Beethoven: String Quartet No.8 (Razumovsky No.2)
Bartók: String Quartet No.3
Dvořák: String Quartet No.12 (American)
Juilliard String Quartet (Sony)
(scroll down for English review)
今年是茱莉亞弦樂四重奏創團75周年，也在今年發行於三年前加入、第五任第一小提琴Areta Zhulla在團的第一個錄音。本來想說這張碟包括的貝多芬及巴托是此團在全盛時期的看家曲目、現在想顯示新人馬下水準不減，不過他們對上一張由林以信領軍的錄音也是有貝多芬及巴托。然而這碟剩下的德伏扎克《美國四重奏》確是他們常奏的曲目，包括他們2018年以今年班底在香港的演出，雖然很多四重奏都常奏它……
我不如有話直說，Zhulla的表現遠超我預期（那次現場演出我沒看），我喜歡她多過另外兩隊最有名的美國弦樂四重奏，愛默森及塔克斯（我是當後者為美國團）的第一小提琴（愛默森是兩位小提琴輪任）。例如貝多芬的第二樂章（軌二），她的高音連奏沒甚斧鑿痕跡；德伏扎克也把許多本應聽厭的旋律，拉得甚為清新。
但我的保留是，德伏扎克雖然展露到四人各自都是好獨奏，但貝多芬我覺得Zhulla以外的三人，雖有隊型，但未有其餘知名四重奏的生命力，亦未有衝擊演奏極限的意圖。巴托是三首樂曲中我最失望，對我來說只是勉強奏到而已。如果四人最年輕的Zhulla無法改造或重振全團，我看茱莉亞弦樂四重奏現在只是承襲了招牌罷了。
2021 is the 75th anniversary of this illustrious ensemble and this is the first CD with Areta Zhulla as first violinist. She joined in 2018 to replace Joseph Lin and became the fifth first violinist of the group. I was about to say this album features Beethoven and Bartók, to show this entire lineup is as good as the ensemble in its highest renown. But their previous CD with Joseph Lin also featured Beethoven and Bartók… so let’s say Dvořák’s American Quartet is a call card of the Juilliards, although many other quartets play it equally frequently.
I’ll just spit it out. Zhulla is much better than I expected and I prefer her to the first violinists of Emerson and Takács, the other two American supergroups. Try the second movement of the Beethoven (track 2) Zhulla’s legato on the high registers is just so seamless and singing. In Dvořák she managed to play the schmaltzy tunes with much freshness.
Here’s my reservation. Although the Juilliards are all remarkable instrumentalists, I don’t find them, as a group, to be pushing boundaries of string quartet playing. I’m especially disappointed with the Bartók, which they barely got by. If Zhulla couldn’t breathe new life to the group I won’t change my view that the present Juilliard String Quartet is just banking on its glorious history.