Bach: Brandenburg Concerti No.1-6
Turnage: Maya; Mackey: Triceros; Hillborg: Bach Materia; Neuwirth: Aello; Caine: Hamsa; Dean: Approach
Maya Beiser (cello), Håkan Hardenberger (trumpet), Pekka Kuusisto, Antje Weithaas (violin), Sebastian Dubé (double bass) Fiona Kelly (flute), Mahan Esfahani (harpsichord), Uri Caine (piano), Tabea Zimmermann, Brett Dean (viola)
Thomas Dausgaard / Swedish Chamber Orchestra (BIS)
(scroll down for English review)
今年除了一些作曲家的誕生及逝世周年，亦是一首不朽作品面世的300周年：巴哈《布蘭登堡協奏曲》。道斯加德和瑞典室樂團數年前委約六位當代作曲家，各自為一首布蘭登堡協奏曲創作新作，就是封面這六位。確是頂級陣容，也顯出道斯加德的面子很大。
有關巴哈，我想說的實在很少。即使有不少明星獨奏家，但假如做盲眼測試，我想就整體而言，我不會聯想到是有這麼強的演奏者。或者這樣說，演奏者很好，但不是很好的巴哈演奏者。
六首新作的總長比六首巴哈更長，我至少肯定六人的誠意，我先談最不喜歡的兩首。第三協奏曲的第二樂章只留下兩個和弦，這可能是巴哈需要演奏者用這兩個和弦作簡短的即興演奏。Anders Hillborg既為此作了一個一分鐘的樂章去代替這兩個和弦，新作《巴哈材料》也將即興放在很重要的地位，三個樂章之間預留兩個即興時段，給獨奏小提琴及低音大提琴作即興演奏。但這首作品令我反感的地方，就是太依賴即興，而缺乏基礎去做這種即興，連那三個有譜的樂章都寫得很即興。
Uri Caine負責第五協奏曲，他這首《Hamsa》的三樂章結構跟巴哈跟得很貼，但也擴充了三個獨奏樂器的比重（古鍵琴則換成鋼琴，由Caine彈奏），不過我很不喜歡這曲的新古典主義寫法，好像很有動感，但寫得很長氣，沒完沒了。
Neuwirth就第四協奏曲寫的《Aello》是最怪雞的一首，但我覺得Neuwirth還是在作自己的東西，而不是像Hillborg及Caine假裝作巴哈的東西，所以我認為不但可以和巴哈配搭，獨立演奏也值得聽，假如你能接受較前衛的口味。
Turnage尤如大提琴協奏曲的《Maya》幾乎看不出和第一協奏曲的關係，卻可能正因如此最耐聽。這是一個哀慟的慢板，樂曲介紹用Bloch《所羅門》去做比喻，我則覺得像舒尼卡《皮爾金終章》（兩者俱是有大提琴獨奏）。想真一點，巴哈的第二樂章的悲傷，或許就是Turnage的起點。
最後要說，這個新作計劃並非為這個300周年而起，全曲演奏早在2018年完成，但牽涉這麼多知名作曲家的計劃，隔了這麼久都沒有完整或分拆演奏呢？其實答案也很易猜到。
2021 is also an anniversary for a work in the classical canon: Bach’s Brandenburg Concerti, which were known to be completed in 1721. Thomas Dausgaard enlisted six remarkable composers to each write a new concerto. These six composers are all genuine creative forces and that showed Dausgaard’s reputation among the composer circle.
I don’t have much to say about the Bach performances. There were star soloists (who were here probably for the new works) but if I were given a blind test I wouldn’t have known. Let’s say they were great performers but no great Bach performers.
The six new works, in total, are longer than the Bach set, and I have no doubt on the composers’ dedication. I’ll start with the two works that I detested. Bach’s Third Concerto has a second movement with only two chords, apparently as a guide to a short cadenza. Anders Hillborg wrote a one-minute movement to substitute that and his Bach Materia placed much emphasis on improvisation. In fact, there were two improvisation sections out of the three movements for solo violin and double bass. That’s precisely why I loathed this work, which emphasized too much on improvisation with hardly anything to base on. Even the written movements were so improvisatory.
Uri Caine’s Hamsa is based on the Fifth Concerto. Caine’s three-movement structure followed closely on his model and Caine expanded the roles of the three solo instruments, replacing the harpsichord with the piano which Caine played himself. To me the work was too neo-classical, the vitality was feigned and the half-hour work simply refused to wind up.
Olga Neuwirth’s Aello was the strange fruit of the set. But I acknowledged the fact that Neuwirth was doing her own thing, and not pretending that she was doing Bach like Hillborg or Caine did. There are things to discover in Aello, if you aren’t too adverse to modern stuff.
Turnage’s Maya was essentially a cello concerto and seemed to have no obvious connection with Bach’s First Concerto. Yet that was precisely why this work was so mesmerizing. It’s a lament for cello very much like Bloch’s Schelomo (according to the booklet notes) or Schnittke’s Peer Gynt Epilogue (according to me). Perhaps the sad second movement of Bach was Turnage’s starting point.
This project wasn’t initiated for this anniversary but was already completed by 2018. It isn’t hard to understand why such a star-studded project failed to generate enthusiasm after completion.