New Baroque Sessions: Couperin, Bach, Scarlatti, Balbastre, J.K.F. Fischer, Sweelinck, Froberger
Luc Beauséjour (piano) (Analekta)
(scroll down for English review)
因為一張把巴哈管風琴《三重奏奏鳴曲》改編給古鍵琴、大提琴及馬林巴的唱片，認識加拿大古鍵琴家Luc Beauséjour，以為他這張專輯只是古鍵琴音樂精選，擱着兩個月都沒聽。但一知道他是用鋼琴演奏，我便很有興趣，其實這已是他第二張用鋼琴彈的古鍵琴音樂集。鋼琴家實在太不願意去了解古鍵琴，現在就由一名古鍵琴家用鋼琴示範如何用鋼琴彈好巴洛克曲目。
我會將此碟的選曲分成兩類，鋼琴家彈、以及不彈的古鍵琴曲目。不彈的在頭三軌及尾三軌，中間的有巴哈及史卡拉弟，就是鋼琴家有興趣的。
我先談巴哈及史卡拉弟，Beauséjour明確地否定了一些鋼琴家誤會的所謂古鍵琴觸感、古鍵琴以頓奏為基本，但他也會用腳踏。我覺得後者很重要，因為鋼琴的聲音衰減（如果不用腳踏）其實比古鍵琴快，堅持不用腳踏反而彈不出古鍵琴很自然的連奏。另一方面，Beauséjour亦不會勉強令鋼琴沒有槌子聲，這反而是發音的重要部分，現在很多鋼琴家彈史卡拉弟，都不知受了誰的影響，以為要彈到像德布西那樣軟趴趴才是正宗，其實荒謬無比。
頭三軌是頗易聽的庫普蘭，尾三軌則是較冷門的Fischer、Sweelinck、Froberger這些不是只喜歡巴哈、而是真心喜歡巴洛克音樂才會涉獵的重要古鍵琴作曲家。我希望Beauséjour的鋼琴詮釋，能褪去他們的神秘面紗、令更多樂迷欣賞這三首深邃曲目，不過另一方面，我又覺得用古鍵琴彈所引發的獵奇感覺也削弱不少。
I thought this was just another harpsichord recital so I didn’t touch it for over 2 months. But look at the cover, this is a piano. Who would expect a harpsichordist would record this repertoire on the piano? And this is Beauséjour’s second such album. As pianists refuse to get to know the harpsichord, now this harpsichordist showed them how to do it on the piano.
The repertoire could simply be divided in two, those played, and those not played by pianists. The first three and the last three tracks were of the “not” category, and Bach and Scarlatti are constantly played by pianists. So let’s start from there. Beauséjour refuted once and for all that the harpsichord is a staccato instrument, and he showed us that the sustaining pedal should be used to reproduce the natural legato in harpsichord playing. On the other hand he allowed crisp attacks which were part of a good piano sound. For some unknown reasons pianists like to play Scarlatti in a Debussy-like mish-mash.
The first three tracks were easy-listening Couperin, but the last three tracks were more specialist repertoire of Fischer, Sweelinck and Froberger. I hope Beauséjour’s authentic rendition of them on the piano could convince music lovers that these are profound yet approachable works. Yet I somehow regretted the loss of exoticism…