Hi-Lo Fide-Lio: Wunder mir ist so bar
for orchestra, 3-channel tape and audience participation · 2015
为管弦乐队、三声道录音带与观众参与而作 · 2015
Beethoven half-remembered: orchestra, 1940s recordings and audience, in high and low fidelity.
半记半忘的贝多芬：乐团、1940年代录音与观众，在高低“保真度”之间。
| Form 形式 | Concert work, or installation with orchestra 音乐会作品，或结合乐团的装置 |
|---|---|
| Commission 委约 | Mount Holyoke Symphony Orchestra, conductor Ng Tian Hui (2015) Mount Holyoke 交响乐团，指挥 Ng Tian Hui（2015） |
| Listen 聆听 | ▶ Mount Holyoke premiere (audio) ▶ Mount Holyoke 首演（音频） |
Programme note 节目介绍
This work for orchestra and 3-channel tape, with audience participation, is based on the canonic vocal quartet in Beethoven’s opera Fidelio, Mir ist so wunderbar. The title of my work can be seen as a tongue-in-cheek variant on it; it also refers to the nature and inspiration of this multimedia work.
这部为管弦乐队与三声道录音带而作、并有观众参与的作品，取材自贝多芬歌剧《费德里奥》中的卡农式四重唱《Mir ist so wunderbar》（我感到如此奇妙）。我的作品标题可以看作对它的一个戏谑变体，同时也指向这部多媒体作品的性质与灵感来源。
One aspect of making a sound and performance work from Beethoven’s original materials and from historical recordings of the 1940s is to engage the sonic sensations of these various manifestations of what we come to recognise as Beethoven’s Mir ist so wunderbar.
以贝多芬的原始材料与1940年代的历史录音来创作一部声音与表演作品，其中一个面向，是去感受这些不同形态的声音质感——它们都是我们所认得的贝多芬《Mir ist so wunderbar》。
The original title was jumbled up in my mind as I read it, trying to recall the little German I know. I was amused at how different sequences of the words could suggest different meanings through their enunciation. This peculiar, half-amnesiac process gave my title: a quick online translation yielded ‘wonder I feel so cash’, and in half-German it sounded to me roughly like ‘Wonder (why) I am so blah!’ This fun-sounding title reflects my compositional process and creative impetus.
读着原标题时，我一边努力回想自己仅懂的一点德语，标题便在脑中搅成了一团。我觉得有趣的是，词语的不同排列，透过发音竟能暗示出不同的意思。这种奇特的、半失忆的过程，催生了我的标题：网上快速翻译得出‘wonder I feel so cash’，而用半吊子德语念来，听着大概像‘Wonder (why) I am so blah!’（奇怪我怎么这么无聊！）。这个听来好玩的标题，其实也反映了我的创作过程与动力。
‘Hi-Lo Fide-Lio’ can also be read as a cutesy nod to a global phenomenon of Asian popular culture: Hello Kitty. I have always thought of Hello Kitty as an imaginative Asian simulation of a Western cartoon character, yet now that it has gone global it is seen as thoroughly Asian, especially in its kawaii, or cute, quality. Given the many presentations of Fidelio — historical, urtext-ual, remembered, half-remembered, idealistic — I pun on the titles by combining and composing musical and sonic materials of high and low fidelity to the original, if there can ever be one.
‘Hi-Lo Fide-Lio’也可以读作对一个全球化的亚洲流行文化现象——Hello Kitty——的可爱致意。我一直认为 Hello Kitty 是亚洲人对西方卡通形象富有想象力的模拟；然而当它走向全球，却被视为彻头彻尾的亚洲符号，尤其是它的‘卡哇伊’特质。鉴于《费德里奥》的种种呈现——历史的、原始乐谱的、记忆中的、半记半忘的、理想化的——我在标题上玩文字游戏，把对原作‘保真度’高低不一的音乐与声音材料组合、创作在一起——如果真有所谓原作的话。
I hope this work, experienced through participation, will begin a listening and contemplative quest to seek this ‘original’ Beethoven.
我希望这部作品，透过参与的体验，能开启一段聆听与沉思的探寻，去寻找这位‘原本的’贝多芬。
What others heard 评论
Reviewing the premiere, Larry Schipull described listeners wandering the aisles to experience the piece as a kind of “aural art gallery”, each shaping their own experience by their distance from the loudspeakers and the orchestra. At the second hearing, knowing their role, more of the audience joined in sooner, and the piece was, in his words, “extremely well-received”.
Larry Schipull 在评论首演时描述，听众在走道间漫步，把这部作品当作一座“声音的美术馆”来体验，每个人都借着与扬声器及乐团的距离，塑造自己的聆听经验。第二次演出时，观众已明白自己的角色，更多人更早地加入其中；用他的话说，作品“极受欢迎”。
Performances 演出
17 April 2015 — premiere: Mount Holyoke Symphony Orchestra, conductor Ng Tian Hui, in the concert Simple Gifts, Abbey Chapel, Mount Holyoke College, USA, during the composer’s residency. The audience used their phones, through QR codes in the programme, to play historical recordings of the quartet, and were invited to walk around the chapel among loudspeakers placed around its perimeter while the orchestra played at the front. The piece was heard twice, framing a live performance of Beethoven’s quartet by student and community singers.
2015年4月17日——首演：Mount Holyoke 交响乐团，指挥 Ng Tian Hui，于美国 Mount Holyoke 学院 Abbey 礼拜堂的《Simple Gifts》音乐会中演出，时值作曲家驻留期间。观众透过节目单上的二维码，用手机播放这首四重唱的历史录音，并受邀在礼拜堂中走动——四周布满扬声器，乐团则在前方演奏。作品演出两次，中间穿插由学生与社区歌手现场演唱的贝多芬四重唱。
The premiere at Abbey Chapel, Mount Holyoke College, 2015: the audience moving among the loudspeakers · Mount Holyoke 学院 Abbey 礼拜堂首演，2015：观众在扬声器之间走动
31 May 2017 — ADDO Chamber Orchestra, Beethoven at an Exhibition, Esplanade Rehearsal Studio, Singapore.
2017年5月31日——ADDO 室内乐团，《Beethoven at an Exhibition》，新加坡滨海艺术中心排练室。
Recordings 录音
《Hi-Lo Fide-Lio: Wunder mir ist so bar》——Mount Holyoke 交响乐团，Ng Tian Hui 指挥，2015年
For scores, performance materials and other enquiries:
chungshih@chungshih.info
乐谱、演出资料及其他查询：
chungshih@chungshih.info