How to create great works in silence?, Pianist Zhang Haochen's Dialogue with Beethoven: Sonata after Deafness | Music | Beethoven

How to describe music with words? When Zhang Haochen, a pianist born in the 1990s, wrote the book "Beyond Performance", this issue plagued him from beginning to end. As a pianist, he always creates sound, while words are a silent medium.

This dilemma reminds him of Beethoven. How did Beethoven write his great works when he completely lost his hearing in his later years? "It's hard to imagine that a painter who goes blind can still create great works. Beethoven, who became deaf, created music in silence, and these notes were unverified and unverified by hearing, completely relying on his imagination. Therefore, talking to late Beethoven is a dialogue with the symbols and intentions in his mind."

In "Beyond Performance", Beethoven appears repeatedly in many chapters, becoming a "mirror" for many composers. During the writing process, Zhang Haochen felt closer to Beethoven, gaining new dimensions and passion to observe him. After careful consideration, he finally decided to open the door to dialogue with Beethoven in his later years through his four piano sonatas in the middle and late stages.

Starting from July 1st, Zhang Haochen will start his 2023 national tour with these four works. This tour will span 19 cities in China, covering new and old theaters in North China, East China, Central China, South China, and West China. The four piano sonatas include "Piano Sonata No. 24 in F flat major, Op.78", "Piano Sonata No. 29 in B flat major, Hammer Clavier", Op.106 "," Piano Sonata No. 30 in E major, Op.109 ", and" Piano Sonata No. 32 in C minor, Op.11 ". These works reveal the bottleneck, turning point, and transcendence of Beethoven's middle and late creative career on the keyboard.

The last ray of light in life

It is said that Beethoven was the culmination of classicism and the pioneer of romanticism. Some people believe that his later works were more romantic. But Zhang Haochen does not agree. In his view, Beethoven's late works are completely "fighting against romance".

"Some of his later quartets are even closer to modernist relationships. He has made too many attempts in these works, and I think these attempts may be related to his inability to hear. I have been thinking, if he could hear, would he not write like this, or would he dare not write like this. So, there is something in his later works that I can call courage, which comes from his loneliness. This loneliness is not isolated from society, but from sound."

Works 106 and 111 are both bulky sonatas that are usually not placed in the same concert, but Zhang Haochen placed them separately in the first and second halves, resulting in the entire performance exceeding the limit. "Although they are both late works and were both deaf at the time of creation, Beethoven's mood in writing these two works is very different," said Zhang Haochen.

Before writing work 106, Beethoven had not written any works for a whole year, which was not in line with convention for a hardworking artist like him. That year, there were many household chores bothering him, and he also had a sense of crisis in his creative work, as if all his styles and techniques had been used to the extreme, not knowing where to go next.

However, after a year of silence, work 106 was born. Beethoven excitedly wrote in a letter to a friend, "I finally know how to compose.". Zhang Haochen said, "It's strange that a music master like Beethoven lived to be in his fifties, and suddenly one day, he said he knew how to compose. Many people think that this work was written in the late stage, and the theme is related to death, so it was played very heavily. But in my opinion, Work 106 is like a rebirth. It was almost the last ray of light in his life that suddenly shone in. I would describe it as his last spring, full of vitality."

In work 111, Zhang Haochen feels a sense of release from life. "It seems that he doesn't have anything else to write, and after that, he hasn't written any more sonatas. '111' is a small ending for Beethoven."

The other two sonatas, Op. 78 and Op. 109, in Zhang Haochen's view, are more free and ambiguous. Op. 78 is Beethoven's favorite sonata, which opens like a monologue with rich and subtle details in between. Four sonatas are interwoven and arranged to form different levels.

But music is always young

Zhang Haochen grew old in his youth. At the age of 11, he became a disciple of piano educator Dan Zhaoyi. In 2005, he was admitted to the Curtis Conservatory of Music, known as the "cradle of soloists", with first place results. He studied under piano educator Grafman and graduated from the same school as Lang Lang and Wang Yujia. He won the gold medal at the Van Cleben International Piano Competition at the age of 19, becoming the first Asian to win this top-level competition championship. In 2017, Zhang Haochen won the prestigious Avery Fisher Music Professional Award.

In addition to his superb performance skills, Zhang Haochen also demonstrates a maturity and depth beyond his age, conveying sincere emotions and rich musical ideas in music. This is not only reflected in his performance, but also in his writing. Last year's publication "Beyond Performance" showcased a young pianist's contemplation on music, art, and philosophy. It received a rating of 9.0 on Douban and was included in the annual humanities book list by many readers.

In recent years, Zhang Haochen not only collaborated with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, the Lucerne Festival Orchestra, and the French Broadcasting Philharmonic Orchestra for the first time, but also conducted an Asian tour with the Philadelphia Symphony Orchestra and recorded all of Beethoven's piano concertos. This year, after completing a high-intensity international performance, Zhang Haochen shifted his focus to this national tour. This will be Zhang Haochen's first Beethoven piano sonata tour, and also his first piano solo concert tour in 13 years to focus on the works of a single composer. On August 8th, the Shanghai tour will be held at the Shanghai Oriental Art Center.

Some people say that a pianist must be 60 years old to perform Beethoven's late works well, because these works require life experience. But Zhang Haochen began to enjoy Beethoven's late works very early on. 11 years ago, he played Beethoven's last sonata, Op. 111, at the graduation concert of Curtis Conservatory of Music.

Zhang Haochen said, "I think whether you play these works at the age of 20, 40, or 60, you will have different feelings. Whether you are a composer or a performer, you are getting older day by day, but music is always young. That's why we play these ancient works today. It can be considered as works from hundreds of years ago. When music starts playing, it belongs to this moment, to you and me."