Pärt: St. John Passion
Sampo Haapaniemi (baritone), Martti Antilla (tenor)
Nils Schweckendiek / Helsinki Chamber Choir (BIS)
(scroll down for English review)
近月有好幾張帕特的新碟推出，令我最有興趣是這張《約翰受難曲》。我對帕特的合唱曲目頗為陌生，所以趁此機會把這首70分鐘的作品從頭聽一次，體會一下帕特擁躉或狂迷對他的喜愛。
《約翰受難曲》完成於1982年，是帕特離開鐵幕後的第一首大型作品。顧名思義，唱詞取自《約翰福音》的第18章、及19章的頭半，從耶穌在客西馬尼園被捕，去到死在十字架上。但和耳熟能詳的巴哈受難曲不同，帕特沒有加入詠嘆調，亦即是沒有聖經以外的唱詞，除了軌一用合唱唱出「約翰道出的耶穌受難」，以及軌11「祢為我們受難，請憐憫我們」為全曲作結。
選用的樂器及歌唱陣容也頗為樸素，男中音獨唱唱耶穌、男高音獨唱唱彼拉多，合唱團代表其他人物及人群，最為特別是用四部獨唱（女高、低；男高、低）負責福音作家，亦即是敘述者，四人不一定同時歌唱，帕特將他們自由配合。管風琴以外，樂器只得四支：小提琴、雙簧管、大提琴、巴松管。
於是音樂的感情及劇力會比期望中低，我有樂譜對着聽，所以沒有想像中緩慢，我相信若在現場聽，看着場刊的歌詞也很容易捱過去。說捱又太過難聽，我覺得感情和劇力還是有的，但非常含蓄，在很嚴緊的結構下微微滲出。我個人來說，最為有力的部分、亦應該是全作的重心，就是軌六彼拉多審訊耶穌。帕特微細的調較音高及音長，不只把耶穌及彼拉多的言語角力超出文字局限，更好像把耶穌降世的意義都濃縮在這十多分鐘中。
Several Arvo Pärt discs are out recently, and this new recording of the St. John Passion caught my attention. Honestly, I hadn’t heard an entire large-scale Pärt choral work from start to finish, so I took this chance to visit this oft-recorded Pärt work, written when he just came out of the Iron Curtain.
Pärt set the Vulgate text of St. John’s Gospel, namely chapter 18 and the first half of chapter 19, from the arrest in Gethsemane to Christ’s death on the cross. But there are no arias as in a baroque passion setting, so basically Pärt only used the Bible, with the exception of the beginning and end, announcing that this is the “Passion of the Christ According to St. John”, and the pleading for Christ’s mercy as the summation of this setting.
The orchestral and choral forces are frugal. Jesus is sung by solo baritone, Pilate by solo tenor. The chorus takes the minor characters and the masses. The evangelist is taken by a solo SATB quartet. There are just five instruments: organ, violin, oboe cello and bassoon.
So one must expect a lower emotional intensity but if you have a score in hand, or simply the translated text during a live performance, it’s fairly easy to get through this 70-minute work. A slight but nuanced sentimentality does get past the rigorous, almost rule-bound composition. What I appreciated most is the centre point of the work, where Jesus confronts Pilate. Pärt’s minute variation of pitches and note lengths provided an extra emotional sphere above the text. It was as if the whole meaning of Jesus’ coming being condensed into this confrontation.