Bloch, Bruch, Korngold, Ravel
Edgar Moreau (cello)
Michael Sanderling / Lucerne Symphony (Erato)
(scroll down for English review)
全張的猶太主題大提琴唱片，好像很少見，布洛赫《所羅門》及布魯赫《晚禱》應該是猶太主題大提琴樂曲最出名的兩首。但奇怪在《所羅門》很少新錄音，尤其是大牌子，它們捧這麼多新人，卻很少用這首非常澎湃的樂曲去捧他們，實在可惜。
本來我也怕全碟都是猶太主題會太膩，還好將兩首最典型的「猶太哀愁」作品：布洛赫《猶太生活》（軌一至三）及拉威爾《兩首猶太旋律》（軌11至12）放在頭尾，然後《所羅門》（軌八至十）比它們激昂得多，康高特（猶太作曲家）的《大提琴協奏曲》（軌四至六）賣的是荷里活浪漫，又不是猶太哀怨，所以沒有吃膩。
隔了多年重聽康高特協奏曲，覺得這曲被人忽視可謂康高特自招。首先那個抒情動機他收得太密實，重覆得不夠、又不好好用它去借題發揮。快板不夠炫技，慢板又太過炫技，大煞風景。
至於莫羅，我不諱言對他印象一般，這次覺得聽他拉琴，很是替他辛苦。不只是他每兩秒一次的喘氣聲，更是辛苦得來又不是拉出很有力、宏大的聲音。還有這次發覺他運弓時，很容易太用力壓弦，本來可以很簡單的detache運弓，都可以變成一個個頓奏音符。我明白過度用力也是一種表達方式，但經常這樣就令我聽得很辛苦。
An all-Jewish cello album sounds so natural but it has hardly been done before. And this is the best excuse to include Bloch’s Schelomo that isn’t taken up by most new cellists today.
I thought to myself, would an hour of Jewish melancholy be too much? The answer is no, because Schelomo (tracks 8-10) has more massive emotions, the Korngold concerto (tracks 4-6) is more Hollywood and not at all Jewish, of course we all know Korngold was Jewish. The melancholic pieces formed the bookends of this CD, with Bloch’s From Jewish Life (tracks 1-3) and Ravel’s Hebrew Melodies (tracks 11-12). Bruch’s Kol Nidrei (track 7) stood at the midway.
Revisiting the Korngold concerto after more than a decade, now I think Korngold nly has only himself to blame that this concise concerto gets ignored. The romantic motif should have been a killer but Korngold didn’t repeat it much nor build the concerto’s rhetoric around it. And then the first movement is too easy on the cello but Korngold burdened the slow movement with too much virtuosity when he should have done much earlier.
I’ve always had reservations towards Edgar Moreau, the impression he gave me this time is too much strain. Probably because of his gasps that occur in every bow stroke but despite such apparent effort his tone isn’t as grand as one would suppose. This time I noticed his tendency in exerting excessive bow pressure, his tone often sounded choked; simple detache notes were played like labored staccatos. Strained notes are among a cellist’s box of tricks but too much of that brought so much strain to my listening.