King of Classical Music 203

The lively and spacious Isaac Stern Auditorium was Carnegie Hall’s main concert hall, bearing a background of warm beige and red. The building’s milky white marble structure and special sound equipment made concerts here a first class music experience. As soon as they entered, everyone felt its warmth and romance. 

At that moment, the auditorium’s more than 2,800 seats had been filled with people one after another. Onstage, there were twice the number of chairs as before! Obviously, Wei Ai and New Ai intended to integrate the members of their two orchestras. 

After the audience entered the venue and the warning tone sounded, the auditorium gradually fell silent. The first musician appeared on one side of the stage. Applause broke out immediately. The audience warmly welcomed the outstanding musicians. 

A total of 70% of members from each orchestra had been selected for this performance. The two parties entered and sat in staggered order, creating a veritable ensemble. 

Once the two deputy concertmasters entered the stage, it was the concertmasters’ turn.

Qi Mu took a deep breath as he prepared to step out from beyond the curtain, but someone grabbed him. He turned his head in surprise and saw the bearded concertmaster. With a smile, he said, “This is our home court, of course we have to go first. Little Seven, please don’t make me embarrassed.” 

Qi Mu was stunned, then smiled and nodded. He watched Hooke’s disappearing figure but was moved in his heart: he said it was to keep from embarrassing him, but in fact… Hooke was taking care of him. As he understood, the more important person appeared last. Hooke was encouraging and supporting him.

But for the moment, Qi Mu lifted his head confidently and walked onto the stage. 

Overwhelming applause filled the concert hall as if to welcome this top orchestra from afar with its greatest strength, but also to welcome the outstanding, young violinist of Wei Ai. 

After Mr. Boswell took the stage, the famous conductor led the orchestra to bow to the audience. He didn’t explain why there were two concertmasters onstage, so he stood as his own conductor. He stood, raised the baton, and created sound!

There could be two lead violinists onstage, but there could never be two conductors onstage. For tonight’s concert, Mr. Boswell would serve as conductor for the first half, and Mr. Dorenza the second. 

The violin played cheerfully and easily, and the familiar music made the audience smile. 

This piece was the 《Spring》movement of Vivaldi’s 《Four Seasons》, also known as 《Violin Concerto in E Major》.

The world-renowned Italian composer was born into a fine musical family. His smooth and happy life was accompanied by notes that always jumped easily. As a representative of the Baroque style, Vivaldi’s music had a strong classical color. It was orthodox and dignified, but also lively and light. 

《Four Seasons》was Vivaldi’s most famous masterpiece. 

Onstage, the stringed instruments played attentively and conscientiously. Their bows pulled up and down with great rhythm and the wonderful sounds of the instruments poured out, flowing from its holes and bringing beauty and fragrance to the audience. 

Vivaldi was the first musician to use music to describe the four seasons. In his music, the liveliness of the violin was like a bird singing for the spring breeze, while the naughty onomatopoeia of the viola seemed to be a loyal puppy barking along. 

The first movement of 《Spring》was a happy, beautiful allegro, which had the moving alias, “The Song of the Birds”. In the concert hall, the euphemistic stringed instruments played leisurely. The musicians skillfully danced their bows to create each staccato. 

The cello hummed slightly, like a rainstorm about to hit. The wind instruments rumbled like the spring rain under the thunder and lightning. It was the joy of the stringed instruments that caused the dark clouds to dissipate, their music floating back up again. 

The beating notes flowed throughout the concert hall. They happily danced hand in hand, sharing the joy of spring with everyone in the audience. 

Mr. Boswell raised the baton, and the two excellent concertmasters led the first violin group to make the music rise sharply. Mr. Boswell hurriedly held down the baton, and the suddenly lighthearted sound seemed to brew. 

Finally!

All the instruments played in unison, and all the instruments came together to form a joyful ocean of music!

In the early hours of the morning in Berlin, a handsome and indifferent man sat on the sofa, watching the concert live on TV. The deep, dark night outside created a quiet atmosphere, and the music flowing from the stereo made the exciting melody echo throughout the room. 

When all the melodies came together to form a grand, lively climax, even Min Chen couldn’t help the upward tilt at the corners of his lips. “His grasp of the point, ah… Mr. Boswell is really good at this warm melody.” 

His voice fell and he didn’t speak again. He continued to listen carefully to the sound from the speakers, as if he wanted to pinpoint the unique, beautiful violin of the young man onstage. But, after listening carefully for a long time, his face grew darker and darker. At the end of the piece, Min Chen couldn’t bear it. He made a phone call and said, “Daniel, I need you to change the speaker tomorrow.” 

“…You dare to call me at one o’clock in the morning for this kind of thing?!!!”

“I’ll keep listening to the music. Please handle this tomorrow.” 

“Believe it or not, I’ll kill you tomorrow…” 

Hanging up the phone decisively, Min Chen raised his head again, watching the concert. 

Although… he couldn’t tell his young man from such mixed elements, at least he could see his face, right?

Well, the live director of the concert was very good, and he gave a lot of shots to his family. 

…

Qi Mu, far away in New York, naturally didn’t know that the man on the opposite end of a television was secretly preparing to replace the speaker. After《Spring》, he played Rossini’s 《Six String Sonata》, Debussy’s 《Afternoon of the Faun》…

At this point, the first half of the concert ended, and Dorenza took over the baton and started on the passionate second half. 

Brahms’ 《Hungarian Dance No. 6》was used in the opening, with Mendelssohn’s 《A Midsummer Night’s Dream》used as a link. After the two pieces ended, amidst the audience’s thunderous applause, Dorenza smiled and bowed. Finally, he looked at the two concertmasters sitting beside him. 

Onstage, Qi Mu and Hooke looked at each other, then stood together. 

An uproar overtook the auditorium. Everyone watched in astonishment as the two concertmasters rose. 

The all knew New Ai’s lead violinist Hooke, and beside him was obviously Wei Ai’s new lead violinist Qi Mu. The young, handsome violinist was known for his outstanding violin technique, with music full of emotion and dynamism.    

It was nice that they were both concertmasters… but, why did they both stand up?!

Even if they wanted to make a festive piece with the violin as the main body, it still wouldn’t make both of them stand, would it?

No, no, what splendor was this? Wasn’t the next piece 《From the New World》 by Dvorak? Where did they get the colorful violin theme?!

Rustling came from under the stage as many audience members flipped through the repertoire they received when they entered the auditorium. They carefully read the delicate, handwritten letters, confirmed the last piece was 《From the New World》, and became even more confused. 

They may not be familiar with other symphonies, but when it came to 《From the New World》… how could anyone not have heard it before?

Since 《From the New World》was going to be played, why did the lead violinist need to rise?

No one answered the audience’s questions. After shaking hands with Dorenza, Qi Mu and Mr. Hooke were ready to take their rightful places. Dorenza lifted the baton from the podium as Qi Mu and Mr. Hooke stood together at his left, placing their bows lightly on the strings. 

Under the bright, dazzling lights, a tall, handsome young man stood upright, waiting for the music to begin. In contrast to the bearded concertmaster, the young man was so beautiful that the audience couldn’t take their eyes off him. 

With his fingers on the strings, he held the little princess tenderly in his arms. 

He saw Dorenza lift the baton, and in the next second, the enthusiastic voice of his violin rang out!