Schumann: Impromptus on a Theme by Clara Wieck, Concerto Without Orchestra (Piano Sonata No.3)
Jean-Philippe Collard (piano) (Warner)
(scroll down for English review)
不是出錄音全集，又不是特別的大壽，但因為74歲的柯勒近月會有兩張新唱片，所以找他的舊錄音聽。這張舒曼專輯，都是少聽到的曲目，而專輯的主題名為「克拉拉維克啟發的作品」。《克拉拉維克主題即興曲》（軌一）開宗明義是用克拉拉所作的主題來作的20分鐘作品，雖然名為即興曲，其實就是一套變奏曲。
又是老說話，鋼琴家那麼喜歡舒曼，卻少彈此作當然有原因，即使變奏曲的短促體裁可以令舒曼如魚得水，但變來變去不過是棘手的節奏及伴奏組合而已。《沒有樂隊的協奏曲》（軌二至五）即是《第三鋼琴奏鳴曲》，喜愛此曲的鋼琴家，古有荷洛維茲，另一世代的有波里尼。第三樂章又是用克拉拉的小行板主題寫變奏曲。
反而這個樂章是四個樂章最弱的一個，其餘樂章的炫技其實寫得頗為耐聽，值得聽熟。回到這個變奏樂章，以及之前的《即興曲》，我總是覺得舒曼即使和克拉拉熱戀／苦戀都好，從這兩首作品，舒曼似是當克拉拉是個稚嫰作曲家，就像拿一個小朋友或業餘者所作的旋律，去譜出大人或專業的作品般。假如在2019年的克拉拉二百冥壽年聽過她的鋼琴作品，就會發覺舒曼眼中的她，和真實的她有着相當落差。
A digital reissue of a 1973 recording by the young Jean-Philippe Collard, it features two rarely performed Schumann works that were inspired by Clara Schumann. To be precise, Impromptus on a Theme by Clara Wieck (track 1) is a set of variations on an innocuous theme by Clara and the Concerto Without Orchestra (tracks 2-5) has one variation movement that was likewise written on a Clara theme.
Given pianists’ love for Schumann it was no accident that these works were and are still overlooked. Although the variation form could have been in line with Schumann’s miniature writing he only managed to build webs of rhythms in the Impromptus.
On the other hand, Concerto Without Orchestra was a favourite of Horowitz and Pollini, the other three movements are in an intriguing virtuosic style and definitely worth getting familiar with. To me, the Clara movement is the weakest link.
From these two works I deduce that Schumann essentially saw Clara as a somewhat inferior musical mind, as he was trying to show that he could create something worthwhile out of Clara’s immature melodies, just like a mature artist asking for a jingle then plays a stunning improvisation out of it. If you listened to some Clara’s original works during her anniversary in 2019 you’d definitely get an entirely different look on her creativity.