Vivaldi, Geminiani: Violin Concertos
Nicola Benedetti (violin, direction) / Benedetti Baroque Orchestra (Decca)
(scroll down for English review)
班娜德蒂雖不是第一次灌錄巴洛克曲目，這次卻做了新嘗試，自組巴洛克樂團給她伴奏。曲目全是意大利協奏曲，三首韋華第，加上一首Geminiani的大協奏曲開碟，那其實是一套La Folia變奏曲。
我很驚奇這張碟的倣古味，一點都不像以主流曲目活躍的小提琴家，若做盲眼測試，我會說這是一個古樂專家拉的，就連樂團，我大膽說很少聽到英國古樂團奏成這樣，較像近20年的歐洲古樂團。或者這正是班娜德蒂選擇自組樂團的理由，即使英國有不少古樂團，樂手也往往在不同古樂團之間自由身的轉來轉去，但樂手去到A古樂團，就要跟隨A團領導的口味去拉，換到B團也如是，我想班娜德蒂就是在英國找不到她想要的那種奏法。
即使說班娜德蒂拉得和古樂專家無異，但對我來說不完全是好事，首先小提琴家、尤其是頂尖的小提琴家都會有各自獨特的琴音，班娜德蒂變色龍似的融入古樂奏法，也犧牲了很多個人風格。個人風格以外，我覺得她的倣古奏法也欠缺了相當音樂感，具體而言，我覺得她像是追求一種乾涸、視長弓為敵的聲音，反而令造句變得別扭造作，尤其是慢板。作品本身是易聽悅耳的，只是我對她的取態有保留。
It’s Nicola Benedetti’s first all-Baroque album and this time she formed her own baroque orchestra to play with her. This CD was made up of three Vivaldi concertos and a Geminiani concerto grosso which was actually a set of variations on La Folia.
I was amazed that Benedetti sounded like a bona fide HIP violinist. I’d have said she were, if I was tested blindly. Even the ensemble sounded more continental than British. Although there are quite a number of superb bands in the UK but I guess Benedetti formed her own because she couldn’t get the sound she wanted from existing bands.
That Benedetti could have passed for a HIP violinist wasn’t necessarily a good thing for me. Because by doing so she forewent the tone that made her Nicola Benedetti. Apart from that I wasn’t comfortable with her HIP tone. It seemed to me that she forbade all sweet tones and sustained bowing to make her tone “authentic”. To make up for that impoverished tone she had to resort to contrived phrasings, especially in adagios. The pieces are pleasant to my ears; I just don’t buy her approach.