Chapter 55, Song 55...
The opening of "The Devil" is fast-paced, with the narration stating: "Who is rushing through the cold night? It is a father and his son."
Qu Jiaying's spiccato is extremely stable. She starts with a fast bow stroke and skillfully uses her wrist to drive the spiccato, making each note clean and crisp.
The tension in the story's atmosphere is quickly built up.
However, the stage was also very tense. Qu Jiaying noticed that Le Yi's mentality had recovered, but his hands, which had been trembling before, were still stiff and his movements were unstable and he could not move quickly.
The piano was behind Qu Jiaying, and she couldn't communicate with Le Yi through eye contact. She could only secretly pray that he would resolve the situation as soon as possible. Right now, she had to keep things under control.
The music had transitioned into a dialogue between father and son, and Qu Jiaying slightly increased the volume in hopes of masking the flaws in the piano accompaniment.
The child cried out in terror, "A demon king wearing a crown and dragging a long dress has appeared!"
The father gently comforted the child, telling him it was just a cloud of smoke.
The first time her father's voice wasn't soft enough, Qu Jiaying didn't have time to worry. She was more worried about how it would turn into the voice of a demon king. The hall wasn't big, so the sound of the piano couldn't spread out much. She already had to increase the intensity of her own playing. Unlike her usual practice, she also had to maintain stability. If she increased it even a little more now, it would be her limit.
Because the Demon King's seductive words required the piano music to be softer, she needed to soften the pitch. If Yue Yi's piano accompaniment wasn't supported here, it would be a disaster.
Yan Zheng, sitting in the audience, was so nervous that he broke out in a cold sweat. His hands were clenched so tightly that he could hardly breathe. Hearing Qu Jiaying's left hand plucking the strings very clearly and producing excellent harmonics, he managed to catch his breath.
In fact, Le Yi's reaction speed was already very fast. He knew that his hand had not yet recovered. This song "Demon King" was very fast, and he could not make mistakes because he could not keep up with the speed, as that would affect Qu Jiaying even more. So he skipped some notes and the sound of the piano was also a little softer, but every note was very clear. He just needed to make sure that the rhythm and melody were in sync, and he did not let his condition affect Qu Jiaying too much.
However, many of the judges with sharp ears frowned. What was Steel Companion up to?
Strictly speaking, the piano accompaniment does not affect the violinist's score, but since there is accompaniment, it should be considered as a whole.
Those in the industry at the scene had almost never heard of a piano accompanist playing like this. They didn't expect the accompanist to have a great performance, and they could even accommodate the violinist's interpretation by not playing according to the original score. But Le Yi's approach was still too unusual.
Fortunately, when the Demon King appeared, Le Yi felt his hands warm up and he could keep up with the rhythm. Here, he needed to set the mood.
Qu Jiaying immediately realized that with the accompaniment, she could reduce the volume a bit more. Thanks to her previous experience at Xiaoxing's outdoor performance stage, she had gained a better understanding of sound effects and variations, which allowed her to control the overall intensity.
The black skirt swayed slightly, as if the demon king was gently saying, "Child, come with me. I have games, colorful flowers, and clothes made of gold thread."
The child screamed again, "Dad, did you hear the Demon King's promise to me?"
Le Yi realized he still couldn't keep up with this part of the speed, so he slowed down again. Xiang Min, sitting in the audience, cursed Le Yi inwardly, "Why is he always messing up at this time!"
Qu Jiaying emphasized again, and this time her father's voice matched perfectly.
This time, the father's voice was urgent and deep: "Child, that's the sound of wind blowing through withered leaves."
The demon king reappeared, enticing the child with words: "Come, child, let's dance together in the night."
As Le Yi tried again to create a conducive atmosphere, Qu Jiaying's piano playing weakened once more.
Qu Jiaying seemed to be in the midst of a storm, sometimes worrying like a father, sometimes panicking like a child, sometimes smiling like a demon king, and sometimes observing coldly like a narrator.
She recalled her conversation with Le Yi a few days ago, where they talked about communicating with each other, but she hadn't really understood that principle.
The piano and violin can play in both a competition and a concerto.
Although there were many things that couldn't be handled better, Le Yi had done her best to cooperate with her, and she had also done her best to cover up the flaws in the piano accompaniment.
The Demon King was enraged for the third time. If you don't come, I'll resort to violence!
The child screamed in terror, "The demon king is going to take me away!"
The child's father, the "demon king," spoke three times in total. Qu Jiaying could no longer think about how to handle the situation better; she could only focus on dealing with the present moment, progressing step by step until finally, she transformed into the narrator's voice.
In the darkness, the father rushed home on horseback, only to find that the child in his arms had already stopped breathing.
Le Yi thought of the helplessness and fear he felt when facing his old principal on his sickbed. He played the piano with emotion, occasionally looking up at Qu Jiaying's back in front of him.
He caught up at the last minute and provided the most perfect piano accompaniment.
Qu Jiaying finished her preliminary performance with a beautiful bow stroke.
All the contestants are waiting backstage. The judges will announce the scores today, and only ten people will advance to the finals.
Half of the judges were from China, and the other half were from different countries. Therefore, the scoring criteria were based on international standards, which many contestants could not meet.
After careful consideration, about twelve people had similar scores, and the judges needed to discuss them further.
The meeting room was filled with a mix of Chinese, English, and other less common languages.
"The piece this boy chose is quite difficult, and his technique is very consistent."
"Let it in."
"This girl's performance was very good, but her technique had some flaws."
"Oh, so you're one of Teacher Niu's students? About two months old, still has a lot of potential. Just here to practice, then let's see how it goes."
"I remember this Ruan Qi. She won a big prize when she was a child. Who is she with now?"
"She's been studying under Mr. Müller in Germany for the past two years. Mr. Hans, he's also your teacher, isn't he?"
"Yes, I heard she's improved a lot, and she did very well today; her performance was very nuanced."
After a round of discussions, it was finally Qu Jiaying's turn, which was the most difficult to evaluate, as each judge had a different opinion.
Mr. Hans mentioned that Xia Xiaolei was his senior, which made the judges realize that the relationship was more distant, and they all had their own considerations.
Then the discussion continued, and first someone mentioned the issue of steel accompaniment.
"This is utterly outrageous!"
However, some people disagree: "You have to admit that his way of dealing with things is not something that ordinary people can do."
Ernst's pieces are inherently difficult and demand a lot from the piano accompanist. Contestants who choose his pieces for the competition may have practiced them extensively beforehand and make very few mistakes. However, the piano accompanist doesn't have much time to practice; they usually choose his pieces only a short time in advance. Therefore, they often make mistakes when playing Ernst's pieces.
Anyone with a discerning eye could see that Yue Yi had made the last-minute changes. It was really difficult to follow Qu Jiaying's rhythm while reducing the number of notes, leaving only the main melody and harmony, but he didn't make any mistakes.
“I saw that Qu Jiaying’s pianist is her classmate, so they must have been practicing together for a long time. But that doesn’t prove anything.”
"Aren't we talking about violinists? The accompanist's skill level is irrelevant."
"Yes, Qu Jiaying handled the situation very well when her accompanist made a mistake. She didn't panic and kept adjusting, which was the key."
It's normal for the piano accompanist to make mistakes. Sometimes they play according to their own habits, which is different from the violinist's interpretation. This is also a mistake for the violinist, and they need to find a way to deal with it and not let the piano lead them astray.
Some violinists fail due to insufficient ability or lack of practice. In such cases, violinists need to find ways to cope. Some musicians are affected, while others continue playing regardless of the problem.
The problem is that the piano accompaniment sometimes can't be adjusted properly, so completely ignoring the piano's condition isn't the best approach either.
Ideally, both the violin and piano would be played perfectly without a single mistake.
Another approach is for the two people to cooperate and coordinate with each other to ultimately present a good live performance.
Qu Jiaying and Le Yi fell into the second category.
That's enough for this question; the most important thing is Qu Jiaying's performance.
"I don't understand the treatment in many places. Why is it interpreted that way? It's too different from the score."
"I think it's great. I saw you there and you were also nervous because of the music, and you were also very sad in the end."
"These are two different things. This is a competition with standards. What you're talking about is too subjective. Just because I was affected doesn't mean others were. Look at Teacher Yang, he didn't feel anything."
This is the contradiction of Qu Jiaying. The audience's feelings are subjective. Some people like it very much, while others feel it is so-so. The competition's standards may be due to traditional and conservative ideas, or perhaps because they require as much objectivity as possible, which makes them more willing to choose musicians who perform according to the original score.
However, Mr. Yang silently shook his head. As a classical musician who is closer to the commercial market, he knows very well that it is very difficult for musicians selected through competitions to actually go on to perform solo or even remain popular.
Teacher Yang analyzed Qu Jiaying's performance of "The Demon King" with a rational, business-minded mind. Because of some flaws, he was not able to fully immerse himself in it, but that did not mean he was not drawn into her emotions.
Perhaps the tension on stage amplified his emotions, especially the intense sense of lingering grief at the end.
Teacher Zhu commented: "This is a student from my alma mater. I paid a little attention to her before the competition. She had made a video with a girl in the wind band before. In the video, you could tell that her technique was good, but there was no feeling. But today's performance was completely different. She was very infectious."
Teacher Yang said, "Her stage movements are very natural and not at all pretentious. Many people try to act deliberately and it looks fake, but she expresses her true feelings."
Mr. Hans nodded and said, "Her gaze sometimes falls on the audience, and she smiles gently like a demon king, with a touch of mystery. She has a strong charisma and will be very popular with music fans."
The judges, who demanded a more objective assessment or disliked Qu Jiaying's novel performance, exchanged silent glances.
Finally, the twelve candidates will be ranked in order, and only the top ten will be announced.
The backstage rest area was chaotic, just like a noisy exam hall after an exam, except for one quiet corner.
Le Yi kept her head down. Qu Jiaying couldn't bear to see this, so she took out the chocolate that Yan Zheng had given her from her coat pocket and handed it to Le Yi.
"Are you completely exhausted? Don't have low blood sugar. When the results come out, if you end up like Fan Jin passing the imperial examination, I won't be able to stop you," Qu Jiaying said.
Le Yi slowly took the chocolate and sincerely apologized, "I'm sorry..."
Qu Jiaying didn't blame him. She gently patted his back and said, "You did very well, and the finishing touch was better than ever before. We cooperated so well today, we should be happy about that."
Le Yi forced a smile and said with a spirited expression, "Fan Jin passed the imperial examination? Is that a compliment, implying I'll definitely pass, or is it an insult, suggesting that someone as indifferent to exams as me would go crazy?"
Qu Jiaying's eyes crinkled into a smile as she laughed heartily.
Le Yi couldn't help but laugh easily, "You just love to tease me, don't you?"
"Then I should insult others?"
"No, only I can shoulder such a heavy responsibility."
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