Chapter 43, Song 43...

Qu Jiaying looked at the score and hesitated, "The first movement of Mahler's Fifth Symphony is a funeral march. Is it appropriate to perform it at the New Year's event held at the cultural center?"

Yan Zheng really liked this part's expression of death and fate, and he also thought that Qu Jiaying could perform it well now, but the occasion was indeed a bit inappropriate.

Qu Jiaying then looked at Le Yi and Xiang Min: "Are you two sure you don't want to participate together?"

Le Yi hesitated for a moment, then shook his head firmly at Xiang Min: "I'll explain to Wang Zhou that you can participate in the performance alone."

"Then let's choose the Scherzo in the third movement, it's quite lively." Qu Jiaying also wanted to perform Mahler's work, which is gradually being recognized by the world as one of the most popular symphonies of the 20th century.

Xiang Min nodded and left the rehearsal room to make a phone call.

After all, they were in the same department, and he and Wang Zhou had some interactions.

Wang Zhou asked in confusion, "Why don't you write music? I remember you write very quickly."

Xiang Min glanced back at the rehearsal room door, which was closed, before whispering, "I haven't been able to write anything lately, and I just can't muster the energy."

“I see…” Wang Zhou could understand. “Then Qu Jiaying and Yue Yi can put on a classic sonata duet.”

"Let Qu Jiaying perform alone; she'll do a better job by herself," Xiang Min said deliberately. He didn't want to see Qu Jiaying and Le Yi happily playing together.

Wang Zhou smiled knowingly and replied, "Alright."

Xiang Min hung up the phone, leaned against the wall, and sighed.

He didn't even know what he was sighing about.

It's not that he couldn't write; it's that he had too much to write about, but it was all chaotic, illogical, and impossible to leave behind.

Because he couldn't clearly explain what he wanted.

Will he be happy if Qu Jiaying turns around and looks at him?

It seems like I'm not really looking forward to it.

Qu Jiaying was focused solely on his violin career, and he didn't seem particularly happy.

A short while later, Xiang Min, standing at the door of the rehearsal room, could faintly hear the third movement of Mahler's Fifth Symphony coming from inside.

Energetic and fantastical music drifted out, sometimes ecstatic, sometimes bizarre, psychedelic and unrestrained.

It was only his first time sight-reading, yet he performed so exquisitely that he could no longer say that Qu Jiaying's piano playing was mechanical.

As the piece ended, Yan Zheng poked his head out and urged Xiang Min, "Hurry up and come over to adjust the score!"

Xiang Min took a deep breath: "Here it comes."

Qu Jiaying usually needs to make some adjustments before each performance because she doesn't always choose violin concertos; most of the time she chooses symphonies. The main instrument in these pieces is not the violin, so the violin parts alone are not the best violin works. Therefore, Xiang Min and Yan Zheng help her with this.

Xiang Min quickly made the adjustments, and Qu Jiaying tried it out. She played it very smoothly, and without affecting the structure and phrasing of the original piece, it perfectly matched her performance habits and style.

Qu Jiaying was extremely unwilling. Xiang Min could easily understand her, but Xia Xiaolei, the teacher who had watched her grow up, could not trust her.

The teacher and student had just had a disagreement not long ago, and it was the same old story. However, Xia Xiaolei opened up and frankly shared her past experiences and insights.

“Classical music has paradigms,” Xia Xiaolei said.

“I understand, but I didn’t do much innovation. The most crucial part, the phrasing, wasn’t messed up. I started receiving classical music training at the age of five. My understanding of tonality, harmony, and rhythm is all based on Western classical music. I just added a little bit of my own expression,” Qu Jiaying said.

Xia Xiaolei believes that she is at a disadvantage in terms of both gender and ethnicity, and that playing conservatively is the safest approach. Before establishing a firm foothold, following the conventional route is the best strategy.

Qu Jiaying understood this as well. Although she herself didn't care much, Ruan Qi was more concerned about her physical condition. Among the girls around her, Gao Ying was more concerned about the disadvantages brought by gender. Qiu Xue was also a little concerned. She had talked to herself about it. Her parents hoped that she would learn violin or piano like most girls, rather than clarinet, which was more common among boys. But this was only a small part of what they cared about.

The past experiences of teachers Cai Rui, Xiang Xiaojuan, and Xia Xiaolei also demonstrate the disadvantages of ethnicity in the classical music world.

However, times have changed. They were all born in the 1960s and 70s. Now, internationally renowned Asian musicians are mostly from the 1980s and 1990s. Why insist that their generation of young people has no chance?

In her previous life in Germany, Qu Jiaying faced skepticism. Music critics and local audiences believed that Asians could not play classical music that truly originated from Western Europe, which offended her.

Through the recording, who knows what kind of person she is?

Therefore, if she interprets things strictly according to the norms, others will think that she doesn't understand Beethoven, Mozart, or Bach.

You'll gain nothing by worrying about everything else; you might as well focus on your performance.

"My interpretation is indeed just my personal experience. It may be feminine, or it may lean towards folk music style in pop music, but it may be more like Generation Z. It may just be my feeling as a person, as a violinist," Qu Jiaying said.

...

Ruan Qi, who is thousands of miles away, has recently hit a bottleneck. She has participated in many performances and activities of the Overseas Chinese Chamber of Commerce. Her skills have indeed improved and her performances have become more delicate, but she is still a step away from being the best. Her delicacy is not yet perfect and she lacks distinctive qualities.

After the initial excitement of arriving in a foreign country wore off, she spent a lot of time practicing the piano every day and didn't have much time for socializing. She still didn't get along very well with the foreigners, who had prejudices against her or Asian women in general, especially because she was lonely and always dating different men. This exacerbated their misunderstandings, as if they thought that Asian women were not there to become musicians, but to get married.

Ruan Qi also realized the immense difficulty of reaching the top in this field as an Asian woman.

She didn't get along well with the Chinese immigrants her parents and grandparents had been, and she was still quite lonely. Fortunately, there were many students at school who had grown up in mainland China like her, so she came back to them. After dating a few boys, she finally got back together with Lu Yueming, the only one who understood and appreciated her music.

Lü Yueming's condition has also improved a lot. He studied hard and his conducting ability has improved. His teachers, who held traditional views, reluctantly accepted him, but believed that his interpretations lacked the cultural connotations of the composer's nationality.

Lu Yueming was completely baffled: "Isn't this discrimination?"

Ruan Qi only agreed on one point: that music academies lack humanities education. It seems that this is the same all over the world. Teacher Müller was also dissatisfied with this and often complained that he did not like the music academy's educational model and hoped that students would learn more about the era in which the composers lived, rather than just music theory.

They knew nothing but music theory; while her classmates outside the music academy discussed current affairs, she understood nothing.

She considered herself to be more conscious than those at the music academy, but she still felt inadequate compared to them.

Although it may not seem necessary, and there are still many musicians who do not understand this knowledge, Ruan Qi has high standards for herself, and she believes that this may improve her abilities.

A few days ago, Qu Jiaying and she had a video chat and both felt that there wasn't enough time. They spend eight to ten hours a day practicing the violin, but Ruan Qi still has the energy to feel down about social matters.

Qu Jiaying spent much more time in Germany than Ruan Qike in her previous life. She didn't have as many worries. She interacted with her classmates and friends as musicians and didn't feel any other differences.

"So that's your reason for leaving those three here?" Ruan Qi asked with a smile.

Qu Jiaying rolled her eyes at her through the screen.

Qu Jiaying remained silent for a while. She had no time to think about anything else; what she cared about was how to play the game better.

She added, "I'm not as good as you. It's already difficult enough for me to do one thing well, let alone take care of other things."

Qu Jiaying is currently reading the biography of pianist Clara that Gao Ying recommended she read. In the past, she only knew that Clara was Schumann's wife and Brahms's admirer, but now she understands more about her as a woman, a pianist, and an educator.

Some things had been vague in her mind, but they became clearer after reading the book.

Clara was very famous back then, a piano prodigy trained by her father. Therefore, her father did not allow her to marry Schumann, who was nine years younger than her, and wanted her to continue her career as a pianist. As a result, he imprisoned her. In the end, she sued her father and won the right to choose her own marriage. However, after the marriage, Schumann hoped that she would return to the family and stop performing. She compromised for a time, but later she could not let go. In addition, the family faced financial difficulties after the marriage, Schumann suffered from neurasthenia, and they had eight children. Therefore, she continued to perform.

She also performed Schumann's works to spread them to the world, and after Schumann's death, she compiled and published a complete collection.

Therefore, to fully understand Schumann's works, one must see Clara beside him.

However, Qu Jiaying felt that the world of classical music had not changed or progressed at all, and the training model was almost exactly the same as it was two hundred years ago. On the other hand, as a female musician, she always had to balance family and career. Therefore, Xiang Xiaojuan and Xia Xiaolei were very clever and chose not to get married.

However, she still felt that there was no need to spend too much time and effort on those things. Focusing on her music was enough; everything else was just noise and wouldn't help improve her piano skills or performance in the slightest.