Florence Price: Symphony No.1 & 3
Yannick Nézet-Séguin / Philadelphia Orchestra (DG)
(scroll down for English review)
環球古典又推出一張美國黑人作曲家的專輯，今次是由尼澤塞甘指揮費城樂團，演奏Florence Price（1887-1953）的第一及三交響曲。雖然我對DG近年擁抱簡約音樂頗為不滿，但它近來為大指揮推出冷門曲目的錄音，例如P約菲的舒密特交響曲全集、杜達美的艾佛斯交響曲全集，下月又會有尼遜斯的Gubaidulina作品專輯。
Price這兩首交響曲都是1930年代的作品，《第一交響曲》更是由芝加哥交響樂團和他們當時的音樂總監首演演出。Price一共寫過四首交響曲，但第二首已經散佚。戰後巴比奧尼也曾請她用黑人靈歌寫一首序曲，不過那首作品亦已不在。
與其說這兩首交響曲都有濃厚的德伏扎克影子，不如說它們正是德伏扎克對美國作曲家的期盼，德伏扎克相信美國風格的交響曲，將會利用靈歌之類的美國旋律，套在浪漫派的交響框架之中。《第一交響曲》的第一樂章（軌一）不算易聽，它雖有一個容易辨認而且不斷重複的旋律，但它的長度（18分鐘）其實和一首布拉姆斯交響曲的第一樂章相近，提示部有五分鐘那麼長，更要重覆，而尼澤塞甘又真的重覆……Price卻又沒有布拉姆斯發展旋律的能力。
第二樂章又很容易想起《新世界交響曲》，但我覺得還是有新意，虔誠的旋律分開管樂及弦樂演奏，卻又加入了非洲鼓。不過最後兩個樂章卻捨棄了浪漫派交響曲的規模，都是簡短的舞曲，原來Price在她現存的三首交響曲都在第三樂章用了朱巴（Juba）舞曲，也算是個人特色。至於《第三交響曲》，我覺得她沒有那麼依循曲式，管弦質感也較豐富，不過對我來說，兩首交響曲都不是具經典性或前瞻性的作品。
但我又想，這些作品真的是她的創作理想，還是為求得到主流音樂界，亦即是非常保守的音樂建制的認同，所以才寫得那麼循規蹈矩，甚至太乞求低水平觀眾的垂青？
This is yet another album of African-American composer from Universal Classics. Nézet-Séguin and the Philadelphia Orchestra performed the First and Third Symphonies of Florence Price (1887-1953).
Both works were written in the 1930s, with the First premiered by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra with their music director. Price wrote four symphonies but the Second was lost. Barbirolli commissioned her to compose an overture based on spirituals. The overture was written and premiered by the Hallé Orchestra, but once again that overture was lost.
It might be hasty to say these symphonies sounded too much like Dvořák, because Dvořák, in his American days, envisioned the American style manifesting itself through ingenious melodies contained within the Romantic symphony structure. The first movement of the First Symphony (track 1) wasn’t easy to listen through: it’s 18 minutes long, the length of a typical Brahms first movement. The exposition is 5 minutes long and has to be repeated, and Nézet-Séguin did repeat it… Unfortunately Price wasn’t as good as Brahms in developing a melody, so Price’s catchy tune was soon worked to death.
The second movement once again reminded me of the New World Symphony. But Price divided the orchestra into winds and strings, and they took turns playing the solemn hymn, with the surprise addition of an African drum. Price reduced the last two movements to the modest length of dances. Indeed, all three extant Price symphonies feature a Juba dance in the third movement, so that was some sort of a personal signature. The Third Symphony was more approachable because Price was less strict with keeping the appearance of a structure, and that the orchestral layers are much richer.
Nevertheless, I don’t consider these works as either timeless or experimental. But I must give her the benefit of the doubt, as I sense a conformist strain, as if she was trying to water down the music so that the ultra-conservative music establishment in 1930s United States could accept it.