Arensky: Piano Quintet, String Quartet No.2, Piano Trio No.1
Spectrum Concerts Berlin (Naxos)
(scroll down for English review)
早前聽了亞倫斯基《第一鋼琴三重奏》，便找回Spectrum Concerts Berlin這張全亞倫斯基專輯來聽，主力聽頭兩曲，因為第三曲正是《第一鋼琴三重奏》（軌八至11）。早前聽了布魯赫的小提琴協奏作品及交響曲全集，對亞倫斯基又有另一番體會，聽《鋼琴五重奏》（軌一至四）就最有感觸。
喜歡還喜歡，我還未至於捧亞倫斯基成神一般。他某程度和布魯赫相似，都很擅長作順耳、但又未到難忘的旋律，亞倫斯基不同在見好就收，不會自視過高，愈寫愈長。《鋼琴五重奏》我最喜歡第二及三樂章，前者既是慢板又是變奏曲，但變奏之間轉接得非常自然，像是自然的延續而不會為變奏而變奏。第三樂章是附有三重奏的諧謔曲，但結構又有點像變奏曲。
《第二弦樂四重奏》（軌五至七）是悼念柴可夫斯基而作，明顯回應柴可夫斯基同是悼念前輩的《鋼琴三重奏》。一聽驚覺音色很暗，才知道此曲不是典型的四重奏配器，而是一支小提琴、一支中提琴及兩支大提琴。重頭部分還是第二樂章，佔全曲一半篇幅，以柴可夫斯基主題而作的變奏曲，但我還是覺得寫得比較常規，我較喜歡第一樂章，最欣賞它在快板及悼念之間曖昧不清。
After listening to Arensky’s First Piano Trio in a Shostakovich-Arensky album I was eager for more Arensky so I came to this album. This also includes the First Piano Trio so I’ll just focus on the other works.
After spending time on neglected Bruch, I came to view Arensky in a slightly different light. I wouldn’t claim Arensky to be an immortal composer. He couldn’t deliver two long lasting works as Bruch did but Arensky would never overextends his melodic gifts. So his works would never overstay their welcome.
The second and third movements were my favourite moments with the Piano Quintet (tracks 1-4). The former is a slow movement in the guise of a set of variations, and Arensky’s skill in transitioning between moods was exemplary: you might even not know this is a set of variations. The third movement is a Scherzo-Trio movement but the repeats gave me a sense of variations nevertheless.
The Second String Quartet (tracks 5-7) was written in memory of Tchaikovsky, in a nod to Tchaikovsky’s own magnificent tribute to a musical giant, the Piano Trio. But this string quartet wasn’t in the conventional setting, instead of two violins there are two cellos, no wonder the tonal palette sounded so dark and sonorous. Almost half of the work was taken by the second movement, which is also a variation movement like the Tchaikovsky Trio. Arensky later orchestrated this movement. But sadly Arensky’s effort was a bit contrived and couldn’t reach the naturalness of the Piano Quintet. Still, the first movement is memorable because this allegro is haunted by mournfulness.