Im Abendrot – Wagner, Pfitzner, R.Strauss
Matthias Goerne (baritone), Seong-Jin Cho (piano) (DG)
(scroll down for English review)
格納跟DG旗下年輕鋼琴家合作的第二張碟，這次夥拍趙成珍，碟名是「黃昏」，選曲範圍是德國後浪漫主義，三位作曲家華格納、費茲納、理察史特勞斯，各佔廿分鐘左右。
選曲一個特點是有些本來是女聲唱的歌曲，例如結尾的史特勞斯《最後四首歌曲》的《黃昏》（軌18）及華格納 《威森當克歌曲集》（軌一至五）。《威森當克歌曲集》和華格納之後的《崔斯坦與伊索德》有相當關係，格納這裏略帶絕望的詮釋，令我聯想到該劇的馬克王獨白，是平時聽女聲不會聯想到的。
史特勞斯的部分以其知名歌曲為主，《明天》（軌15）及《休息吧，我的靈魂》（軌16）實在不用多介紹，只是我不覺得它們不是在格納唱得舒服的音域內。
費茲納選了八首，對外來說倒是很大的發現。我無法抗拒費茲納寫出的悲涼、失望，儘管詩詞的內容其實不怎麼悲觀，例如 《渴望》（軌六）、 《夕陽真美》（軌八）。軌11的《黃昏》倒是頗有氣魄。費茲納這種傾向抑鬱的深情，我覺得不是在更多人唱、同年代的史特勞斯、胡爾夫的歌曲中可以找到。
This is Goerne’s second CD on DG with young pianists on its roster. Seong-Jin Cho joined him on this “Sunset” recital of three German Romantic composers, Wagner, Pfitzner and Richard Strauss. Roughly 20 minutes of show time for each composer.
One highlight of this recital was Goerne’s tackling of songs for the female voice, such as Strauss’ Im Abendrot (from the Four Last Songs, track 18) and Wagner’s Wesendonck-Lieder (tracks 1-5). The latter’s connections with Tristan und Isolde need not be expanded here, but Goerne’s sense of despair might be associated with King Mark’s monologue.
The Strauss selections were mostly his hits, such as Morgen! (track 15) and Ruhe, meine Seele (track 16). Yet I don’t think they fit very well with Goerne’s most comfortable range.
There are eight songs by Pfitzner and these, I think, were what made this recital worthwhile. Pfitzner’s sense of desolation or disappointment was so irresistible, even though the texts he used weren’t that hopeless in content. Sehnsucht (track 6) and Es glänzt so schön die sinkende Sonne (track 8) are such examples although Abendrot (track 11) gave us a magnificent view of a sunset. Pfitzner’s almost clinical melancholy, to me, was not to be found on the much better known songs of Strauss or Wolf.