Elgar, Walton, Delius: Violin Sonatas
Max Rostal (violin), Colin Horsley (piano) (Decca Eloquence)
(scroll down for English review)
Max Rostal（1905-1991）生於奧地利，再往柏林發展，納粹上台後他逃到英國，1950年代回到歐洲，主要在德國科隆及瑞士伯恩任教，後世通常當他是傑出老師多過演奏家。Amadeus Quartet當中三位成員都是在英國逃避戰火時跟Rostal學琴，Rostal介紹英國大提琴家Martin Lovett給他們，成就了一隊傳奇的弦樂四重奏。
他對我還有多一重意義，他寫過一本專書談貝多芬小提琴奏鳴曲，但寫法並不是出於音樂學家或賞樂者的角度，而是很硬橋硬馬的談箇中的技術要求，有甚麼特點或陷阱要留意。我就是看了那本書，很受落Rostal的角度，才真正愛上全套貝多芬小提琴奏鳴曲。
這套Eloquence推出的雙CD，收集了環球古典庫藏中的錄音，有些錄音其實是DG的。二十世紀小提琴奏鳴曲這個碟名，有點趕客，但我除了是為了Rostal而聽，亦是為了曲目，這些奏鳴曲沒一首是前衛，所以不用害怕。
我想先集中談三首英國奏鳴曲，因為要把全部錄音擠進兩張碟，所以無法把三首英國奏鳴曲放在同一張碟：它們分別是艾爾加（軌一至三）、華爾頓（軌四至五），以及戴流士的第二首（軌12至14）。
艾爾加《小提琴奏鳴曲》我這半年介紹了兩次，派克（Chandos）及卡普森（Erato）。但這次的Rostal令有更深一層的感受，箇中的熱情更易感受得到，問題是怎做到的？哪一種熱情？Rostal很能找到出力出感情的地方，而且這個演奏，不是令我想起艾爾加的小提琴或大提琴協奏曲，當中的浪漫情懷不是後浪漫時期，也不是布拉姆斯《小提琴協奏曲》那樣，而是孟德爾遜《小提琴協奏曲》那種稍帶衝動，但不拖泥帶水的感情。
較早前談過華爾頓《第二交響曲》，更早之前也跟朋友介紹過貝爾拉的《小提琴協奏曲》。這首《小提琴奏鳴曲》是寫給曼納因，和大家心目中的英國音樂頗有不同，我覺得那種瀟灑感覺，很像同碟的拉威爾奏鳴曲。很值得留意Rostal的造句，頗有爵士小提琴家的味道，包括很多滑音，都是樂譜沒寫的，曼納因在他的同曲錄音都沒做。一比之下，兩者高下立見，一個是明星，一個是宗師。
我猜，聽戴流士《第二小提琴奏鳴曲》的一大挑戰，就是沒了管弦色彩，還剩下幾多戴流士風格呢？原來絲毫不減，Rostal很能將音高的起伏，比擬成感情的波動，一個長音就是情感的抒發。雖然我覺得第二樂章緩板最難忘，但這首14分鐘的作品也很值得全首欣賞。今次已經寫得太長，或者下次再談其餘的曲目吧。
Max Rostal was best known as a pedagogue than a virtuoso. He fled Nazi Germany and settled in Britain for two decades. In that period he taught three members of the future Amadeus Quartet, which were also Nazi refugees. He then introduced them to the British cellist Martin Lovett and a legendary ensemble of four decades was born. This double-disc set collected his recordings in the Universal catalogue so some recordings were actually made by DG.
Rostal has a special place to me because his book on the Beethoven violin sonatas made me fall in love with the whole set. And apart from wanting to hear Rostal I was fascinated by the repertoire. Despite the 20th century label, none of these sonatas were atonal so rest assured. I’ll focus on the three British sonatas: Elgar (tracks 1-3), Walton (tracks 4-5) and Delius’ Second (tracks 12-14) for now.
This is my third time reviewing the Elgar Violin Sonata, after Pike (Chandos) and Capuçon (Erato). Only this time was I convinced of the work’s worth as I finally felt connected with its passion. Unlike the Elgar concerto this sonata seemed to have an older type of romanticism. No, not even Brahms, but more like the well-balanced melancholy of the Mendelssohn concerto. And Rostal always found the right moment to extract the most intense passion.
The Walton sonata was written for Yehudi Menuhin. I compared this with the Menuhin recording and need I say more…? Rostal sounded here very much like a jazz violinist, such tasteful phrasing, rubato and portamento! Menuhin sounded so stiff. Indeed this work is anything but British, to me it’s more akin to the Ravel sonata also on this disc. Menuhin was a star but Rostal was a guru.
I think the main challenge of listening to Delius’ Second Sonata is the absence of the orchestral palette, would the Delius pastoral flavour be intact without it? This is a very compact work, three continuous movements lasting just 14 minutes in total. Rostal was capable in likening the ascending and descending of the pitches to the ebbs and tides of emotions; even a long held note was a thoughtful sigh under his hands. I love the second movement very much and I hope you will too.