Liszt: Piano Sonata in B minor, Berceuse, 3 Petrarch Sonnets, Reminiscences of Norma, Ave Maria
Benjamin Grosvenor (piano) (Decca)
(scroll down for English review)
出道超過十年，葛羅夫納首次錄全張李斯特專輯，包括《B小調奏鳴曲》，更是用來開碟。葛羅夫納彈得《B小調奏鳴曲》，當然不是那些斤兩不足，只想靠贏比賽而一登龍門的年輕鋼琴家那樣。葛羅夫納這個演奏特出之處，是很着重既大聲又清楚，每一個頓奏點都要彈出來。音量上的刺激是有的，但樂思上的刺激我就覺得不夠。慢的地方，例如軌一的Dolce段落，綿延的行板（軌二）我覺得拖得太慢而略帶機械，第三樂章的高潮好像莫名其妙的來到，也莫名其妙的完。
接着四個軌都是柔和樂曲，軌五的《搖籃曲》屬冷門李斯特，我認為葛羅夫納的短音裝飾音不夠細膩，亦是像奏鳴曲一樣太重視長度上的正確。《三首彼德拉卡十四行詩》（軌六至八）旋律彈得稍慢而我覺得有點作狀。重頭曲目《諾瑪回憶》技術固然滿分，不過我覺得葛羅夫納太過重視把所有音符彈到最足秤，聽來反而稍欠華麗灑脫的感覺。
雖不是我會回頭再聽、或用來認識曲目的錄音，但仍是身為年輕鋼琴家可以用來見人的新錄音。
After more than a decade in the record business Grosvenor finally delivered an all-Liszt disc, including the B Minor Sonata (tracks 1-4) with which he opened this recital. Grosvenor’s B Minor Sonata would surely be way ahead of those mediocre performances by young pianists seeking to make their fortunes in the competition circuit. Grosvenor sought to combine power and clarity, which he has succeeded. You can even hear the staccato dots quite well. To me it’s very stimulating in terms of volume, but not in inspiration. The slower passages, such as the Dolce section on track 1, and the Andante sostenuto of track 2, seem to drag along, yet mechanical. The climaxes on track 3 seem to arrive and leave without much building up.
The next four tracks are softer music. Berceuse (track 5) is little-played Liszt, I think Grosvenor’s short notes weren’t delicate enough and too rigid just as in the Sonata. The Petrarch Sonnets (tracks 6-8) were too slow yet contrived. The tour de force of this recital, Norma Reminiscences (track 9), is very satisfying in terms of technique but I feel the overall sound was overloaded by Grosvenor’s playing everything loud and clear.
I wouldn’t use this Liszt disc as a point of reference, but still a worthy disc to showcase a young pianist contending for greatness.