Scriabin: Symphony No.1-3, Poem of Ecstasy, Prometheus
Riccardo Muti / Philadelphia Orchestra (Warner)
(scroll down for English review)
過了七年，今年又是一個史克利亞賓周年，人生大約五十歲的作曲家就最容易會幾年間有兩次周年紀念，十年前有馬勒，幾年後貝多芬又有了。趁此機會，終於要去面對自己未熟悉史克利亞賓作品的現實。早前已經聽了兩次鋼琴作品全集，不過就先介紹交響曲全集。連續聽了四套：殷巴爾（Philips/Decca）、慕提（EMI/Warner）、V佩特連高（Lawo）及格杰夫（LSO），選定了兩套給朋友們試聽。
嚴格上四套都很像樣，但我優先選慕提跟費城樂團這套，因為首先樂隊質素最為標青而一致，我覺得當時中年的慕提，不只懂得把握樂曲的爆發點，控制好樂隊不離軌，他也比其他指揮更會鋪排高潮，補上樂譜沒有注明的收及放，於是連慢板都來得淋漓盡致。
至於殷巴爾和法蘭克福電台交響樂團的，也是他四十餘歲灌錄，更是我少年時第一次聽這套作品，起初覺得《第一交響曲》很易聽好聽，《第二交響曲》再浪漫一點但開始古怪，然後到《第三交響曲》、《狂喜之詩》、《普羅米修斯》我就摸不清了。相隔廿多年重聽，殷巴爾這套全集仍被人讚賞確有道理，就是勝在簡單直接，樂隊準繩爽快，不過一聽慕提，就發覺在詮釋上差一點奇想。
V佩特連高的全集，連《鋼琴協奏曲》也有收錄，應該是最近期的一套全集。這位指揮的典型風格，有條有理，不要過量的暴戾，這套錄音已經很不錯，尤其是有最先進的錄音技術，不過又有點像殷巴爾那樣稍欠奇想。
最後是格杰夫在倫敦交響樂團自家品牌的錄音，可惜是沒有收錄《普羅米修斯》，不過格杰夫以前就和馬林斯基樂團在Philips錄過，和史特拉汶斯基《火鳥》（全曲）收進同一張碟。這套我是倒轉來聽，即是從《狂喜之詩》開始。一部格杰夫紀錄片是講他在鹿特丹舉行大師班時，讓年青指揮試指此曲，他糾正黎志華的錯誤，然後自己露一手。
《狂喜之詩》確是他拿手好戲，不過這個倫敦交響樂團演奏就和《第三交響曲》就是差在樂隊，雖然要還樂隊公道，格杰夫真的太忙，不想多花時間親自排練，雖然倫敦交響樂團本身也不算極度認真、想追求最佳演奏。不過聽到《第二交響曲》反而好好多，更遠超其餘三位指揮的演奏，我認為成功在格杰夫大膽不去理會史克利亞賓指定的速度（拍子機讀數），釋放到作品的潛在能量。
我在下一篇文章淺談這三首（或五首）交響曲，如何去聽的心得，到時再貼上殷巴爾的全集錄音的試聽連結。
After 2015, 2022 is once again a Scriabin year. After going through four recorded cycles of his symphonies, I settled on two of them but I’ll go briefly on the merits of each of them.
Actually the four sets are all good but I chose this Riccardo Muti / Philadelphia Orchestra set to recommend because Muti had the best control with his orchestra. Yet Muti wasn’t just a master in explosive climaxes he knew how to pace them. Also he was very liberal with ritardandos that weren’t notated in the score but Muti’s interventions were in good taste.
Eliahu Inbal / Frankfurt Radio Symphony was the first Scriabin set that I heard many years back. I remember I liked the First Symphony a lot and then things got weirder and weirder, not realizing that it was Scriabin finally finding his own voice. This Inbal set was cleanly yet vigorously played but it somehow fell short on distinctive touches or peculiarities that makes Scriabin so unfathomable.
Vasily Petrenko / Oslo Philharmonic also included the Piano Concerto, Scriabin’s first large-scale work. As with this conductor, the orchestral texture was very well sorted out and Vasily would never allow the music to get brutal so this set is a bit like Inbal’s but recorded with more modern sonics.
It’ a pity that Valery Gergiev / London Symphony didn’t record Prometheus but Gergiev had left a Philips recording of that work with Mariinsky Orchestra. This has the least-disciplined playing, given Gergiev’s haphazard rehearsals. This affected the Third Symphony and the Poem of Ecstasy especially, as the two works used a huge orchestra but Gergiev’s inspiration in the latter work was simply a league of its own. On the other hand, Gergiev’s Second Symphony was truly outstanding, miles ahead the other three conductors. I’ll credit it with Gergiev’s ignoring Scriabin’s metronome indications and that decision tightened things a lot and unleashed the work’s full energy.
I’ll share my experience on how to approach these five pieces on my next blog entry.