Brahms: Violin Sonatas No. 1-3
Aylen Pritchin (violin), Maxim Emelyanychev (piano) (Aparté)
(scroll down for English review)
聽這張布拉姆斯小提琴奏鳴曲全集是為了Emelyanychev，他多數在指揮古樂團，而他在這碟也用了一部1875年紐約史坦威鋼琴，比起其他同代鋼琴，和我們聽慣的史坦威不差太遠，就是在高音尖了一點，但這正是特色。
以前未聽過Pritchin這位三十來歲的俄羅斯小提琴家，他的拉法不像任何一個現在當紅的小提琴家。他拉得較平淡，從技術來看，左手的揉弦比較克制，我不肯定是否有心原音，還是他本想如此，但我覺得限制了音色變化，尤其是布拉姆斯寫了espressivo的段落，揉多一點比較好。但我很欣賞他的右手（運弓），好像一支無限長的弓，或者這也是他毋須依賴大幅度揉弦就能拉出開揚聲音的原因。總體來說，是有點抽離但又未算是冷的布拉姆斯演奏。
I came to this Brahms violin sonatas album because of Maxim Emelyanychev, who isn’t just being active as a conductor but in the pre-classical realm as well. Perhaps because of such origins he played an 1875 Steinway (New York) piano here. The sound was quite close to the Steinway sound in our ears but the treble was much sharper which should be considered as a characteristic instead of a flaw.
The 30-something Russian violinist Aylen Pritchin was new to me. He approached these sonatas with restrain. If I might break it down by his two hands I’d say his left hand had a rather narrow vibrato which definitely restricted his tonal palette. For instance, the espressivo passages should have been played with more vibrato. But his right hand was in possession of an infinitely long bow; perhaps that’s why Pritchin played with significantly less vibrato than we’re accustomed to nowadays. All in all, a somewhat detached reading but I wouldn’t label it as cool or cold.