Busoni: Violin Sonata No.2
Max Rostal (violin), Noel Mewton-Wood (piano) (Decca Eloquence)
(scroll down for English review)
把Max Rostal的20世紀小提琴奏鳴曲雙碟的其餘三首都聽完。首先Marcel Mihalovici那首我聽了兩次我都不喜歡，拉威爾我又不想談，所以我在下面連結直接跳到布梭尼。
布梭尼《第二小提琴奏鳴曲》實在是一首奇曲，三個樂章無間段，但第一及三樂章都是慢板，只有第二樂章是個兩三分鐘的急板，很像貝多芬晚期鋼琴奏鳴曲，第三樂章更是廿分鐘的主題變奏。Rostal這個錄音長達41分鐘，更可能是歷來最慢的。我以前嘗試過甘祈頓的DG錄音（38分鐘），我覺得他拉得太冷就聽不下去，席夫和夫人鹽川悠子在ECM有錄音，但鹽川的琴音還是不合我口味，這次聽Rostal終於令我喜愛這曲。
另一奇是古典音樂的曲式是以快速音樂主導，快和慢的音樂大約是二一之比，但這個演奏之中，快的音樂應該不過七八分鐘，除了第二樂章，就是第三樂章的其中一個進行曲變奏，以求尾段的一個高潮，但也沒有快到尾，以安寧作結。
除卻這些表面元素，我很驚嘆會有這麼一首作品，如此有耐心地慢火細烤，就以第一樂章為例，即使貝多芬的後期弦樂四重奏，第一樂章就算是慢也會以煲滾為目的，布梭尼卻不會這樣。用巴哈一首聖詠做主題的第三樂章的變奏穩步前進，到最後踏入高潮，這種高潮不只是絢麗或激情，更是一種崇高之感恩，這種境界我自問聽了這麼多年都很少遇見。
I finally listened to the other three sonatas of Rostal’s 20th century sonata collection. Despite listening to it twice, I didn’t like the Marcel Mihalovici sonata. And I had nothing to say about the Ravel, so I’m bringing you directly to Busoni’s Second Sonata.
This is an odd work. The first and third movements are both adagios. The second movement, a presto, is just a couple of minutes long and sure reminds one of late Beethoven. The third movement is a gigantic set of variations lasting 20 minutes. Rostal’s recording is 41 minutes long, and is perhaps the slowest in the discography. I previously tried Kremer’s DG recording (38 minute) but I found him too cold. András Schiff and his wife Yuuko Shiokawa also recorded it for ECM but I’ve never warmed to Shiokawa’s playing. I fell in love with this sonata thanks to Rostal.
Apart from the presto, there are only two short stretches of fast music in one of the variations and the climax of the third movement. Just seven or eight minutes of fast music in total and that broke the norm of the dominance of fast music in classical music.
I was so amazed that there is such a slow-burning violin sonata. Surely Beethoven started some of his late quartets with an adagio. He started slow yet he brought the music to a boil. Not Busoni. The third movement, with a Bach chorale as theme, unfolds steadily without forcing anything and when the climax is reached, it isn’t passion or brilliance but divine gratitude. I’ve never felt this moved for such a long time.