Senaillé, Leclair: Violin Sonatas
Théotime Langlois de Swarte (violin), William Christie (harpsichord) (Harmonia Mundi)
(scroll down for English review)
之前介紹過這位年輕小提琴家的「普魯斯特音樂會」專輯，這次他回到較專長的古樂領域，和基斯蒂灌錄這張法國巴洛音小提琴專輯。Langlois de Swarte是基斯蒂創立的繁花古樂團的團員，基斯蒂邀請他一起錄一張小提琴唱片，曲目由Langlois de Swarte決定，他提議錄法國巴洛克音樂，最好包括較無名的作曲家，基斯蒂便拋出了Jean-Baptiste Senaillé（1687-1730）的名字，用他配搭較出名的Leclair。
法國巴洛克小提琴曲目，我也只是聽過Leclair，未聽過Senaillé，他生前出版過五輯小提琴奏鳴曲，每輯十首，這裏選了四首，Leclair就兩首。我非常同意這個比重，雖然兩者都受意大利小提琴音樂影響，我覺得Leclair的寫法稍為花俏一點，Senaillé比較融和得到炫技和旋律，雖則全碟的水準其實很平均。Senaillé之中我比較喜歡作品一的兩首（軌六至九、18至21），它們都有很脫俗的慢板。
相比起班娜德蒂那張韋華弟，Langlois de Swarte可說是相反的巴洛克聲音，班娜德蒂可能太着意要做出所謂古樂味，Langlois de Swarte一來有基斯蒂在旁，二來也沒有倣古的包袱，因為已經一直在拉古樂團，他是真正用倣古奏法呈現出現代奏法較難做出的優美而自由的巴洛克演奏。
此外，我認為這碟也是法國巴洛克器樂演奏風格一個很好示範，古鍵琴較倚重裝飾音，些微的、不能化作音符的變化，還是弦樂或管樂較容易做出來。但樂隊演奏的自由度有限，小提琴奏鳴曲這種格式就能給演奏者很大空間去掙脫拍子及樂譜的束縛。
After a reconstruction of a concert that Proust hosted, this young violinist returned to his field of baroque music, being a member of Les Arts Florissants. William Christie offered to record an album with him, and Langlois de Swarte suggested doing some obscure French baroque repertoire, so Christie came up with the name of Jean-Baptiste Senaillé (1687-1730).
Leclair has always been known as the leading figure of French baroque violin music so Senaillé was new to me. He published five sets of violin sonatas in his lifetime, and out of those 50, four were selected to pair with two Leclair sonatas. I totally agreed with such proportion because I found Leclair too flamboyant, while Senaillé had a better balance in virtuosity and melody. Despite that this is a marvelous album throughout. Among the Senaillé selections I was most impressed with the two from the op.1 set (tracks 6-9, 18-21) and the slow movements in them were out of this world.
Langlois de Swarte is probably the antithesis to Nicola Benedetti’s hip HIP sound. I guess Benedetti tried too hard to be both historically correct and exciting, while Langlois de Swarte made good use of period performance skills to deliver a leisurely and graceful sound.
To me this album was also an excellent yet hard-to-find specimen on the French baroque style. Strings or woodwinds have better sensitivity to minute variations than the harpsichord. On the other hand, ensembles couldn’t play as free as they’d love to. Therefore this duo format allowed these baroque exponents to break through the shackles of the beat and the score to give us a picture of how did the French play in those days.