Bach: The Art of Fugue, Chaconne (arr. Brahms)
Works by J.C. Bach, W.F. Bach, C.P.E. Bach, J.C.F. Bach and Notebook for Anna Magdalena Bach
Daniil Trifonov (piano) (DG)
(scroll down for English review)
特霍諾夫又來一張雙碟新錄音，中心是巴哈《賦格的藝術》，看真一點封面，寫的卻是「生命的藝術」，《賦格的藝術》只佔一半篇幅（軌37至56），頭半的內容我完全預料不到。
頭半小時是巴哈其中四位兒子的作品，CPE是巴哈兒子中成就最高的、JC後來教過莫扎特作曲、WF是巴哈最疼鍚的，但也弄丟了不少爸爸的作品，令它們從此散佚，至於JCF我對他全無認識，這裏收錄了他的《小星星變奏曲》（軌五至23），原來用它寫過變奏曲的不只莫扎特。
我有衝動想說，特霍諾夫選了巴哈兒子們最好聽的作品，而老爸那首是他最「難」聽的。不過這樣說也不正確，因為我根本不熟悉巴哈兒子們的作品，又怎能說這些是最好聽呢？話雖如此，特霍諾夫選的又的確好聽，而它們都顯出老爸的風格早已過時，然而我覺得特霍諾夫很努力地用巴洛克風格去彈它們。
碟一的第二部分，是12首來自《安娜瑪德蓮娜筆記簿》的樂曲，包括我們最熟悉的那一首、其實不是巴哈作的《G大調小步舞曲》（軌31）。這些樂曲其實代表了巴哈兒子的童年，因為他們的繼母／生母安娜瑪德蓮娜有教他們彈這些曲子。至於特霍諾夫的演奏，我覺得太過矯揉造作，硬要將平凡樂曲扭到變絕世佳作。
軌36是《夏康舞曲》的布拉姆斯改編版本，是改給左手彈奏，和布梭尼的雙手版本不同。這版本無疑較接近原版，但不代表比布梭尼版易彈。特霍諾夫的演奏我不收貨，因為得一隻手彈，音符少了許多，他未練熟樂曲、或者左手的力量及靈活度不足便無所遁形。
去到戲肉《賦格的藝術》，我聽完之後，認為必須先聽《第六對位曲：法國風》（軌42），彈得好對我來說只是其次，而是特霍諾夫只在這軌用了最大音量，要聽了這軌才知道其餘他都彈得頗細聲，所以要先聽這軌調較好音量。我完全反對聽同一張碟時把音量調來調去，嫌太細聲不夠刺激便調大、聽到之後太吵就調細，絕不是好樂迷的聽法。
回到特霍諾夫的《賦格的藝術》，我覺得這演奏可取之處是爽快、節奏感強，先前提起的《第六對位曲：法國風》特霍諾夫採用法國巴洛克的notes inégales，把連續四個的16分音符用兩個附點節奏來彈，頓時生色不少。不過那首只是個別例子，更顯著是特霍諾夫認真對待多首對位曲的2/2節奏，所以比多數演奏更為爽快。
不過用現代人的節奏觀去詮釋巴哈的節奏指示，多數會焦頭爛額，我認為特霍諾夫彈得太快，音符彈得齊，但它們糊在一起，欠缺多聲部的感覺。而特霍諾夫每每用弱音去彈，更難分清聲部之餘，也將男低音聲部（四聲部中的最低）嚴重低估，特霍諾夫太過強調女高音聲部（四聲部中的最高），中間兩個聲部淪為陪襯。所以除了彈得夠大聲的《第六對位曲：法國風》，只有四首卡農（軌52至55）沒有那些問題。
至於最後的四主題賦格（軌56），特霍諾夫也是用快的2/2節奏去彈，我覺得就太過簡單。這首賦格巴哈死前都未有完成，多數演奏者會停在巴哈輟筆之處，但也有很多人試過把它完成，因為那個位置其實是第四個主題進入之地方，理應就是頭四首對位曲的主題。特諾霍夫就寫了自己的版本，出乎意料地不是將四個主題匯合而綻放璀璨火花，倒是反高潮地用最含蓄的方式，以靜謐完結。
Daniil Trifonov once again brought out a substantial double album, with Bach’s The Art of Fugue as the centre. Look carefully, the title reads “The Art of Life”, so this is more than a new recording of Bach’s contrapuntal testament.
The first half hour is made up of pieces by four of Bach’s sons. CPE, JC and WF aren’t unknown figures but it’s my first time hearing JCF, whose Variations on “Ah vous dirais-je maman” (tracks 5-23) were featured here. I thought Mozart was the only one who wrote variations on that nursery rhyme.
I’m tempted to say Trifonov picked the most delightful pieces by Bach’s sons and pitched them against their father’s toughest piece. Although I don’t really know the output of Bach’s sons but the selections by Trifonov are truly delightful, possibly the most enjoyable of this album. It’s clear that Papa Bach was already a dinosaur in his sons’ times but Trifonov’s interpretation seemed to pull them back into the Baroque mould.
Then there are 12 short pieces drawn from the Notebook for Anna Magdalena Bach (tracks 24-35), including the best-known G Major Minuet (track 31) which was actually written by Christian Petzold. Apart from being Anna Magdalena Bach’s selections of her husband’s works these actually represented her sons’ (stepsons or biological sons) childhood as they apparently played them as instructional pieces. In my opinion Trifonov tried too hard to twist these mediocre pieces into profound masterworks and the end results were quite kitsch.
Track 36 is Brahms’ transcription of the Chaconne for piano left hand, a version much less played than Busoni’s two-hand version. I’m not satisfied by Trifonov’s performance as the sparser texture of this left-hand arrangement exposes Trifonov’s feebleness in his left hand.
Finally The Art of Fugue (tracks 37-56). I strongly recommend hearing Contrapunctus 6 (track 42) first to set the correct playing volume. Only in this piece did Trifonov use the full volume. This track also turned out to be the one I most enjoyed. As this fugue was subtitled “in stylo francese” Trifonov made good use of the notes inégales and spiced up the running 16th notes.
Taken as a whole, Trifonov’s interpretation was agile and rhythmic. I credit this to his adherence of the alla breve rhythm of most of the fugues, so the tempi, which was quite consistent, was quicker than most interpreters. But there is after all a reason for the usual tempi because one simply couldn’t take Bach’s time signatures as one would in Brahms or Tchaikovsky.
Such brisk tempi, in addition to Trifonov’s low volume, tangled up the voices instead of clarifying them. The all-too-important bass register was undermined by Trifonov’s low volume, and he overemphasized the soprano register, so the two middle voices simply served as fillings. I truly couldn’t recognize it as a viable way of playing Bach fugues, especially The Art of Fugue.
Trifonov wrote his own completion of the final contrapunctus (track 56). Instead of bringing it to a glorious close Trifonov took the most subdue approach and ended this mammoth testament with a meditation.