photo by Diwen Jiang

He has ever created more than 80 film music works and more than 150 music works for TV plays. Thereinto, he wrote accompaniment music for classical works of film history of new China : unforgettable battle, narrow street, troubled laughter, The village in the city and etc. And he also wrote the interlude: Today is a sunny day for the TV play Princess pearl , the famous TV play in home and abroad.  
　　　　
He is not good at speaking, work in music for 40 years. silently contribute many excellent works and gain the audience’s love.  The chorus Jianzhen Travel to Japan, Orchestra: Million Mighty Armies across Great River, symphony music: Poem April 5th, and folk music ensemble: Flying Apsaras  　　

On the Shanghai Spring stage of this Sunday, he brought six music with different styles: recital, vocal solo , concerto and folk music. The music are yunluo concerto: Steel Water Flush, ancient qin concerto: River of No Return, piano concerto: A Spring Water Flows East, dulcimer concerto: Happy Rain on a Spring Night , vocal caprice: A Moonlit Night on the Spring River , National orchestral music band: East West and Erhu concerto: Xi Shi. He brought his works to stage, instead of speaking by himself, exhibiting to audience all around about the abundant color and folk graceful bearing of national orchestra.      
　
Without news press and without contacting a journalist knew him before, when journalist knocked his family door, he opened his door with surprise. He is the music composer Jinxin Xu, near 70 years old.

The film music composers should face the “high-tone” of  the commerce
　　
Ask：During the past forty years, you have created many film music works, familiar by audience. In the 90s of last century, you began to create the music of major symphony and Chinese traditional orchestral. How do you think film music influence your creation? 
　　
Xu: It also can be said that I began my music career from creating film music. In 1972, I was assigned to Shanghai film studio. From documentary, feature film and scientific and educational film , I shall write various genres. The creation of film music is like proposition of thesis which need choose topic, censorship, practice, struggle and edit. The series of process can practice the thinking ability of a student. Sometimes, music of a film need to record for a week, I could learn much from this process. For example, the  familiarity on band, including vocal music and Chinese folk music composing experience are all accumulated when I created film music. Besides, the film in our time is recorded on site. Once there is some problem, we must edit the music compared to the film picture, What’s more is that big band do the company accompaniment. So the music composer must stay in the record room from the beginning to the end. For example, My Song My Mother Left Me is presented in the film Narrow Street three times. Each time the song is presented, the emotion is not the same. Then I guided Xulan Zheng to record three times.

I am very grateful for film music. It is very good for students who have no practical experience. At present, the students from compose department have not so many opportunities to contact various genres creation and to implement their own ideas by big band.    
　
Ask: What do you think about the great change on film music creation nowadays?

Xu: Modern film music is highly commercialized, but highly commercialization not always can lead to high quality music. Actually, such change has revealed its importance for the first time in the end of last century and the beginning in this century. For example, the film Princess Pearl invited me to compose several songs. Then they came back Taiwan to collage some music. The film title song and the film ending song are composed in other time by other composer. Thus cannot be an integrated music creation. It is lucky that the music Today is a sunny day is the song I not specially written for this TV play and it is suitable in Princess Pearl. Such use of music is commercialized to some extent, but it does not influence the artistry of the music.

I always think music should express thoughts and sensation, not the pile of music. The film music nowadays is produced by modern industrialization. However, the good music needs the devotion of music composers. In the past, when we recorded film music, we need to discuss with film director from the play investigation period. Then we needed to experience in the region the theme shows for a long period of time, not just touching the surface of the theme.  Then the big band performed, censored again and again, and modify again and again. The music and film is recorded according to the process mentioned above is an integer. Nowadays, the background music of many video works even can be “taken”from other places in order to save cost. Also, the music can be added a paragraph by the music composer if the film director needed. Of course, this method can save cost and improve efficiency. If using this method  ppropriately, it can gain good effect, but if does not, it will reduce the effect of incidental music on the contrary. Willams from U.S.A occasionally would ask some writer to write some music paragraphs for himself. But if he work for the blockbuster film such as Schindler’s List, he would go all out for the whole process of creation. 

Whether it is quality good products is decided by the result of 20 years later
　　
Ask: How to create excellent music work. In other words, how can a music creation become an excellent work?　

Xu:  To create an excellent music work depends on accumulation. On one hand, the accumulation of various regions. On other hand, the experience of life. However, the accumulation of life is more important. Nowadays, many young singers can master a song as good as elder singers. But they cannot sing out the feeling that the elder singers can because their life experience is not enough. 
　　
As for the excellent work, I think whether it is excellent work should be decided by the result of 20 years later. It is impossible that a music work is created today and is praised as an excellent work tomorrow. Even one or two years, the time is far from enough to say whether the music is good or not. Some works written by Tchaikovsky and Beethoven, which are proved outstanding works later on, are made catcalls when they are performed the first time. To create excellent works, the music composer need a kind of spirit of “make more efforts, careless results”. Furthermore as far as the practical situation concerned, whether the music can be excellent work or not, from the time the music composer complete the music creation, he can do nothing on it. This is not only related to the good or bad of this music. It is related to many other factors such as personal experience and whether the work has opportunity to be often performed. The only thing I can say is that times has selection ability and the works left in the end are all excellent.

Ask: You have created so much excellent work. What have you learned from the creation?
Xu: In order to create good work, we should unscrupulous. As long as the final result is good, we should try our best and make experiment by band, various music instrument and Chinese folk music. For example, when I created Fly Apsaras, I have been to Dunhuang. When I saw the fresco of rebounding lute, the melody appeared in my heart. I learned western music composing, but I never limited myself in the problem of “China or Western country”. I integrate music of Beethoven into Chinese folk music, fusion of Chinese and Western music, making music can be accepted by audience. 
　
Ask: It seems that the music creation in your later time never wrote “folk”.
　　
Xu: I never learned folk music in school. The first time I touch folk music is to create film music for a documentary. It is a theme film The film producer asked me to freely express. Later on, when I wrote Ode to the Red flag , I continue to write and continue to edit, integrating the Symphony No.1 of Beethoven into folk music. I use western music for reference. In A Spring water flows east of this concert, I used piano to simulate folk music accompaniment. In A moonlit night on the Spring river, I used soprano to express the part of Chinese folk music. I think good music should have epochal character, national character and audibility. The epochal character is lateral axis, and national character is longitudinal axis. And audibility is that the music work should be beautiful but popular. The music composer should go a little ahead of the appreciation level of the people. 

It is not true that the higher the tone of Young singers awards competition, the better the result.
　　
Ask: In the 90s of last century,  Qiong Fang and Lihong Xu gained the first rank in professional group of folk singing Young singer awards competition by singing your works of A moonlit night on the Spring river and Flying Apsaras . Are these two songs specially created for Young Singers Awards Competition?

: Now there are many competitors inviting famous composer to specially write a song for him or her before the competition. It is unnecessary. The two songs mentioned above are not special for the competition. For example, there are five music movements in Flying Apsaras, When Lihong Yu took part in the competition, she only sang one movement. and she is not this song’s first singer. But she could express the feeling of this song. Then this is her characteristic. The song Qiong Fang sang in the competition also has been sung before by others. She was enlightened when Professor Xiaoyan Zhou guided students how to sing the song written by me. Zhou also encouraged her that whatever the singing skill is, the success is that one can sing the song beautifully by her own way. Xiong Fang flied from Shanghai and Beijing for several times at that time to ask me to adapt the A moonlit night on the Spring river from bet canto to the version of folk music accompaniment. When in the final competition, Fang sing the song by coloratura soprano of folk singing, making all the judging panel members astonished. 

Ask: Do you still pay attention to Young Singer competition now? What point of view you hold on the folk singing?:

Xu: In the past, there are no so many competitions. So in the early era, many people pay attention to Young Singer competition. It seems that the only one way to be famous is to be outstanding in Young Singer Competition. The singer rank first or second all can be famous. So Qiong Fang , Lihong Yu, and now Linna Gong are all famous. 

Modern singing is more and more advanced. But the problem produced is too close to “ditty”. Many singers pay special attention to pursue regionalism. When they sing, they will put a straw cap on head or put prominence on the folk songs whose regionalism is very apparent. As if when we talk about folk singing, it must be the type like “(Female) baby sister to cross the river is the only thing in which to push me? (Male): is not my baby sister push you well woven board”. Although it perhaps ephemeral effect, in the long run, this kind of competition that comparing whose tone is higher and who sing more like a ditty has no benefit. I think singing a song should not only embody the singing skill, but also should embody the inside of the music.