Chopin: Mazurkas (complete)
Fou Ts’ong (piano) (Sony)
(scroll down for English review)
終於聽到傅聰Sony盒裝的蕭邦馬祖卡套裝，首先不幸地說，這也是數碼錄音，都有先前提過怪怪的、很金屬的聲音。即使另一套套裝（Eloquence推出的1960年代Westminster錄音）都有一張馬祖卡專輯，但這套始終是全集，而且是依照創作年份演奏，所以會見到作品編號又先又後。
早前聽的兩張傅聰蕭邦，節奏速度拿得比較緊，想不到他彈馬祖卡這麼自由。又不是說亂來的那種自由，但顯然見到另一種手法。聽了傅聰這種彈，我覺得太多人執着甚麼是正確的馬祖卡節奏，哪一拍是重拍，哪一拍要拖長一點點之類。傅聰其實就是當成歌來唱，毋須執着於重拍之類，總之就是一小節一拍，在這一拍內就把旋律唱出來，音符長短就用歌唱感來決定。當然還有堅實發音，強音弱音都要有腰骨。至於甚麼鄉愁、亡國、放逐、中國詩詞之類，聽完傅聰我更加不相信這種自我沉溺的文人說法。
From the Sony box set, Fou Ts’ong’s complete recording of Chopin mazurkas was, sadly, recorded in digital, and therefore suffered from the tinny treble of Fou’s other early digital recordings. Although you might find Fou’s mazurkas recordings elsewhere but this is his only complete set, and I think it’s worth tolerating the tinny sound.
In the two previous Chopin albums I reviewed, Fou maintained rigorous tempo and rhythm, so the free rubato of his mazurkas caught me off guard. I don’t mean to say it’s too free or loose, but the approach is definitely not similar. Yet from Fou’s approach I came to realize that we have been unnecessarily fuzzy on the “correct” rhythm of a Chopin mazurka. For instance, the accent should be on which beat, when to stretch the notes etc. Fou treated the mazurka not as a dance but as a song, the underlying rhythm is simply one-in-a-bar, and the rubato to be determined like a singer does in a song. Fou’s solid articulation was of course a ruling factor and the notes had body regardless of the dynamic. That’s why I once again considered the labels of “pain from exile” or “Chinese poetry” attached to Fou’s Chopin to be sheer BS.