Apr 11 2007
Du Fu and Gershwin
The opening of this poem just reminds me of Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue. Just gives me goosebumps…
昔有佳人公孙氏，一舞剑器动四方。
观者如山色沮丧，天地为之久低昂。
I always fancied that one day 陆游《游山西村》can be transformed into a symphonic piece.
莫笑农家腊酒浑，丰年留客足鸡豚。
山重水复疑无路，柳暗花明又一村。
萧鼓追随春社近，衣冠简朴古风存。
从今若许闲乘月，拄杖无时夜扣门。
The anchor would be a rhapsodized 金蛇狂舞: perfect for percussions and wind instruments to recreate a sense of “萧鼓追随春社近, 衣冠简朴古风存”. It is almost like a mixture of Copland’s Apalachian Spring and Stravinsky’s Le Sacre du printemps in that it’s folksy, primitive but full of animalistic energy. I often pity myself for my musical inapitutde: the whole thing is so vivid in my mind but I just can’t spell it out…