Sebastian Fagerlund: Chamber Music – Oceano, Fuel, Transient Light, Clarinet Sonata, Scherzic, String Quartet No.1
Meta4, Christoffer Sundqvist (clarinet), Paavali Jumppanen (piano), Hervé Joulain (horn) (BIS)
(scroll down for English review)
之前BIS推出一張費格倫特的管弦樂及大提琴協奏曲唱片，這次是六首室樂作品，最長一首的《第一弦樂四重奏》由Meta4擔綱，但其餘用到弦樂的作品也由他們的成員擔任，另外有兩首單簧管作品及一首圓號作品。
點題作品《海洋》（軌一及二）是弦樂三重奏，啟首模倣海洋深邃，我覺得頗為搶耳，樂曲之後繼續模倣海洋的不同形態，但在這首作品可見費格倫特頗依靠速度上的動及靜、音色的厚及薄的變化去推動樂曲。寫給單簧管及鋼琴的《燃料》（軌三至八）有六個樂章，但長度只有《海洋》一半多一點，一個樂章一種氣氛，玩夠了就到下個。
《浮光》（軌九）是圓號加上鋼琴三重奏，一個樂章過，「浮光」由圓號來代表，我覺得這樣的比擬不錯，但樂曲最後三分一基本上是拖到完的。《單簧管奏鳴曲》（軌十至12）的三樂章是快、慢、快，我會詮釋為神經質、呆滯、神經質，雖然頭尾樂章感覺刺激，但我覺得費格倫特這種作曲手法其實很難寫得長。軌13《諧謔式》是中提琴及大提琴二重奏，雖然也是用神經質躍動帶動，但兩支樂器互相模倣令樂曲感覺沒那麼寡，而且四分鐘就完。
最後的《第一弦樂四重奏》（軌14至19）六個樂章中，第二、三、六取名為舞曲，又都是神經質躍動，其餘三個樂章是緩慢寧靜，但我的感覺是呆滯。聽費格倫特這些室樂，聽兩三首都還好，愈聽下去就愈覺得他首首作品都是差不多，雖然利用到不同樂器的音色，但作品本身往往只是用神經質及呆滯胡混過去。
The Finnish string quartet Meta4 took the lion’s share of this Sebastian Fagerlund chamber music album. The full team took part in just the First String Quartet but its members played in pieces of other configurations.
The titular piece Oceano (tracks 1-2) was written for string trio with an opening that amazingly evokes the depth of the ocean. Other oceanic aspects are imitated as well and it could be readily observed that Fagerlund builds his pieces around the contrasts of fast and slow and the various densities of tonal colours.
Fuel (tracks 3-8) has six movements but is shorter than Oceano. It’s written for clarinet and piano, each movement has a distinct mood and moves briskly into the next movement.
Transient Light (track 9) pits a horn against the piano trio. The light in the title is represented by the horn and once again the effect is amazing. But the last third of the piece drags its way to the end. Clarinet Sonata (tracks 10-12) has a fast-slow-fast three-movement structure, which can also be described as neurotic-sluggish-neurotic. The neurotic movements have much energy but I feel it would be hard for Fagerlund to sustain a longer movement with that. The four-minute Scherzic (track 13), for viola and cello, presents this neurotic nature as imitation between the two instruments.
Out of the six movements of the First String Quartet (tracks 14-19) three of them are labeled as dances, which are basically neurotic bouncing. The other three are sluggish in my subjective view, although the intention is apparently peaceful or simply static. Fagerlund’s chamber pieces are written with consummate skill but after several pieces I got increasingly fed up by the neurotic-lethargic dichotomy.