Chapter 179
Chapter 179
Bai Ai’s symphony concert was still held in the Golden Hall that year. Ladies and gentlemen from all over the world dressed in formal attire as they stepped onto the red carpet leading to the Friends of Music Association building. They looked forward to entering the world-renowned concert hall.
Dorenza took advantage of his position to give each member of Wei Ai a ticket to Bai Ai’s concert. The ticket looked like a thin card, but everyone knew how important the black stamping card was——
It was an invitation letter that many music fans could only dream of!
Although many members of Wei Ai chanted, “I don’t want to go to Bai Ai’s concert,” and “The first stop of their performance is at our front door, this is naked provocation! I won’t listen to it!”, on the evening of the performance, those who refused to attend the concert during the day all appeared at the entrance of the concert hall in formal clothes.
“Charlie, didn’t you say that whoever listened to who was a dog?”
“Bark, bark, bark!”
“……”
When the concert began, Qi Mu sat on Droenza’s right-hand side. They spoke to each other in low voices.
For the professionals, listening to Bai Ai’s concert wasn’t only for the appreciation of classical music, but more importantly, to improve their own experience from the other side’s staffing, music style, and the performance of the repertoire.
At the time, Qi Mu didn’t care who the conductor was. As Wei Ai’s deputy chief, it was urgent for him to learn from Bai Ai’s concert.
So when Min Chen looked down at him, Qi Mu simply turned his head and whispered, “Mr. Dorenza, there are 11 people in Bai Ai’s first violin group….”
Min Chen: ”……”
After the members of Bai Ai’s orchestra bowed and thanked the audience beneath the stage, they began to play Beethoven’s 《Destiny Symphony》.
If they dared to start with 《Destiny》, they had to have the strength to compete with 《Destiny》.
In the magnificent concert hall, the auditorium was silent, but the sound on stage was extremely loud, with an overwhelming vigor, roaring through the concert hall.The French horn blazed with the music of life, and the string instruments played quickly and tensely. Everything seemed to be welcoming the tense turning point, trembling for life!
This piece of music was already familiar and imprinted in the hearts of the audience. As it grew closer to the climax, many people even flushed with excitement, waiting for the clarion call of the heroes to liberate themselves. They could defeat the shackles of fate!
Bai Ai’s music style was as elegant as ever. Their polished metallic timbre added a lot of color to the resolute song, making it even more indescribable and majestic.
From Qi Mu’s point of view, there was no way to see the expression of the man on the conductor’s stage, but from the other side’s vigorous conductor, he felt that the man was fighting the behemoth of fate.
The piece was even more wonderful than when he heard it in the Bai Ai rehearsal hall a month ago. The powerful moral made people move to avoid its edge, but also experience the dazzling and admirable emotion. With all its beauty and peculiarities, this was the best group in the world——the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra.
After 《Destiny》finished, they played 《Jupiter》, 《Paris》…
Every time the music sounded, it was like the God of music waving his wand on stage, sharing the sounds of nature that belonged to God with the world.
At first, Qi Mu still tried his best to analyze the size of the concert sensibly, to understand “Why arrange such a sequence?”, “Why let the second violin group play this section?”, and so on. In the end, though, he immersed himself in the infinite sound of music and forgot his original task.
Once all four symphonies finished, Qi Mu couldn’t help clapping. He sighed, “Mr. Dorenza, I forgot to analyze Bai Ai’s concert. I was so careless.”
However, Dorenza just smiled and shook his head. He said, “Little Seven, if you can always enjoy this concert rationally and seriously from an objective point of view, then this concert has value for us to learn from experience. Austin has made great progress. Compared with last year, even I was shocked by his 《Jupiter》, not to mention you? You are still young, it’s all a matter of course.”
Although Dorenza said so, Qi Mu still felt that he had many shortcomings to improve.
Therefore, after the concert ended and Min Chen and Qi Mu returned home, before Min Chen could hang his coat on the rack, he heard the serious voice of the youth behind him, “Min Chen, can you explain some things about the four pieces tonight?”
Slightly startled, Min Chen didn’t react for a moment. “What?”
Qi Mu raised his head, his beautiful face full of solemn expression. “I saw Bai Ai’s progress tonight. There’s still a gap between me and Christole, but there is not so much time left for me to take over after Mr. Anthony retires. Can you help me review the concert tonight?”
Min Chen: “…All four?”
“Yes, all four symphonies.” He also felt that his request was a little overwhelming. Sighing helplessly, Qi Mu said, “You are leaving Vienna tomorrow morning. It’s really a bit too busy. In fact, just one symphony will do.”
“Good.”
The man’s low magnetic voice interrupted the young man’s next words. Qi Mu looked up in surprise and saw that the cool, elegant man now had slightly raised the corners of his lips and reached out to take him into his arms.
Pressed into his chest, Qi Mu suddenly didn’t know what to do. He only heard the other party’s extremely gentle voice say, “My love wants to make progress. As your lover, I shall definitely satisfy this small request.”
A warm current surged into his heart. Qi Mu wrapped his arms around the man’s thin waist and whispered, “Min Chen… Why are you leaving again tomorrow…”
“Because I have to go quickly, so you can chase me later.”
Qi Mu couldn’t help laughing. “Then I have to follow up faster.”
Over the next five hours, the two sat on the piano bench in the music room and reviewed Bai Ai’s concert. From the first song《Destiny》to the last song, 《Trout》, the man’s slender fingers moved smoothly and vividly against the black and white keys. The beautiful notes flowed gently out.
Sometimes Qi Mu would suddenly understand something, then quickly get up to pick up his violin and practice. Most of the time, though, he listened to Min Chen’s performance carefully, feeling that he was very small. In the end, he archived every small adaptation, what emotions were expressed and the different effects it achieved.
Every conductor had their own style of music. In fact, Qi Mu realized that…
He liked Austin Bertram’s style most of all.
Just like what Professor Karl said two years earlier: your music style is very similar to Austin Bertram.
Yes, his violin style was really similar to this man’s style, and he tried his best to pursue the perfect melody, rigorous solemnity, and magnificence with the most perfect, critical eyes to understand the classical, orthodox sound.
It turned out he liked him the most from the beginning….
When he played the third movement of 《Trout》for the second time, Min Chen felt his shoulders sink. The movement of his fingers on the keys suddenly stopped. He turned to see that the young man was too tired to go on and had fallen asleep on his shoulder.
With a gentle gaze as quiet as the deep sea, Min Chen gently took the paper and pen in the young man’s hand to write some notes, then picked him up. He brought him to the bedroom and laid him gently on the big, soft bed.
Sitting on the edge of the bed, Min Chen didn’t speak. He just watched the younger man sleeping soundly.
The white blanket made Qi Mu’s cheeks look even more chipped down. Min Chen knew that in the two months he’d been away, the young man completely threw himself into his busy schedule. He was already thin, but he lost even more weight.
“You worked too hard…”
Little more than a murmured sigh, Min Chen leaned down and pressed a kiss to Qi Mu’s pale forehead.
At that time, the sky was coated with a layer of marble white. The morning sun struggled to climb into the sky, its golden light already penetrating the clouds and giving the horizon a golden edge.
Min Chen stretched his hand out to pull up the quilt for the young man. After cleaning the room, he took the suitcase and gently pushed open the door to leave. After the solid wooden door closed, the house grew quiet. The golden sun finally broke past the horizon, coating the world in a layer of brilliant gold.
Qi Mu woke up at noon.
Min Chen left the note for him to find on the bedside table. In flowing Chinese characters, he wrote, 【I asked for leave from the orchestra for you. Have a good rest. Don’t get any thinner. Min Chen.】Looking at the handwriting on the note, Qi Mu couldn’t help putting it on his heart. It was as if he could still feel the residual warmth of the man this way.
Min Chen had already worked hard, so naturally, he couldn’t stop there.
Qi Mu spent the whole day recuperating his body and regaining his energy. The next day, he went to the orchestra again to participate in rehearsal.
A week of dazzling time passed. When the members of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra arrived in Brussels, Belgium, Qi Mu stood before the grand door of the La Monnaie theater and looked up slightly, as if he had already seen the performance of Wei Ai the next night. It was his first official performance since he entered the orchestra.