰:这么多年来,如果能够在放映室里看电影,而且事先完全不知道剧情的话,这会让我创作起来更自如。如果提前读过剧本,你就会对事物的模样、场景的面貌和演员的形象产生各种先入为主的想法。然后你看到导演所选择的内容,也许它和你的构思根本是风马牛不相及。
反之,如果我有幸走进那昏暗的放映室,在观众吓了一跳的地方同样大吃一惊,在观众觉得沉闷的时候同样乏味无聊,我想,那会让我明白自己的职责所在,在需要时哪里可以踩下油门,哪里可以调动情绪,哪里不能这么做。
卢卡斯·肯德尔(编辑):他的主旋律让人无处可逃,给人的感觉仿佛一直就在耳边。你在《大白鲨》里只听到两个音符,在《第三类接触》里只听到五个音符,这样就能带来似曾相识的感觉,那实在太了不起了。(《第三类接触》电影音乐)
威廉姆斯说,为一部电影进行配乐平均要花上两到三个月的时间。他总是在工作室与放映室之间来回奔波,确保整体效果能够完美同步。
约翰:我很乐于忙碌,也很高兴自己能拥有一个美满的家庭。同时我想……尤其是对于一直工作的音乐家而言,年龄基本上不是个问题,因为不管怎样,人的一生对音乐研究来说实在太短暂了。你永远不会接近终点。所以从这行退休或者将音乐置之不理,这类想法都是绝无可能的。要学的东西实在太多了。
2) Juilliard 即茱莉亚音乐学院(Juilliard School),1905年在美国纽约创立,是世界上最著名的专业音乐院校之一,为有艺术才能的青少年提供专业音乐教育与指导。
3) Rosina Lhevinne 罗西娜·列文涅,著名钢琴家兼教育家约瑟夫·列文涅的妻子。罗西娜是一位个性鲜明的传奇教师,教出来的许多学生后来都成了著名钢琴家和音乐家,如范·克莱本、约翰·布朗宁、约翰·威廉姆斯等。