Beethoven: Violin Sonatas No.1-10
Clara-Jumi Kang (violin), Sunwook Kim (piano) (Accentus)
(scroll down for English review)
金善旭在Accentus再錄貝多芬，不過不是鋼琴奏鳴曲，而是和姜珠美錄小提琴奏鳴曲，更是全集。連同姜珠美，近月已有三位德國小提琴家的貝多芬小提琴奏鳴曲錄音，姜珠美雖是韓裔但是在德國土生土長。
聽這套錄音我是為了姜珠美多過金善旭，不過不是從頭到尾一秒不漏的聽完，所以這裏我也作較籠統的評介。我覺得姜珠美在這套貝多芬全集一直追求最清秀的音色，我之所以用「清秀」而不是「秀麗」，因為線條真的很幼，除了很偶爾出現的極強音，這樣我覺得她明顯地把這套曲目和浪漫派小提琴曲風割裂。不過這對我來說，又算不上嶄新詮釋，往往也太少力水，亦即是水清則無魚。愈不知名的奏鳴曲，她的演奏我覺得愈沒趣味，倒是《春天》頗值一聽。
反而是金善旭的表現更令我意外，當然已在現場及唱片聽過他為弦樂家伴奏，但在貝多芬，他並不單純是把鋼琴的造句和小提琴的造句對齊，更是把鋼琴化成一支尤如弦樂器或管樂器的旋律樂器，無論在連奏或頓奏段落都做得出歌唱效果，所以不用模倣小提琴，自己也一起和唱。
然後我聽了齊默曼在BIS推出的全集的最後一張（第八至十，我在姜珠美錄音下面另放連結），發覺他除了採用和姜珠美不同的快速外，發音跟她一樣着重纖幼。不過齊默曼就是拉得出纖幼、力度及柔韌兼備的聲音。雖說演奏家還是要以現場演奏為準，但現場始終聽不齊一位演奏家的曲目，姜珠美一來就錄全集，就已是一個「我準備好」的宣言，不過這套錄音就令我覺得她有心無力，未是頂尖人馬。
Sunwook Kim continued his Beethoven recordings for Accentus, but this time he partnered with German-Korean violinist Clara-Jumi Kang on a complete recording of the violin sonatas.
But I spent the time for Kang, as I didn’t every minute (although I listened to every sonata) so I’ll just give a general opinion. I think Kang sought to give a slim sound throughout, reserving forceful tone production for fortissimo or sforzando. And such a thorough self-restriction set these sonatas apart from Romantic repertoire. But to me, this isn’t something groundbreaking; the slim sound was often anaemic. She was at her worst on the least played sonatas, but Spring Sonata was worth a listen.
I think Kim was the hero of this otherwise bland recording. He didn’t just match the violin’s phrases but under his hands, the piano became another singing instrument. So it wasn’t just melody and accompaniment, but two individual but mutually supportive singers.
Then I turned to the final issue of Frank Peter Zimmermann’s cycle (No.8-10). His tempi were still on the rapid side, but his tone was comparable to Kang’s. Yet Zimmermann was able to deliver a slim but forceful tone. To me, that key difference separated the master from the novice.