The Proust Album
Shani Diluka (piano), Nathalie Dessay (soprano), Pierre Fourchenneret (violin), Guillaume Gallienne (speaker)
Hervé Niquet / Paris Chamber Orchestra (Warner)
(scroll down for English review)
「又」一張普魯斯特致敬大碟，鋼琴家迪魯卡的這張，有兩點和其他人的與別不同。首先是避開最典型的法朗克《小提琴奏鳴曲》及聖桑《第一小提琴奏鳴曲》這兩首和書中虛構的Vinteuil《小提琴奏鳴曲》有關的作品，此外就是曾和普魯斯特有多年戀情的哈恩（Reynaldo Hahn，1875-1947）成為此碟重心，佔了過半的演奏時間。
最長的一首作品是他1931年首演的《鋼琴協奏曲》（軌一至三），這也是我第一次聽此曲，三個樂章但結構稍為奇怪，因為第二樂章短得像間奏曲，回想起來，舒曼《鋼琴協奏曲》也有這種結構，此曲的柔情可能和舒曼有關聯。但我一個更妙想天開的聯想是蓋希文，並不是說爵士樂，而是蓋希文在《藍色狂想曲》或《鋼琴協奏曲》那種充滿溫情的慢板。哈恩這首《鋼琴協奏曲》從頭到尾都有一種夢幻感覺，不過我總是覺得迪魯卡的琴技所限，令樂曲有點悶，不是說詮釋平凡，而是硬橋硬馬那種技術不足。
她不選法朗克及聖桑的小提琴奏鳴曲，倒是用哈恩、易沙意及Chaminade的作品拼砌了一首她心目中的Vinteuil奏鳴曲（軌九至11），旋律飄逸，但我總是聽不出扣人心弦的深情，也和這碟的選曲差不多，大多是浮面的順耳，但說是沙龍的感覺也未嘗不可。也有明顯和普魯斯特無關但有趣的選曲，例如華格納《悲歌》（軌13）及理察史特勞斯最近出土的《夜曲》（軌14），不過符合全碟的心情。此外哈恩一套鋼琴代表作《困惑的夜鶑》收錄了兩個選段（軌15及20），有演員分別朗讀普魯斯特《駁聖伯夫》、以及《追憶逝水年華》的開頭。
Yet another Proust album but pianist Shani Diluka’s selections were anything but typical. First she took neither the Franck or Saint-Saëns (first) violin sonata which were the obvious choices to represent the Vinteuil sonata. And half of the play time was reserved to Reynaldo Hahn and Diluka made no secret of his liaison with Proust in her programme notes.
Totally made up of vignettes with the exception of the 30-minute Hahn Piano Concerto (tracks 1-3), premiered in 1931 and rarely heard or recorded. This is my first time hearing it and the slightly odd three-movement structure reminded me of the Schumann concerto, with the short middle movement serving as an intermezzo between two much larger movements. But the lyricism throughout was also Schumann-esque. Another association that I made was of Gershwin: not the jazzy Gershwin but the bittersweet slow melodies in Rhapsody in Blue or the Piano Concerto. Hahn’s concerto is overwhelmingly dreamy but I think it was underserved by Diluka who failed to back it up with enough virtuosity.
She chose three short pieces by Hahn, Ysaÿe and Chaminade to make up her version of the Vinteuil sonata (tracks 9-11). The melodies are breezy, gentle but didn’t really speak to the heart. That’s also the case for most of the selections in this album, probably to evoke a sense of the salon. I welcome the selection of two ostensibly unrelated German pieces: Wagner’s Elegy (track 13) and R.Strauss’ newly discovered Notturno (track 14) as they matched the overall tone very well. Hahn’s piano volume Le Rossignol éperdu had two pieces chosen (tracks 15, 20) and they featured Guillaume Gallienne’s recitation of an extract from Against Saint-Beuve and the very beginning of In Search of Lost Time, supplementing a literary twist.