Jun 3, 2022 Kulturpalast Dresden
Kahchun Wong / Dresden Philharmonic
Shostakovich: Violin Concerto No.1 (Vilde Frang)
Rachmaninov: Symphony No.2
(scroll down for English review)
來到德累斯頓文化宮，聽新加坡指揮黃佳俊指揮德累斯頓愛樂。黃佳俊在2016年贏得馬勒指揮大賽冠軍，他剛在上月，獲日本愛樂從首席客席指揮升做總指揮。
上半場有法蘭演奏蕭斯塔高維契《第一小提琴協奏曲》，三年前在東京聽過她的獨奏會，其中巴托《第一小提琴奏鳴曲》令我印象深刻。這次聽她的蕭斯塔高維契就令我聯想到巴托，有濃厚感情但拒絕粗野。右手的運弓力求順滑，但左手的揉弦可以去到很盡，變成很強的表達手段。她很注重音符長度這一點，值得讚賞但也令我有保留，因為短音想傳達的感情可能未夠喉，而長音有時會分散了感情。
聽了幾晚的天才或大師，這晚要調較一下耳朵，用聽新人的標準。頭兩個樂章我覺得黃佳俊太過小心，不過第一樂章某些銅管很重的地方，就顯出新指揮比較少見的特質：冷靜，他並不是將溫度降低，而是愈易亂的地方，他堅持樂師要清楚穩妥，有這種能力的指揮，在馬勒一定有利。第三樂章慢板進入後半，他的造句開始大膽，但熱情之餘又頭腦清醒，所以樂師執行得到。他在終曲的表演令我刮目相看，當人人都想衝到尾的時候，他卻先穩定好條理，再加上個人筆觸，我完全不覺得平時的沒完沒了、粗枝大葉，倒是欲罷不能，不知不覺就過了15分鐘然後完結了。
Kahchun Wong took over from the originally scheduled David Zinman in this concert with the Dresden Philharmonic. The Singaporean won the 2016 Mahler Conducting Competition. His rise wasn’t meteoric but last month he was appointed by the Japan Philharmonic as their next chief conductor, following a two-year stint as principal guest.
Vilde Frang played Shostakovich’s First Violin Concerto in the first half. I still remembered her Bartok First Sonata from a recital in Tokyo and her Shostakovich also reminded me of Bartok as she sought to express the romantic sentiments without inciting any sense of quirkiness. I admire her insistence on the correct note length, be it the legato notes of the opening movement, or the stacatissimo of the scherzo. But such approach often made me felt the emotions were short-charged. The short notes could have been given more room to sound, while the long held notes often diluted the emotions.
I found Wong to be too cautious in the first two movements of the Rachmaninov Second. Yet in some rather noisy passages he displayed a cool-headedness rarely found in new conductors. He was very willing to lead the players through the mess, instead of leaving things to chance. This, I think, could have been the winning factor in Mahler. Wong began to let rip during the second half of the adagio. There was much passion but all these could be comfortably executed. The finale was a surprise for me, this time I wished it wouldn’t end. Again Wong set a sober tone, gradually adding his personal flavours, revealing rarely-heard intricacies.