In the days of saying goodbye to the old and welcoming the new, we can enjoy a cozy atmosphere by making tea around the stove, having a feast with friends and friends, admiring the beauty of fireworks blooming, and walking into the concert hall to listen to a New Year's concert. Welcome the arrival of the new year.

　　In our country, after decades of development, the New Year's concert has gradually developed from a small and elegant art to a public cultural activity that is widely participated by the people.

According to the author's incomplete statistics, recently, more than 100 cities have held various types of New Year's concerts.

The New Year's Concert brings together Chinese and foreign music masterpieces, using the world's common music language as the carrier, to convey joy, send blessings, and bring hope. Beauty is a need."

　　An old and new tradition

　　New Year's Concert This form of welcoming the New Year with orchestral symphony performances was born in Europe, starting with the Vienna New Year's Concert.

On December 31, 1847, a concert was being held on an open-air stage outside Vienna.

The conductor of the concert is Johann Strauss Sr.

This is the origin of the Vienna New Year's Concert.

On December 31, 1939, the first Vienna New Year's Concert was held in Vienna's Golden Hall.

At that time, the whole of Europe was shrouded in the flames of war. Whether it was dignitaries or traffickers, their hearts were full of depression and depression.

Singing conveys hope, and music carries strength.

The New Year's Concert will bring spiritual comfort to people, allowing them to regain their confidence in life and the courage to move forward in classical music such as "The Blue Danube" and "Radetsky March".

After World War II, it became a local habit to hold New Year's concerts at the end of the year and the beginning of the year, and was gradually adopted by the rest of the world, becoming an important way for people all over the world to celebrate the New Year.

　　In 1987, CCTV broadcast the Vienna New Year's Concert for the first time, and introduced the content of the music, the background of the times and the customs of Austria during the broadcast, which aroused strong repercussions among the audience.

Since then, the imported art of the New Year Concert has grown from scratch in China, and has become an indispensable New Year celebration in many cities in my country.

　　The Guangzhou New Year Concert, founded in 1993, and the Beijing New Year Concert, founded in 1996, are relatively early Chinese New Year concert brands in my country, and have now become important cultural cards of their respective cities.

In addition to city New Year's concerts, many art troupes and universities have also held various types of New Year's concerts in recent years.

According to the statistics of industry insiders, the number and scale of New Year's concerts in various parts of China now rank first in the world.

　　In foreign countries, the New Year's concert belongs to Yangchun Baixue, and it is also a way of socializing.

Just like the Chinese used to go to the theater during the Chinese New Year, appreciating classical music is part of the social life of Westerners at the end of the year.

In my country, after more than 30 years of development, New Year's concerts have gradually become popular in large and medium-sized cities, and have completed popularization and localization transformation.

In today's era that emphasizes the sense of ritual, traditional New Year's activities are declining day by day, and more and more people take the New Year's concert with collective participation as their New Year's Eve choice.

In addition, no matter at home or abroad, New Year's concerts always show the most civilized and elegant side of human beings. Relaxation, enthusiasm, cheerfulness, and festiveness are almost the common features of all New Year's concerts, which also satisfy people's expectations for the New Year. expectations.

Therefore, the New Year's concert has developed from a purely artistic performance to an artistic symbol and cultural brand, and appreciating the New Year's concert has gradually become a New Year's custom for Chinese people.

　　Wonderful music feast

　　For more than a hundred years, the New Year's Concert has been regarded as a symbolic ceremony in the classical music world, an important window for people to understand and appreciate classical music, and an important stage for major orchestras to showcase their strengths.

Therefore, domestic and foreign orchestras often collect global classics at the New Year's concert, and provide the audience with the best performances.

At the New Year's Concert, the works of music masters such as Strauss, Beethoven, Mozart, Tchaikovsky, and Shostakovich were presented in a concentrated manner, and different types of music works such as symphonies, orchestras, and concertos were staged in turn. It can be said that the New Year's Concert is the concert version of the Spring Festival Gala.

　　As an annual music feast, although the "Strauss phenomenon" exists to varying degrees in the selection of repertoires for the New Year's concerts in various places-some representative works of the Strauss family are always performed, but the new repertoires are also Increasingly diversified.

These tracks not only reflect the public's aesthetic taste, but also reflect the latest achievements and development trends in the music industry.

Take this year's New Year's Concert of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra as an example. Among the 15 pieces of music that do not include encores on the program list, 13 are performed for the first time at the New Year's Concert of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra.

These innovative moves show that the New Year's concert is advancing with the times to meet the ever-changing aesthetic needs of the audience.

　　In recent years, the addition of new elements, new themes and popular music has brought new ideas to the New Year's concert.

For example, one year, the Shanghai Jiading Super Burning Epic New Year Symphony Concert performed the world's popular pop song "Victory" with an orchestral symphony, allowing the works of Beethoven and other classical musicians to compete with pop music and rock music on the same stage. In the context of the New Year's Eve, the audience has gained an elegant and gorgeous aesthetic experience.

Film and television music has gradually become a common type of music at New Year's concerts.

For example, one year, the Nanjing New Year's Concert used the episode "The Sound of Snow Falling" from the hit "Story of Yanxi Palace" at that time, while a New Year's concert in Shanghai played the movie "Lord of the Rings" soundtrack "Concerning Hobbits" ", the music combined with the clips of film and television works on the big screen on the stage gave the audience a strong sense of substitution and perfectly enhanced the atmosphere of the concert scene.

　　With the advancement of communication technology, the form of the New Year's concert is also changing.

In the past two years, various online New Year concerts, online New Year concerts, and cloud New Year concerts have emerged.

For example, the Shanghai New Year Concert in 2023 will be changed from live performances to online companionship, and through the form of classic video broadcasts, we will knock on the door of the New Year with the audience.

Although the form of the New Year's concert is changing, the notes still carry the expectations of the New Year, and the music still conveys the most beautiful wishes.

　　more and more Chinese taste

　　As an imported product, the New Year's Concert has become more and more Chinese in the process of integrating into Chinese society.

Western New Year's concerts are generally held on the last day of a natural year, but in my country, New Year's concerts last from New Year's Day to Spring Festival.

　　The bigger changes are manifested in the track selection.

Decades ago, when the New Year's Concert first came to my country, the repertoire was almost copied from the program list of the Western New Year's Concert, all of which were works by Western classical musicians such as Strauss, Beethoven, and Mozart.

Nowadays, when appreciating New Year's concerts has become a New Year's custom for Chinese people, the repertoire of New Year's concerts in various places is increasingly localized and regionalized. There are not only Western classical music, but also a large number of ethnic folk music.

Taking the 2023 Beijing New Year Concert as an example, the opening song is the magnificent "Ode to the Red Flag", followed by the Peking Opera Symphony "Sexy Rivers and Mountains", Guzheng and Orchestra "Little River Capriccio", Erhu and Orchestra "Introduction, Yin "Tune and Allegro", pipa and band "Plateau Soul" and other works with strong national characteristics were staged in turn, highlighting the brand creative concept of "international standards, Chinese style, Beijing characteristics, and festive atmosphere".

　　Today, the New Year's Concert has not only become a yearly event for the Chinese people, but also a window for the world to understand Chinese culture and a bridge for cultural exchanges between China and foreign countries.

Take the "Happy Chinese New Year Harmony and Coexistence" concert, which was held on January 14th on Lunar New Year's Eve, as an example. "Ode to Huang Zhong Dalu", and "Yuan Universe" style work "Sacred Bird" by pipa player Zhao Cong and virtual singer Luo Tianyi; Performer Lang Lang completed the work "Tai Chi Rhapsody" with the collision and integration of piano, guqin, guzheng, hip-hop, electronic music, and Tai Chi; there is not only the "Voice of Spring Waltz" performed through the combination of symphony and ballet, but also the "Waltz of the Voice of Spring" that unites the Chinese nation. The magnificent "Echo of the Earth" and "Hundred Birds Facing the Phoenix" and "Happy Suite" embody "peace is precious".

　　With the continuous improvement of China's international influence, Chinese New Year Concerts have begun to go abroad, using music to tell Chinese stories to the world.

For example, a Chinese New Year concert with the theme of "Echoes of Tang Poetry" was recently staged at Lincoln Center in New York, bringing an audio-visual feast to local audiences that transcends ancient and modern times and integrates Chinese and Western cultures.

In the collision of classical and modern art, and the interaction between Eastern and Western civilizations, the New Year's Concert exuding a rich flavor of Chinese culture aroused the emotional resonance of foreign audiences.

　　(Author: Li Yueqing, a researcher at the South-Central University for Nationalities Branch Center of the Research Center for the Theoretical System of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics in Hubei Province, and a lecturer at the School of Music and Dance of South-Central University for Nationalities; Wu Han, deputy dean and professor of the School of Music and Dance, South-Central University for Nationalities)

　　Guangming Daily