임윤찬의 루바토(Rubato)
주민센터 TED 영어 수업
콘서트에 심취하던 때도 있었지만... 나만 모르고 있었나? 임윤찬은 2022년 제16회 반 클라이번 국제 피아노콩쿠르에서 역대 최연소 우승자이다. 마린 알솝(Marin Alsop)이 지휘를 맡았고 그녀는 임윤찬을 엄마처럼(marderly advice) 지원했다. 1956년 뉴욕 태생인 그녀는 음악계의 유리천장을 깬 여성 지휘자로 레너드 번스타인의 수제자이다. 임윤찬을 '영혼까지 시인 a poet at his soul'이라고 표현한 거장의 격찬이 피아니스트의 격을 높인다.
고금을 통해 뮤지션의 비범함은 곡(曲) 해석에 있다. 신라시대 가야금의 명인을 임윤찬이 인터뷰 때 언급했다던가? 그는 "어떤 울분을 토한 다음에 갑자기 나타나는 가야금 듣는 소리에서 모든 것을 초월한 상태에 대한 동경이 있다"는 우륵의 애이불비(哀而不悲 슬픔은 있으나 슬퍼하지 않는), 절제의 미학을 상상하며 연주한다고도 했다.
오늘 테드(TED) 영어수업에서는 베토벤의 피아노협주곡 <황제>를 임윤찬의 연주로 루바토(Rubato)를 실감하면서 들었다. 루바토란 연주자가 박자나 템포를 조절하는 표현 기법으로, 이탈리아어 루바레(rubare, '훔치다')에서 유래한다. '도둑맞은 시간', 즉 박자의 일부를 다른 음표에서 빼앗아 자유롭게 표현하는 의미가 된다. 어랏! 연주의 거장들이 쓰는 루바토? 어제의 왈츠수업이 먼저 떠오른다.
연주기법인 루바토처럼 댄스에서는 싱코페티드(당김음)가 비슷한 의미이다. 루바토는 템포를 자유롭게 늘이거나 줄이는 주법으로 시간의 유연함(박자)을, 레가토(Legato)는 이탈리아어로 "매끄럽게 이어진"이란 뜻이며 부드럽게 연주하는 주법이고 그의 반대개념이 탱고의 스타카토이다. 음악을 들으면 몸은 따라 움직인다. 특히 왈츠의 1,2,3 카운트라면 라이징업과 다운에서 보디를 충분히 늘이거나 발을 꾸욱 눌러쓰는 것 같은 느낌이 좋다. 1n2,3처럼 빠른 발 동작에서는 무엇보다 정해진 카운트대로 춤을 추어야 안전하다.
하지만 커플댄스에서 흥에 취해 박자를 놓치면 균형이 깨지기 쉽다. 내가 추는 왈츠에 무언가 큰 문제가 생긴 듯싶었다. 댄스수업 중 나의 파트너가 되어 준 여성분이 내게 준 핍박 같은 말이 맴돌고 있던 차였다. 한 달간 공백이 있던 사정으로 음악과 박자를 숙달시키지 못한 나의 탓으로 쓸데없는 힘이 전달된 파트너의 불쾌함을 알만했다.
박자와 음감에 예민하지 못한 것일까? 오래전 예술의 전당에서 '해설이 있는 음악회'가 뇌리에 생생하다. 지휘자가 오케스트라의 파트별 연주들에게 교향곡 <운명>의 주제음을 따로따로 또는 악기별 파트를 더해가며 화음을 비교해 들려주었을 때 기뻤다. 그날 이후 십수 년 만에 실감 나는 음악 듣기 수업을 영어공부시간에 배운 게 더 좋았다. 학생들이 백업해 준 관련 영화 크레셴도, 티저, 챗GPT정보 등 영어시간이었지만 귀에 착 감긴 음악감상이었다. 역설적이게도 임윤찬의 루바토를 통해, 피아니스트도 아닌 나의 왈츠는 제대로 겸손해지고 음악에 맞춘 정박자를 준수할 것 같았다. 감사한 영어수업 중에도...
https://youtube.com/shorts/WcCs5MozXsI?si=VquoK-mj8r1uBz0k
1> Marin Alsop on how Yunchan Lim changed the game
(Rachmaninoff 3rd, Ben Laude)
https://youtu.be/QHTo6krH880?si=JmLhJ6zzNWqGhw43
1:17... What was your first impression when you met Yunchan?
First impressions can be so misleading, because Yunchan is extremely
shy, and very humble, very modest. And then as he plays, he's totally
confident. And he knows what he wants to say.
1:42 He's a poet, you know, at his soul 영혼까지 시인이다. And technically, it's quite
flawless. So, you know, you meet this very quiet, you know, very
respectful young man. And then he sits down at the piano and he
becomes a lion.
2:01 He works really hard. I wonder if he's doing something different
when he practices. Do you get a sense of that? 그걸 느끼나요?
I think that Yunchan loves practicing. I think if he could have a choice in life, he
would just be alone on a mountaintop with his piano and just practice eight hours.
2:20 And so he brings a special commitment and enjoyment of that process that I think for a lot of people, for a lot of us, it's hard work practicing. For Yunchan, it's joy to practice.
I asked him if he'd had a vacation. He said, I want to practice.
2:40 So, you know, but again, I think playing and practicing, especially,
that's the outlet 출구 for him. That's his creative outlet. That's where he gets recharged.
2:50 I wonder whether he's just waiting for everybody to leave him
alone so he can practice again. But I think he loves performing. I think he loves sharing the profound beauty of music with people. I think this year has probably been a wild one for him, you know, because he went from being pretty anonymous to being hugely in
demand 무명에서 인기 급성장한. And that's a very steep trajectory성장궤적.
3:20 You know, I'm happy to see him because I feel a little bit like his
second mom in a way, because, you know, I looked after him at the
competition, musically looked after him, and I wanted to check in and
make sure he's okay still, because this life can be very, very grueling 엄청 힘든.
And I especially worried about him and all the travel. He's still so, so
young. And so I tried to give him a little bit of motherly advice....
6:26... When I hear someone like Yunchan, I start to believe in
reincarnation환생, you know, that sense that someone's an old soul애늙은이. I'm
sure that Yunchan, when he was 10 years old, I'm sure people had the
same feeling, that he transcends 초월하다 age because there's that poet in him
that just is timeless....
7:32... Do you have any favorite moments in the piece? And did you have any particular moments that you remember, it's okay if you don't, that Yunchan did something really special? Or anything from last year was like, okay, wow, that....
8:11... I think for me, the most moving moments really are in the
slow movement, where Yunchan's sense of rubato 늘려 천천히 is both organic 살아있는 것 같은 and yet surprising. That's something that you can't teach people.
You know, you can teach them, okay, let's do this mathematically, slow down and speed up. You know, you can sort of make people understand that. But having that instinct of how to create a phrase that feels exactly correct, but surprising, I think that to me is his gift.
2> Trailblazing conductor Marin Alsop's message on breaking the glass ceiling
https://youtu.be/TSKupt6oS0k?si=tTYVzit6lkLFljdj
0:00 She is the first woman to serve as the head of a major orchestra in the U.S, South America, Austria and Britain.
Marin Allsep broke the glass ceiling for so many women in classical music....
0:23 I went to my violin teacher and I said you know I saw this amazing conductor. I'm going to be the conductor and she said girls can't do that. Being the first is a tough job and I think this is why she's fighting so much for us.
0:39 When did you first understand that you wanted to do this? My parents were both professional musicians so I had to become a musician so there was no getting out of that 나간다는 것은 있을 수 없다, so that was a given.
0:53 And I played piano and then I played violin but it was really when I went to a concert and I saw this conductor Leonard Bernstein and he was so charismatic and so engaged 몰입하여 and so communicative. I thought okay, I can do this classical music thing because this guy's
having fun. So I have to be the conductor....
1:24... It was a challenging road because it's challenging regardless but in those days you know there were very very few women and I couldn't get into school because, you know, conducting is tricky because unless you have experience, you can't get exposure. But you
can't get experience unless you do it....
2:04... Don't tell me I can't do something. What does that phrase mean to you? This idea of telling someone they can't do something is so debilitating and so controlling and so manipulative. You can do anything you want to do.
2:17 And I had parents like that as well, you know, and they were ahead of their time. But they said, okay, you know, if this is what you want to do, absolutely you can do it. And it's so important for kids to have that especially from their parents initially.
