Nathalie Stutzmann: Contralto
Orfeo 55 (Erato)
(scroll down for English review)
Stutzmann又唱又指的巴洛克歌劇詠嘆調專輯，也是她領導的Orfeo 55古樂團因為資金不足而解散前最後一個錄音。Contralto即是女低音的意思，本碟的選曲當初都是為女低音而寫，這聽來很霎有介事，其實當時還有閹人歌手可以應付那種音域，而現在這些角色多由假聲男高音擔任。
去斟酌女低音及閹人歌手又何分別，其實沒有意思，三百年前的歌劇世界，寫的音樂都是現在式，不求留世，所以通常演完就算、再寫下一齣，於是手頭有甚麼歌手就會針對他們的長短來寫曲，並非因為特別想要用女低音，還是想用閹人歌手。
當然有較低音域是這些詠嘆調一個特色，低並不是全首都很低，而是有些位置會特別低音來炫耀功架。不過我就想，這張碟其實可視作對今天歌劇界的一個反擊，至少是一個宣言：現在太倚賴假聲男高音了。現在女中音多的是，女低音其實寥寥可數，不要說是唱巴洛克，女中音唱馬勒其實也唱不出箇中神髓。Stutzmann恍似要宣示，還是等老娘出馬吧。
軌六的韋華第《Farnace》詠嘆調，聽聽是和《四季》哪個樂章的伴奏相同。
Stutzmann sang and conducted this Baroque opera recital and is also the last recording made with her period ensemble before it disbanded due to lack of funds. The selections on this recital were all written with contraltos in mind. This sounds puzzling but at that time composers also have castrati at their disposal. So such distinction isn’t really superficial.
Yet the opera world then was entirely “in the present”, works were written one after another without an eye to posterity. Therefore composers simply tailored the work to the singers that were available, so it wasn’t really a choice between using a contralto or a castrato.
A lower range is a common trait of these arias. They aren’t low throughout but a sudden and drastic drop is often a display of the singer’s skills. I’d interpret this album as Stutzmann’s throwback to the trend these days, the overreliance on countertenors in the baroque repertory. Plenty of mezzos and countertenors these days but a good contralto is hard to come by. And Stutzmann showed that she could do much better than countertenors.
The aria from Farnace (track 6) has an orchestral accompaniment out of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons. Guess.