Beethoven: Symphony No.2 & 5 (arr. for piano trio)
Emmanuel Ax (piano), Leonidas Kavakos (violin), Yo-Yo Ma (cello) (Sony)
(scroll down for English review)
艾斯、卡華高斯及馬友友第二張鋼琴三重奏大碟，錄的是貝多芬…的交響曲？《第二交響曲》由貝多芬學生Ries改編的版本，間中都有人錄碟，《第五交響曲》則一直有Hummel配曲的長笛、小提琴、大提琴、鋼琴的四重奏版本，這裏的三重奏版本，特別委約Colin Matthews改編。其實意外不是在鋼琴三重奏演奏貝多響交響曲這一點，而是頂尖樂手絕少會碰這種改編曲。
聽貝多芬交響曲，我較喜歡快速、追近貝多芬指定拍子機讀數的演奏，所以我以為用室樂編制去演奏，就更需要拉得快去令聲音沒那麼寡，想不到居然是相反。當然不是刻意拖慢，我會形容為「以時間換取空間」，拉大抒情及陽剛的反差。主旋律大致上由小提琴包辦，卡華高斯增添了不少歌唱感，而艾斯也會將伴奏彈得更為分明，不過相對下馬友友就好像沒幾多表現空間，然而我相信在氣氛激烈的地方，總體聲響仍然綽綽有餘的較厚重，一定和大提琴有關。
取代不了真正的交響曲，但有頂尖獨奏家去示範一次室樂版也是好事。
The second Ax-Kavakos-Ma trio collaboration is a Beethoven disc…Hold your yawn, it’s not the Ghost or the Archduke but trio arrangements of the Second and Fifth Symphonies. The Ries arrangement of the Second Symphony is recorded from time to time, but this Colin Matthews arrangement of the Fifth Symphony was specially commissioned.
I have a preference for swift readings of Beethoven symphonies, so I assumed a chamber music reading should be swift enough to make up for the lack of sound mass. My assumption crumbled in the face of these star soloists. There is simply no need for them to speed up, instead they adopted relatively relaxed tempi in order to raise expressiveness. The lyric passages had more cantabile and the loud passages were punchier. Kavakos stole the show, but Ax and Ma’s efforts in securing a solid foundation shouldn’t be overlooked.