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爵士蕭邦－主辦及主唱葛拉慈娜‧奧古斯琪克

轉譯自 紐約時報 2010年7月22日 芝加哥熱聞

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/23/us/23cncchopin.html

雖然全世界各地的演奏會都在歡慶波蘭作曲家蕭邦二百壽辰，但直到這個週末才出現一位美國爵士歌手，一位波蘭手風琴家，以及一組國際長號樂團，還有許多異國樂器為蕭邦大壽增添不同的風情。

這場為慶祝蕭邦200年的陣容，是由一位生於波蘭且活躍於芝加哥的爵士歌手葛拉慈娜‧奧古斯琪克所召集，音樂會將在本週日(7月25日)下午6點30分於千禧公園舉行。

音樂會將全場演出蕭邦的作品，並且出乎意料地運用鋼琴以外的樂器來改編演出，當年蕭邦幾乎完全使用鋼琴來進行作曲。（不過音樂會還是有一位鋼琴家安得烈茲‧雅哥金斯基上場，但是他演奏的是爵士版的b小調鋼琴奏鳴曲）

促成這場音樂會計畫的靈感之一，來自於Novi Singer這個波蘭爵士合唱團體在1971年的錄音，他們以無伴奏人聲來演出蕭邦的音樂，深深吸引了奧古斯琪克女士。另一個靈感來自數年前耶誕節音樂會上，她自己與芝加哥國際長號樂團的 合作演出。

「這是我第一次與國際長號樂團而且是純古典樂團一起合作的經驗—他們一點都不會隨興演出。」她說：「但我們配合的非常之好，無論是長號或歌唱都是。」

由於回想起Novi Singer的表演，奧古斯琪克女士因此決定以爵士樂的方式唱出蕭邦的作品，但也以音調和諧的長號來取代其他歌手的和聲。（許多音樂家都認為伸縮長號的聲音相當類似於人聲，因為它的演奏範圍與技巧能製造出滑音－也就是在音調上吹出連續不斷的音聲）

而她也開始添加各種音樂元素到她的計畫中，包括帕林荷‧賈希亞－芝加哥的巴沙諾瓦（bossa nova）吉他手與歌手，霍華德‧拉威－一位具有創新力的爵士口琴家，加雷克‧貝斯特－波蘭的手風琴演奏名家。

將這些藝術家集合在一塊，代價並不低廉，但這場音樂會卻未從管理千禧公園各項演出的文化事務部門取得一分一毫的資助。

「我們可以提供場地以及推廣演出成果，」管理當局的資深演出主任馬克‧歐洛佛說：「但我們在預算中確實沒有經費可以撥給在千禧公園的演出。每個團體進行各場戶外演出時，都必須自行吸收他們花費的款項。」

歐洛佛先生頗為激賞奧古斯琪克女士的演出計畫，但當他看到美金3萬元的演出費用後，仍嚇了一大跳。—甚至後來他還看到奧古斯琪克在Facebook上的募款活動，通常那是發生在企業世界裡的互動及努力方式。

「不過一切都運作的很好，」歐洛佛先生說道：「她本來可以選擇一個更小型的場地，並且收取費用。但事實上是她依然採取這麼大的規模，並且在公開場地演出，這種結果非常不容易。」

後來駐芝加哥的波蘭領事願意支應這次演出的大部分經費，但剩餘的費用還是得由奧古斯琪克女士自己來想辦法負擔。她說她之所以應允安排這次演出，是因為她認為這次演出相當重要，可以將她原生地的音樂，在芝加哥眾多的波蘭裔人口的支持下，與接納她的城市裡的人民共同分享。

「但我還必須進行一些募款，」她在上週如是說：「我本以為應該相當容易，不過這些日子也有很多音樂家正在為他們的計畫募款，所以時間已經消耗殆盡了。」

在藝術跨界結合的熱望上，對於奧古斯琪克女士來說並不陌生。自從1994年搬到芝加哥後，她已經錄製了12張冠名專輯，展現了她在音樂上願意進行冒險，而且日益增長的渴望。她開始鮮明地重新詮釋爵士的標準演出方式,，並且與賈希亞合作錄製了三張巴沙諾瓦風格專輯中的第一張。在那十年間，她以擁抱自己文化遺產的方式而不是以一貫的柔聲方法來演繹，並為她冷靜、不帶情緒而即興的歌唱方式，發展出穩固的合作關係。她還借用東歐的民歌旋律編寫大膽的作品，探討完全不同的音樂風格，像是波蘭的克雷茲默（klezmer）音樂，並且使用電子與數位音效。

這次演出的安排將大大地推動偏離正軌的「古典與爵士」的混生體。鑑於器樂演奏本身可能還不夠激進，所以奧古斯琪克女士運用了足以破除傳統的方式，引進爵士歌手與樂手。

蕭邦的音樂擁有羅曼蒂克的節奏和讓人難以忘懷的旋律，早已依照特有的方式穿透到大眾文化中。巴利‧馬尼羅（Barry Manilow）1973年的暢銷曲《Could It Be Magic》就是以蕭邦第20號前奏曲為底本。安東尼奧‧卡羅素‧喬賓（Antônio Carlos Jobim）使用蕭邦第4號前奏曲為基礎創作出永恆的巴沙諾瓦歌曲《Insensatez》。而蕭邦第2號奏鳴曲中的〈葬禮進行曲〉（Funeral March）長久以來已成為命運起伏的象徵，也在卡通動畫的悲傷場景中出現。

蕭邦逝世於1849年，帶走了優雅的傳統遺緒，以及憂鬱的鋼琴作品。爵士音樂則晚至75年後才現身，由莫頓（Jelly Roll Morton）與阿姆斯壯（Louis Armstrong）進行聲音沙啞的首次偉大錄音。要在這兩者之間抓到6度甚至60度的分離音級並不是件容易的事。

曾有少數幾位美國爵士藝人已嘗試跨越這道鴻溝，雖然奧古斯琪克女士說這種做法在波蘭並不尋常。

「爵士樂手在波蘭可以為蕭邦帶進若干相當有趣的觀點。」古斯琪克女士道：「這就像是一場探索，尤其在這個與蕭邦有關的特別的一年，相關演出計畫又那麼的多，其中有些相當不好，但有些則極為美妙。」

她已經盡了非常大的努力—包括在藝術方面，財務方面與演出支援方面，這次演出勢必為芝加哥帶來若干關於蕭邦的「有趣觀點」之一。


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奧古斯琪克爵士演出蕭邦作品

Grazyna Auguscik Prelude C-min op.28 nr 20 Fryderyka Chopina

Grazyna Auguscik Mazurka G-min op.24 nr 1 Fryderyka Chopina

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A Night of Jazz for Chopin’s 200th Birthday
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/23/us/23cncchopin.html
The New York Times
By NEIL TESSER
Published: July 22, 2010

Concerts worldwide are celebrating the bicentennial of the birth of the Polish composer Frédéric Chopin, but until this weekend none have involved an American jazz vocalist, a Polish accordionist and an international trombone choir, spiced with harmonica and oud.

That is the lineup for Chopin 200, a program conceived by Grazyna Auguscik, the Polish-born jazz singer based in Chicago, which she will perform at 6:30 p.m. Sunday in Millennium Park.

The program is made up entirely of Chopin’s works in unexpected arrangements that omit piano, the instrument for which the composer wrote almost exclusively. (The program does include a pianist, Andrzej Jagodzinski, who will play a jazz interpretation of the Sonata in B-flat Minor.)

One inspiration for the project was a 1971 recording by the Novi Singers, a Polish vocal jazz ensemble, with a capella treatments of Chopin’s music that captivated Ms. Auguscik. Another was a concert of Christmas music that she performed a few years ago with the Chicago International Trombone Ensemble.

“It was my first experience working with trombones and with an only-classical group — they don’t improvise,” she said. “But we blend so well, the trombones and voice.”

Recalling the Novi Singers’ performance, Ms. Auguscik (pronounced ow-GOOS-chik) decided she would sing jazz versions of Chopin’s works but replace the other vocalists with harmonious trombones. (Many musicians consider the slide trombone the instrument closest to the human voice, because of its range and its ability to create glissando, or a continuous glide in pitch.)

She began to add other elements to her vision, including Paulinho Garcia, a Chicago bossa nova guitarist and vocalist; Howard Levy, the innovative jazz harmonica player; and Jarek Bester, the Polish accordion virtuoso.

Bringing all these artists together is not cheap, and no money was available from the Department of Cultural Affairs, which administers the programs at Millennium Park.

“We can offer the venue and our services in producing and marketing,” said Mike Orlove, the senior program director at the agency. “But we have virtually no money in our budget for evening programming at Millennium. When an outside group produces an event, they have to cover those costs.”

Mr. Orlove was impressed with Ms. Auguscik’s proposal, but taken aback when he saw the price tag of $30,000 — and even more so when he saw that figure in Ms. Auguscik’s fund-raising campaign on Facebook. Usually, such efforts occur in the corporate world and under the radar.

“But it’s all worked out fine,” Mr. Orlove said. “She could have chosen a smaller venue and charged admission. The fact that she’s doing it on this scale, in a public venue, is extraordinary.”

The Polish Consulate supplied most of the money, but the rest of the burden still rests on Ms. Auguscik. She said she had agreed to the arrangement because she thought it was important to share the music of her native land with the people of her adopted city, with the support of Chicago’s huge Polish population.

“But I have to do some fund-raising still,” she said last week. “I thought it would be easier, but these days a lot of musicians are raising funds for their own projects. It’s time-consuming.”

Ms. Auguscik is no stranger to ambitious artistic fusions. Since moving here in 1994, she has recorded a dozen albums under her own name that show an increasing appetite for musical adventurism. She started with stark re-examinations of jazz standards, then recorded the first of three bossa nova albums with Mr. Garcia. In this decade, she has worked to embrace her cultural heritage without being smothered by it, steadily accruing new collaborators for her cool, unsentimental approach to singing and improvisation. She has written audacious pieces that borrow from folk melodies of Eastern Europe; explored different idioms, like Polish klezmer music; and made use of electronics and digital effects.

The arrangements can roam far afield of the usual “classical-with-jazz” hybrid. As if the instrumentation itself were not radical enough, Ms. Auguscik makes considerable use of the iconoclastic timbres available to jazz vocalists and instrumentalists. Chopin’s pieces remain recognizable, but often as catalysts for other musical interactions.

Chopin’s music, with its romantic sweep and indelible melodies, had already found its way into pop culture. Barry Manilow’s 1973 hit, “Could It Be Magic,” was based on the Prelude No. 20; Antônio Carlos Jobim used the Prelude No. 4 as the basis for his enduring bossa nova classic “Insensatez” (“How Insensitive”). And the “Funeral March,” a movement from Chopin’s Piano Sonata No. 2, became long ago a symbol of doom and gloom in animated cartoons.

Chopin died in 1849, leaving a legacy of delicate, moody piano pieces. Jazz did not arrive until 75 years later, represented by the first great and raucous recordings of Jelly Roll Morton and Louis Armstrong. Finding six — or even 60 — degrees of separation between the two isn’t easy.

Few American jazz artists have tried to bridge that gap, although Ms. Auguscik said it was not unusual in Poland.

“Jazz musicians bring a lot of interesting perspectives to Chopin in Poland,” Ms. Auguscik said. “It’s like an explosion, especially this year, of Chopin projects. Some are very bad; some are beautiful.”

She has gone to great lengths — artistic, financial, and logistical — to bring one of those “interesting perspectives” to Chopin in Chicago.