The British Project
Elgar, Britten, Walton, Vaughan Williams
Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla / City of Birmingham Symphony (DG)
(scroll down for English review)
格拉茲尼迪提拉的「英國音樂計劃」終於湊成一張大碟發售，不過曲目看來雷聲大雨點小，就是國際最知名的那四位英國作曲家，除非還有第二、三張碟錄下去。
這個艾爾加《嘆息》（軌一）的演奏，用到大弦樂的力量，指揮也很放膽用搶板。布烈頓《交響安魂曲》（軌二至四），需要聲音宏大（第一樂章）、暴烈（第二樂章）的地方都未到一級水準，第一及三樂章的柔和部分，奏得很散。
華爾頓《特洛勒斯與克瑞西達》交響組曲（軌五至八）就算得上特別曲目，這本來是一齣改編自莎劇的歌劇，在作曲家死後由Christopher Palmer改編成四樂章管弦樂曲，其實當成交響曲來聽也可以。這是二戰後的作品，但風格非常浪漫派，把人聲拿掉之後，這種感覺更強，甚至很接近電影音樂，尤其是第三樂章的開頭。不過這首30分鐘的作品還是太雜碎，一個樂章裏面又有很多個章節，勉強把材料串連成交響曲。
最後的佛漢威廉斯《塔利斯主題幻想曲》（軌九至11），我主要對混音較大異議，我覺得四支獨奏弦樂，以及「樂隊二」都錄得太過濛，獨奏弦樂應該最近中間，反而不應該濛，樂隊二是遠，但不代表要濛。弦樂整體我覺得拉得太凌亂了，我覺得這張大碟令我覺得，並不是英國樂隊奏英國曲目，而是一隊不懂得這些曲目的樂隊在摸索似的。
After two sneak previews Gražinytė-Tyla’s “The British Project” is finally out on one disc. I don’t know what’s the big deal with the “project” title, for the repertoire is just Elgar, Vaughan Williams, Britten and Walton, unless there’s a series with volumes to follow.
This performance of Elgar’s Sospiri (track 1) took advantage of the big string sound and the conductor was quite daring in the rubato. Britten’s Sinfonia da Requiem (tracks 2-4) lacked the volume (first movement) and the fire (second movement) to qualify for a top-notch performance. In the gentler moments of the first and third movements I felt the music was going to pieces.
Walton’s Troilus and Cressida Symphonic Suite (tracks 5-8) is a rare item and something I’m waiting to be included in such a “project”. Christopher Palmer compiled this four-movement, 30-minute orchestral work with material from Walton’s opera. The idiom was very romantic and you might as well listen to this like a symphony. Without the vocal element this work even sounded like film music, especially the first minute of the third movement. But what estranged me from this work was its piecemeal nature; there were simply too many subsections in each movement to make for a continuous whole.
My chief objection for this reading of Vaughan Williams’ Tallis Fantasia (tracks 9-11) was for the mixing. I found the solos and “Orchestra II” to be too blurry. The solos are supposed to be very close to the conductor, so why should they be blurry? Orchestra II was seated at a distance, but that shouldn’t be equal to blurry. As a whole, the strings were a mess. This “project” is like an orchestra trying to learn some unfamiliar repertoire.