Chopin: Nocturnes (complete)
Stephen Hough (piano) (Hyperion)
(scroll down for English review)
侯夫定時定候回到蕭邦，間中錄一張，現在終於錄全套夜曲了。除了18首蕭邦生前出版的，也包含四首死後出版的、懷疑是其他人作的，最後收錄了一個《第二夜曲》的加料裝飾音版本，但這不算是唯一的版本，因為蕭邦當年手抄了不同版本到不同學生的樂譜中，侯夫隨意挑選。
聽頭幾首，覺得侯夫的手法頗為俐落，可能是想跟到蕭邦留下的拍子機讀數，於是都比慣常的快。另一個俐落的地方，是很少執着於每個音都圓渾或甜美，而是注重於保持句子。偶而強調的音符，往往就是像歌唱時，每句吐出的第一個音。
肯定是我剛聽完菲爾德的夜曲（接近）全集，對蕭邦的裝飾音或花音變得敏感，也更留意到侯夫很是帶得出這些微細音符的神韻，而不只是一連串要趕在一定時間內彈完的麻煩音符。
不過後來的三分二，他的彈法逐漸和聽慣的靠攏。不是說他變得平凡了，我猜是因為蕭邦開始不加拍子機讀數，侯夫便用他覺得最舒服、最能夠表達出美態的速度去彈，無形中速度慢了，亦因為蕭邦逐漸擺脫菲爾德的影響，寫法變得更精要，每個音符的重要性也相當提高。聽慣侯夫的，對此碟不用猶豫，但由於他始終想依書直說，避免過度詮釋，這套夜曲全集我看又未去到非聽不可的地步。
（Hyperion至今拒絕在串流平台供應錄音，所以想聽的朋友要買實體版或者像我購買下載版本了。）
Stephen Hough doesn’t readily identify himself with a certain composer but Chopin is a constant focus over the years. This complete set of Nocturnes has all the published, posthumously published and misattributed pieces, with an extra track of an embellished version of the op.9 no.2 Nocturne. This isn’t one concrete Chopin-embellished version: Hough took his picks from different variants.
The first pieces gave me the impression of directness and non-sentimentality, probably because Hough based his interpretation on Chopin’s metronome indications. Tempi apart, Hough avoided playing every, or most of the notes in full tone, instead maintaining a sense of line. The highlighted notes usually turned out to be the first note of a phrase, as if uttered by a singer.
It must be because of listening to a disc of Field nocturnes that I became sensitive on Hough’s handling on ornaments. On his hands these never sound mechanical and Hough always delivered bundles of ornaments as some sort of a gesture, or a sigh.
But gradually his interpretation became closer to custom. I’d attribute it to the non-presence of metronome markings from the Ninth Nocturne onwards. As if unchained Hough now played in a pace that’s probably the most comfortable and sonorous. But it’s also clear that Chopin had by then shaken off Field’s influence and expressed his ideas concisely, and as a consequence, all notes mattered and deserved to be heard. Hough admirers need not think twice but Hough’s insistence of faithfulness might not shed new light on these pieces.