WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.170 align:middle line:90% 00:00:01.170 --> 00:00:03.400 align:middle line:90% Well, they get worse a little. 00:00:03.400 --> 00:00:05.340 align:middle line:84% The next one is a touch more extreme, 00:00:05.340 --> 00:00:07.200 align:middle line:84% it's delightful that the lights are out. 00:00:07.200 --> 00:00:09.157 align:middle line:84% It's a Chinese translation and I was afraid 00:00:09.157 --> 00:00:11.490 align:middle line:84% that there are going to be angry Chinese in the audience 00:00:11.490 --> 00:00:13.795 align:middle line:90% when I read it. 00:00:13.795 --> 00:00:15.420 align:middle line:84% Because I don't know a single character 00:00:15.420 --> 00:00:17.130 align:middle line:90% of this fascinating language. 00:00:17.130 --> 00:00:21.060 align:middle line:84% I work from side by side versions. 00:00:21.060 --> 00:00:22.950 align:middle line:84% Very useful book I have, it has English 00:00:22.950 --> 00:00:24.870 align:middle line:84% on one side Chinese on the other, 00:00:24.870 --> 00:00:27.150 align:middle line:84% and I do various tricks with this. 00:00:27.150 --> 00:00:31.530 align:middle line:84% From the English crib I make a little policy of the sense, 00:00:31.530 --> 00:00:33.780 align:middle line:84% and I permutate the words in this policy 00:00:33.780 --> 00:00:36.073 align:middle line:84% and I lay them out to look as Chinese as I can. 00:00:36.073 --> 00:00:37.740 align:middle line:84% I don't know if you can see at the back, 00:00:37.740 --> 00:00:40.170 align:middle line:84% but it's a very thin slip of text 00:00:40.170 --> 00:00:42.690 align:middle line:84% and a great deal of Chinese white all around it. 00:00:42.690 --> 00:00:45.510 align:middle line:90% 00:00:45.510 --> 00:00:47.820 align:middle line:90% Pretty Chinese actually. 00:00:47.820 --> 00:00:52.560 align:middle line:84% And when I come to read it aloud I 00:00:52.560 --> 00:00:55.380 align:middle line:84% try to make it sound as Chinese as I can. 00:00:55.380 --> 00:00:59.430 align:middle line:84% Really I don't have with me my floor length 00:00:59.430 --> 00:01:01.560 align:middle line:84% kimono and my drooping mustache, but you'll 00:01:01.560 --> 00:01:03.900 align:middle line:90% have to imagine that. 00:01:03.900 --> 00:01:06.630 align:middle line:84% Well, this one is called "At the House of Jade," 00:01:06.630 --> 00:01:09.810 align:middle line:84% and it's in the Chinese of Fan Zhongyan, whom you remember 00:01:09.810 --> 00:01:14.460 align:middle line:90% lived from 989AD to 1052AD. 00:01:14.460 --> 00:01:18.300 align:middle line:84% You do remember, yes I knew you'd remember, yes. 00:01:18.300 --> 00:01:21.300 align:middle line:84% Well, the basic set of words I permutate 00:01:21.300 --> 00:01:26.850 align:middle line:84% is leaves, drifting, cold, house, empty, absence, 00:01:26.850 --> 00:01:29.070 align:middle line:90% lamplight, loneliness. 00:01:29.070 --> 00:01:32.690 align:middle line:90% 00:01:32.690 --> 00:01:36.800 align:middle line:84% [IMITATING CHINESE SPEECH] Sleeves-- 00:01:36.800 --> 00:01:39.636 align:middle line:90% 00:01:39.636 --> 00:01:45.516 align:middle line:90% drift-- I-- house-- 00:01:45.516 --> 00:01:50.318 align:middle line:90% 00:01:50.318 --> 00:01:59.679 align:middle line:90% absence-- Light-- in-- 00:01:59.679 --> 00:02:05.970 align:middle line:90% lonely-- cold-- Lamp-- 00:02:05.970 --> 00:02:09.348 align:middle line:90% 00:02:09.348 --> 00:02:15.806 align:middle line:90% leaves-- me-- less-- 00:02:15.806 --> 00:02:20.715 align:middle line:90% old-- leaves-- 00:02:20.715 --> 00:02:25.985 align:middle line:90% 00:02:25.985 --> 00:02:31.770 align:middle line:90% Eaves-- empty-- ample-- 00:02:31.770 --> 00:02:35.940 align:middle line:90% 00:02:35.940 --> 00:02:43.155 align:middle line:90% lies-- How I know-- 00:02:43.155 --> 00:02:53.460 align:middle line:90% Eve's-- rift-- alone-- 00:02:53.460 --> 00:03:01.240 align:middle line:90% light-- drifting-- light-- 00:03:01.240 --> 00:03:04.270 align:middle line:90% 00:03:04.270 --> 00:03:10.891 align:middle line:90% in-- empty-- cold-- 00:03:10.891 --> 00:03:14.170 align:middle line:90% 00:03:14.170 --> 00:03:18.070 align:middle line:90% I shift house-- 00:03:18.070 --> 00:03:20.375 align:middle line:90% Light-- my-- lamp-- 00:03:20.375 --> 00:03:26.264 align:middle line:90% If she is-- absence-- 00:03:26.264 --> 00:03:31.070 align:middle line:90% 00:03:31.070 --> 00:03:37.875 align:middle line:90% leaves-- drift-- in-- 00:03:37.875 --> 00:03:40.410 align:middle line:90% 00:03:40.410 --> 00:03:40.910 align:middle line:90% me-- 00:03:40.910 --> 00:03:43.790 align:middle line:90% 00:03:43.790 --> 00:03:45.590 align:middle line:90% So the Chinese poem. 00:03:45.590 --> 00:03:47.925 align:middle line:90% [APPLAUSE] 00:03:47.925 --> 00:03:50.730 align:middle line:90% 00:03:50.730 --> 00:03:54.300 align:middle line:84% Actually I suppose it's about as indebted to Stockhausen 00:03:54.300 --> 00:03:58.700 align:middle line:84% as to the Chinese, but that's another matter.