Handel: Keyboard Suite No.9
Brahms: Variations and Fugue on a Theme by Handel
Reger: Variations and Fugue on a Theme by Bach
András Schiff (piano) (Warner)
(scroll down for English review)
席夫一張奇碟，在阿姆斯特丹現場錄音。我廿年來都不敢聽，因為被兩首「主題變奏及賦格」嚇倒，布拉姆斯《韓德爾變奏曲》長25分鐘，雷格《巴哈變奏曲》長34分鐘。前者在音樂廳間中聽到，後者則幾乎絕跡，雷格還是出名悶。
席夫再於之前補上韓德爾《第九組曲》（其實是他第二輯鍵盤組曲的第一首），布拉姆斯就是從那曲拿主題，它本身就是幾分鐘的變奏曲，即是說布拉姆斯用韓德爾的主題變奏、再作一輯及長幾倍的主題變奏出來。
布拉姆斯《韓德爾變奏曲》我過往在現場聽過一兩次，通常我都較欣賞賦格，其餘的廿幾個變奏我覺得布拉姆斯變不出甚麼花樣。席夫的演奏，在變奏部份很着重帶出個別變奏的情緒，但我覺得賦格就彈得不夠大膽。
雷格在不同變奏，沒有布拉姆斯那樣着跡去試不同的音符或節奏組合，他也不會很介意是否夠創意，慢的變奏他盡量將旋律延續下去，快的變奏就即管浮誇一點，最後的八分鐘賦格就真的壓軸好戲，不只向《平均律》的巴哈致敬，更力逼巴哈管風琴音樂的雷霆萬鈞。
This odd disc of András Schiff is a live recording from Amsterdam. I have been put off trying out this disc for 20 years, the 25-minute Handel Variations by Brahms and the 34-minute Bach Variations by Reger seem daunting. The Brahms are occasionally played in concert but not the Reger. And most of his stuff isn’t easy to stomach.
As an introduction Schiff played Handel’s Keyboard Suite No.9 (No.1 of the 2nd set) that Brahms took the theme for his variations. Handel himself used that tune for a modest set of variations within the suite. I ran into the Brahms work one or two times live and I usually savour the fugue, but I always find the variations to be too trivial. On this recording, Schiff seemed to pinpoint the mood of each variation but I was under-whelmed by his playing of the fugue.
On the other hand Reger was less ambitious and didn’t force himself to try out all possible melodic or rhythmic permutations. The faster variations are usually dramatic while the slower variations aim at extending the melody. The 8-minute fugue is a tour de force, paying homage not just to the fugues of the Well-Tempered Clavier but also Bach the majestic organ composer.