Tchaikovsky, Prokofiev, Rachmaninov
Tianxu An (piano) (Alpha)
(scroll down for English review)
安天旭在三年前的柴可夫斯基大賽成名後，終於在Alpha推出了個人專輯，是去年夏天於廣州星海音樂廳錄製。選奏的作曲家是柴可夫斯基、普羅歌菲夫、拉赫曼尼諾夫這些最熱門的俄羅斯作曲家，但曲目多數是冷門的，所以我有興趣去聽。
柴可夫斯基的部分（軌一至五），嚴格來說不算太冷門，因為有《季節》及《18首小曲》比較有名的小曲。安天旭用很多搶板，務求連續的、相同長度的音符不規則，以營造有感情的歌唱感覺。我覺得大抵是合理的手法，但往往一首作品中用得太密，亦傾向是有借無還、偏離了基本節奏的tempo rubato那種搶板，所以會比較油膩。
普羅歌菲夫《四首練習曲》（軌六至九）及拉赫曼尼諾夫《蕭邦主題變奏曲》（軌十至23）就真的是冷門曲目，尤其是以這兩位作曲家的知名度來說。我覺得安天旭就是缺乏了那點自信甚至自大，我進一步揣測，安天旭就是自知騙不倒人，寧願用較有把握的速度，彈得清楚及足秤，但就稍欠那種灑脫及豪邁，而我覺得作曲家其實也不旨意演奏者彈得太謹慎。
Three years after his viral mishap at the Tchaikovsky Competition, Chinese pianist Tianxu An made his album debut on Alpha, with an all-Russian programme recorded in Guangzhou by a local team. What prompted me to try out this album is the unusual repertoire, by this most famous trio of Russian composers.
Unless you’re only familiar with the First Piano Concerto, most of the Tchaikovsky selections here (tracks 1-5) are anything but obscure. An’s rubati aimed to render consecutive, equal-valued notes irregularly to yield an affectionate cantabile. I consider such approach legitimate for these pieces but An seemed to deviate too often from the pulse.
The Prokofiev Etudes (tracks 6-9) and Rachmaninov’s Chopin Variations (tracks 10-23) are really obscure, and I might say quite justifiably so. I have the feeling that An was too aware of his technical limitations (I don’t mean he’s inadequate) that he chose to play it safe and tended to favour clean and well-articulated notes. As a result, his interpretations of these sub-par works lacked the necessary audacity to convince, perhaps confuse the listener that these works are indeed something to behold.