George Rochberg: Caprice Variations
Léo Marillier (violin) (Alban)
(scroll down for English review)
當初認識George Rochberg在1970年寫的《隨想變奏曲》，是因為甘祈頓在1980年代有一張以帕格里尼為主題的無伴奏專輯，一半篇幅就有這套變奏曲的其中24首變奏曲。那時就想，為甚麼他就不灌錄全集呢？現在有法國年輕小提琴家Léo Marillier的全集錄音，又找到樂譜，所以終於聽了全集。
《隨想變奏曲》全長約80分鐘（Marillier這裏省略了一些重覆奏，所以少了幾分鐘），一共51個變奏，不過第51變奏其實就是帕格里尼第24隨想曲的主題。Rochberg的主要靈感是來自布拉姆斯《帕格里尼主題變奏曲》，所以這套作品像布拉姆斯那樣，很自由的將那個主題拆骨再創作。
不過以無伴奏小提琴作品、尤其是20世紀的作品來說，此曲的炫技元素其實不算高，Rochberg較為探索作曲上的可能，多過樂器上的可能。我覺得有一些變奏，引用其他古典名曲，例如貝多芬《豎琴弦樂四重奏》的諧謔曲、《第七交響曲》的終曲，或者馬勒《第五交響曲》諧謔曲的節奏，去和帕格里尼的主題融合，確實寫得出新意。貝多芬這一點，令我覺得這套作品的本質上和《迪亞貝利變奏曲》相當接近。
甘祈頓之所以選奏約一半的變奏曲，因為Rochberg在樂譜中容許演奏者選奏個別變奏，當我聽完全套，又覺得確實不值得全套聽。至於為甚麼這套作品不多人拉，我相信挑戰度不足會是一個重要原因，拉和聽都會不夠過癮。
Written in 1970, George Rochberg’s Caprice Variations are more cited as an important 20th century work for solo violin than actually performed. The most famous violinist to have recorded them during Rochberg’s lifetime was Gidon Kremer, but it wasn’t a complete recording of all 51 variations.
Inspired by Brahms’ Paganini Variations, Rochberg set out to write his own set of variations after that very famous Paganini caprice, and Rochberg’s 51st variation is simply a recap of the Paganini theme.
To me the whole 80-minute work might be compared to Beethoven’s Diabelli Variations which dissect the theme. I think the most interesting variations are when Rochberg combined Paganini’s melody with the rhythm of other composers’ works, such as Beethoven’s Symphony No.7 or Mahler’s Symphony No.5. Rochberg was obviously more interested in the compositional possibilities than the violinistic possibilities. Therefore the whole work is less virtuosic than I supposed to be and perhaps that’s why performers with a modernistic bend turn to more challenging stuff.