Bach: Partitas No. 1, 2, 6
Evgeni Koroliov (piano) (Tacet)
(scroll down for English review)
Koroliov以鋼琴彈奏巴哈，自成一家，我在柏林聽過他彈《賦格的藝術》，對他以不同觸感及音色區分聲部的功力深感驚訝。他錄巴哈作品，從容不逼的錄了廿幾年，終於輪到組曲集，這次先出一、二、六，但都已經超出一張CD的極限，反映他稍慢的速度。這碟也以最長、寫得最精細的《第六組曲》開始，某程度來說這也可以是最難的一首，可謂以深入淺。
我覺得Koroliov的彈法，最適合崇尚優美發音及莊重感情的朋友聽。他既有浪漫派的抒情，也對巴洛克鍵盤技法相當敏感，但又不會覺得他在模倣古鍵琴。此外，喜歡慢板、甚至愈慢愈好的人，Koroliov的慢又不是濫情或作狀，而是平靜淡然。
不過對我來說，有些樂章的慢並不可取，例如《第六組曲》的觸技曲（軌一），中段過於凝重，吉格舞曲（軌七）彈得慢反而很機械。《第一組曲》的Corrente（軌十）的跳躍感我覺得不夠。
之所以偏慢，我猜是因為Koroliov想最短促的音符都最清晣的彈出，不過我認為這樣剝奪了這些短音作為裝飾音的意圖。巴哈不同於同代作曲家，他喜歡把裝飾音，清楚地逐個音寫出來，不想留給演奏者決定。《第六組曲》薩拉班舞曲（軌五）最見到這種完全裝飾好的寫法，Koroliov的速度，巴哈大概會再塞多很多音符入去。
Koroliov’s piano Bach has a loyal following. I, for one, saw him play The Art of Fugue in Berlin and was amazed by his ability to differentiate voices by touch and timbre. He has been recording Bach for over two decades and he now reached the Partitas. The first issue of Nos. 1, 2, 6 exceeds the maximum play time of one CD, so be warned of the relaxed tempi.
The disc started with the Sixth Partita, the longest, the most embellished and often the most challenging of the set. I’d recommend Koroliov’s Bach to those who like their Bach to be noble and rounded. He’s fully aware of the keyboard style of Bach’s time but you won’t hear him trying to imitate a harpsichord or else. And to those who love adagios and want them as slow as possible, Koroliov’s adagios are calm and reposed without a hint of self-indulgence.
But to me, the slowness isn’t always justified. Like the Toccata of the Sixth Partita (track 1), the middle section is just too sombre. The Gigue (track 7) of the same partita seemed too mechanic at such speed. Corrente of the First Partita (track 10) isn’t bouncy enough in my taste.
I guess such slowness was due to Koroliov’s attempt to make even the shortest note well-articulated. But I think those written-out short notes are ornaments or embellishments, and their sense as such would be lost by too slow a tempo. Sarabande of the Sixth Partita (track 5) is an example of Bach writing out a set of thorough embellishments, at Koroliov’s tempo I suppose Bach would have crammed in much more notes.