Bach: Sonatas and Paritas for Solo Violin
James Ehnes (violin) (Onyx)
(scroll down for English review)
這兩年催化了著名小提琴家灌錄巴哈無伴奏的勇氣，這半年會有五位已經或即將推出巴哈無伴奏：比昂迪（古樂，Naive）、恩尼斯（Onyx）、諏訪內貞子（Decca）、卡華高斯（Sony）及齊默曼（BIS）。
恩尼斯這張是他相隔二十年後再次錄巴哈無伴奏，跟易沙意無伴奏一樣都是在疫情期間於自己家中、早上灌錄。我沒有比較過舊錄音，直接聽這套，先是覺得演奏、準確來說是發音，是徹頭徹尾的浪漫派或俄國學派：每個音符都極盡雄渾，即使是自己獨奏，都好像可以和大樂隊互相抗衡一樣。
過去三四十年原音演奏對巴哈演奏的衝擊，完全沒有在恩尼斯身上呈現。充其量，就是《夏康舞曲》（軌21）的第二段琶音，他沒有使用很多現代小提琴家所使用的Carl Flesch的奏法，用回第一段琶音由巴哈指定的方法拆開和弦。
我再次無意逐個樂章和組曲去舉例，我會這樣概結恩尼斯的意圖，是極盡完美地拉每個音，盡量的響、足時間、音準絕對準確，完全不要給你找到半個軟弱的音符。於是這首音樂也毋須詮釋、毋須組織樂句、思量一個和弦要怎樣拆開，拉足每一個音就是。恩尼斯這個教科書式演奏，可能適合學琴，或者想第一次聽巴哈無伴奏的人（因為極端純正、無自我），但對追求新詮釋空間的我來說就沒幾多價值了。
The pandemic prompted many top rank violinists to set down their solo Bach. Within these six months I can count five who have just or are going to release complete sets: Biondi, Ehnes, Suwanai, Kavakos and Zimmermann.
Just like his Ysaÿe Ehnes recorded this set at home, and in the morning. This was actually his second recording of the work but I didn’t reference it against this new set. From the beginning Ehnes’ approach was entirely free of HIP: all notes were maximally robust and the chords were never rolled. I was inclined to pinpoint his tone production as Russian because the sound mass was so great that it could always go above an orchestra.
Instead of going over each suite or dance, I’d summarize Ehnes’ intention as attempting a perfect performance without the slightest sense of shortcoming. The notes were all loud, clear and pitch-perfect, which was especially hard to obtain in polyphonic playing. But with absence of weakness I think Ehnes also stripped away the interpreting aspect when a violinist approaches this groundbreaking work. This recording might be great for students or those who wished to hear what an impersonal approach sound like.