Liszt: A Faust Symphony, Les Préludes
Riccardo Muti / Philadelphia Orchestra (Warner)
(scroll down for English review)
慕提今年80大壽，華納為他推出了一套錄音全集，主要是他年輕時的EMI管弦樂錄音。套裝也把這張李斯特《浮士德交響曲》還原為當初的雙碟裝，因為當年要用兩張黑膠才裝得下此曲，不過用三面就夠，第四面就以李斯特名曲《前奏曲》來填滿。再版成CD時，由於可以一張碟裝得下《浮士德交響曲》，便放棄了《前奏曲》。
我對這首只有三樂章、但有馬勒或布魯克納交響曲長度的作品有保留，原因是覺得李斯特寫得太長，又不會像馬勒交響曲有這麼多變化，但這次找到一些心得。
樂曲的大結構本來很簡單，三個樂章各自描寫一個人物，第一樂章是英雄（浮士德）、第二樂章是女主角（葛麗卿）、第三樂章是魔鬼（梅菲斯特），亦即是快、慢、快，氣氛就是雄壯、溫柔及鬼魅，第三樂章也就是那三種元素的對抗及揉合，最後的合唱是浮士德上天堂。
以前我就是太在意要聽馬勒式的演化，今次我就當此曲做布魯克納交響曲來聽，因為我發覺李斯特的不同主題的重覆及輪替，像布魯克納多過馬勒。由於心態上不再要求時刻精彩，也就毋須太專心去聽，放心一邊做其他事一邊聽。所以我也建議朋友們用相同的方法，聽得下去就聽，聽不下去也毋須執着。
這個錄音我聽了兩次，第一次聽我最為欣賞慕提及費城樂團在第一樂章的逼力，然而聽到《前奏曲》我就覺得有點反高潮。第二次聽除了逼力，開始發覺樂隊的彈性，不只是激烈時的勁度，就連柔和樂句也是軟綿綿。在《前奏曲》中段慕提將音樂放到很鬆，鬆到像安眠曲那樣，其實是藝高人大膽，好像鬆到要散卻是甜美至極。
Riccardo Muti turned 80 this year and Warner put together a mega box set of his EMI orchestral recordings. Subsequently this Philadelphia recording of the Faust Symphony was restored to its original double-LP format. The filler for side D, Les Préludes, were dropped when the symphony was reissued as single CD.
I hesitated for long on writing about this symphony. It had Brucknerian or Mahlerian lengths but without their grandeur or unexpected turns, but this Muti recording allowed me to see it differently.
The outer structure couldn’t be simpler, three movements, three characters. The first movement (Faust) is a heroic allegro while the second movement (Gretchen) is a tender adagio. The third movement (Mephistopheles) brought a diabolic twist, then summed up all the three characters into a final chorus.
Now I no longer expect Mahlerian transformations because Liszt’s recaps of themes reminded me more of Bruckner, who likewise didn’t force his music to go in unexpected directions. As I gave up the expectation to be stunned, I no longer felt I had to sit tight and concentrate on this symphony. You might follow my example, put this recording on and do something else at the same time.
I listened to this recording twice. The first time I was amazed by the tension achieved by Muti and the Philadelphians. But I felt Les Préludes was anticlimactic. For the second time the flexibility of the orchestra came through and I got to enjoy the softer and slower moments as well. In Les Préludes’ middle section Muti’s relaxation was just superhuman.