Debussy, Schoenberg: Pelleas and Melisande
Jonathan Nott / Suisse Romande Orchestra (Pentatone)
(scroll down for English review)
給《佩里雅斯與梅麗桑》譜曲的幾位著名作曲家中，諾特選了德布西及荀伯格，更親自從德布西的歌劇中，擷取了一個四十幾分鐘的交響版本，是歌劇的三分一長度。更重要是諾特從五幕都有選用音樂，企圖編出一首有起承轉合的交響詩，就像荀伯格的作品。
我是先聽荀伯格再聽德布西（軌一至15）的，兩者的錄音時期不同，我聽德布西時覺得聲音比我想像中厚及近，可能是錄音團隊的人為修飾，亦可能是諾特想洗脫德布西只是透明的形象。我覺得第一幕（軌一至五）還是有德布西管弦作品的旋律性，但第二幕已經悶一點，第三幕打後的音樂愈來愈像伴奏，而不是可以脫離歌詞的音樂，剩餘的兩幕我只是勉強聽完。
荀伯格（軌16至35）諾特想保持較透明的管弦質感，但荀伯格用這麼大的樂隊，主角還是留給弦樂，這個演奏我覺得就是弦樂的力量不夠。然而我對這首作品的最大保留，就是佩利亞斯被殺、樂曲只是去到三分二，剩餘的三分一有點犬尾續貂。但諾特在這三分一，經營出真正的高潮，令作品可以用最大的悲憤作結。也令我想起唯一一次現場聽諾特指揮同一隊樂隊（瑞士法語區樂團），是馬勒六，都是終曲的後半，打完兩槌後最為精彩。
Jonathan Nott compiled a symphonic suite out of Debussy’s sole opera and paired it with the Schoenberg symphonic poem. Nott’s not the first one to transpose the Debussy opera onto the concert stage but his piece had music from all five acts and was intended to give a digest of the full opera. At 47 minutes, it’s about one third of the opera and would make an equal counterpart to the Schoenberg work.
I listened to the Schoenberg first then went back to Debussy (tracks 1-15). Recorded separately, the Debussy had closer miking and sounded thicker than the Schoenberg, which should have been the opposite. Perhaps it’s due to the engineering or perhaps Nott tried to shake off the ethereal label of Debussy in order to bring it closer to Schoenberg’s post-Romanticism.
No matter what, the first act (tracks 1-5) did have interesting music and seemed to come from Debussy’s orchestral masterpieces. But Act 2 got duller and from Act 3 on the music simply couldn’t stand on its own without the words. In other words, it failed to tell a story, in my opinion.
As Nott made Debussy thicker he seemed to make Schoenberg (tracks 16-35) meet Debussy in the middle. The overall orchestral sound was lighter than normal but I regretted the slightly underweighted strings, especially the violins that were intended to soar even in the loudest passages. But Nott accomplished where many had stumbled: the last third of the work after the death of Pelleas. Instead of a recap Nott made this portion the real climax of the work.