May 28, 2022 Boulezsaal
Cuarteto Casals
Mozart: The Ten Mature String Quartets
Concert 1: K499 (Hoffmeister), 575, 589, 590 (Prussian Quartets)
(scroll down for English review)
我對西班牙這隊卡薩爾斯四重奏有特別感情，因為2018年於東京三得利音樂廳（小廳）聽過他們的貝多芬全集。他們於柏林布烈茲音樂廳用兩天、三場音樂會演奏莫扎特最後十首弦樂四重奏，即是他成熟期的全部十首。這套音樂會是補場，兩年前因為疫青取消，當時開售時是想聽的，但場地在月前公佈補場時我卻心大心細，當年的貝多芬其實不算完全滿意，雖然喜歡他們奏貝多芬早期，但不大接受他們的倣古奏法，而他們的莫扎特錄音正是有這種傾向。此外，這個周末在漢堡還有尼遜斯和布業大廳的兩場理察史特勞斯。
最後還是買定離手。第一場先奏最後四首，即是較冷門的Hoffmeister以及三首普魯士四重奏。雖然見到中提琴手還是用巴洛克式的琴弓，但全體的音色竟然再沒那種倣古，大家的揉弦都用得多，而且兩位小提琴不再像在貝多芬般輪換第一及第二之位。想不到心大心細，差點鑄成大錯，這真是無與倫比的莫扎特，最大名的如貝爾格、愛默森、哈根，或者年青的Van Kiijk都聽過，卡薩爾斯是完全另一種境界，當然也不排除是場地使然，但我以前也在這兒聽過其他的四重奏，也沒這場那麼夢幻。
我覺得只聽第一小提琴，未足以說卡薩爾斯勝過其他，但四人一起就是另一回事。第一小提琴當仁不讓去擔任獨奏，但其餘三人卻不會乖乖揉合成一體的伴奏。當然不是說他們要搶，而是他們都用到獨奏級別的仔細及清晰，去奏他們各自的部份。於是再不是獨奏加伴奏，但也不是四人平等，而是四人緊密地織出既有主副，但又不能少了一人的肌理。另一個有趣地方，是他們避開了大部分弦樂四重奏在演奏莫扎特時，音量太平坦的問題。卡薩爾斯四重奏把音量指示當成干擾或轉變，做出效果就回歸清晰有力的音量。還有就是造句並不受小節線約束，一句一句的，而不是一拍一拍的奏。
就算明天的六首「海頓」四重奏無以為繼，有這場已是重要回憶了。一大難忘點是K589小廣板的大提琴獨奏。
I have a weakness for Cuarteto Casals because I saw their Beethoven cycle in Tokyo. It’s not an entirely enjoyable experience but still it was the only live Beethoven quartet cycle I’ve been to. Now this ensemble rescheduled their cycle of the ten Mozart mature quartets over two days, at Berlin’s Boulezsaal.
I had doubts on their Mozart because I don’t really like their HIP-inflected sound but the live experience was so different. Perhaps they’ve rethought their approach over the pandemic. Notes were now played sweetly and with vibrato, sometimes lots of it according to situation. I don’t buy the BS that the four players are equal in a string quartet, the classical string quartet never envision itself that way. The first violin was really the hero in the idiom. But Cuarteto Casals achieved something slightly different. The other three players don’t just gel themselves into one big accompaniment to the first violin, but each approach their part with the care and dedication of a soloist. Accompaniment is still accompaniment but it’s done rigorously. Cuarteto Casals’ Mozart is an intriguing web of four voices, more to the ideal of polyphony than just chamber music.