Elgar: Violin Sonata
Vaughan Williams: Violin Sonata, The Lark Ascending
Jennifer Pike (violin), Martin Roscoe (piano) (Chandos)
(scroll down for English review)
知悉卡普森下一張碟，會是配搭艾爾加《小提琴協奏曲》及《小提琴奏鳴曲》，才為意後者的存在，然後去聽這張艾爾加及佛漢威廉斯的小提琴奏鳴曲。「艾及佛」經常被拍在一起，例如艾爾加《小提琴協奏曲》的CD（黑膠已無位再搭）常有佛漢威廉斯《雲雀飛翔》，這兩首小提琴奏鳴曲雖然相隔三十幾年，但都是兩人的晚期作品，艾爾加那首只是比他的《大提琴協奏曲》早一年。
我先談軌四至六的佛漢威廉斯，第一樂章的主旋律，乍聽太過簡單，但中段卻頗為炫技，用上頗多雙音，氣氛激烈，頗像協奏曲的寫法，兩極相撞我覺得非常有力。第二樂章是諧謔曲，同樣有一種着魔般的能量。第三樂章較長，是一首變奏曲，我覺得它頗有帕薩卡利亞舞曲那種凝重逼力，不同變奏層層推進，意外但不突兀的回到第一樂章的簡單旋律。此曲雖是冷門，但我認為值得更常演奏。
艾爾加《小提琴奏鳴曲》卻沒令我有這種感覺，它明明是《小提琴協奏曲》之後的作品，不能說艾爾加沒有經驗。或者就是Pike演奏的問題，憑她的現場演出，我發覺她是很適合「大」的演奏方法，不過她在此曲卻好像太想追求纖幼。我的理解是此曲是要有更大的發音、更長的造句才能帶出此曲的感情，Pike除了發音太幼（包括揉弦也窄），造句也頗碎。
應該怎樣奏呢？軌七的《雲雀飛翔》那樣就對了，它雖然是溫柔細膩，但Pike大幅度的揉弦做出很溫暖的琴音，雀鳴也拉得很自然，沒有半點機械感覺。封面刻意標明「原版」，說的只不過是鋼琴伴奏版而已。
Before reading Capuçon is going to couple Elgar’s Violin Concerto with his Violin Sonata on his next album, I wasn’t aware of the latter work. So I tried out this sonata album by Elgar and Vaughan Williams. “Edward and Ralph” is a winning combo but it is usually Edward’s Violin Concerto with Ralph’s The Lark Ascending. Now these sonatas aren’t as close as they seem, they are three decades apart. They’re both late works of their composers, Elgar’s sonata written just the year before the Cello Concerto.
Let’s look at the Vaughan Williams sonata (tracks 4-6) first. I intially considered the melody in the 1st movement to be simplistic but the virtuosic middle section clashes very well with it. The demonic energy persists in the 2nd movement scherzo. 3rd movement is the longest of the work and is a variations movement. It has the gravitas of a passacaglia and the variations develop in an organic manner. The return to the simplistic 1st movement melody is unexpected but natural. This sonata deserves to be played more.
But I can’t say the same for the Elgar. It was written a decade after the Violin Concerto so you can hardly say Elgar had no previous experience. I’d lay the blame on Pike’s playing. The work demands a bigger tone and very broad phrases. Yet I sense that Pike was aiming at a slim sound and the phrases were too choppy.
Then how should she play it? Like she did on The Lark Ascending. The piece is gentle but that doesn’t mean economizing your tone. Pike’s broad vibrato produced a very sweet tone, the chirpings were not the least mechanical. By the way, the “original version” on the cover simply refers to the piano and violin version of this famous work. Don’t expect some extra passages.