Chopin, Rachmaninov: Cello Sonatas
Jean-Guihen Queyras (cello), Alexander Melnikov (piano) (Harmonia Mundi)
(scroll down for English review)
演奏及灌錄不少現代音樂的蓋拉斯，逐點逐點填補他錄音之中標準曲目的空白，蕭邦及拉赫曼尼諾夫兩首浪漫派大提琴奏鳴曲，他找來和他錄過貝多芬的老拍檔梅尼可夫。對不同時代的鋼琴素有研究的梅尼可夫，在蕭邦出動了私伙的Erard鋼琴，拉赫曼尼諾夫則用回史坦威。表面上這是造成此演奏中兩者有明顯分別的原因，但我認為還是因為兩人有意識地標榜兩曲的各自特色，儘管拉赫曼尼諾夫寫他的大提琴奏鳴曲時，是有參考過蕭邦。
蕭邦（軌一至四）蓋拉斯之所以不被梅尼可夫掩蓋，Erard琴是有點關係，但我認為主因是蓋拉斯沒有照跟蕭邦的分句，弦樂手本能上就會一條分句線當成一弓，令到不少人把此曲拉得太呆板。我覺得蓋拉斯就是明白，鋼琴家沒有琴弓用，所以懂得補上抑揚頓挫，於是蓋拉斯就大膽去拆開一小句一小句，既令旋律更生動，也變相增添了大提琴的音量。鋼琴部分，蕭邦的問題不是寫得太難，而是寫得太厚。拉赫曼尼諾夫在自己的大提琴奏鳴曲（軌五至八）改正了這點，鋼琴音符會多，但不會過厚。至於大提琴方面，蓋拉斯則從他蕭邦較碎的分句，轉為很長氣的綿延旋律，也更切合此曲的風格。
換句話說，用適合的鋼琴表面上是這錄音的優點，但真正的成功之處，就是兩位演奏者都對作品及其作曲家的聲響要求及局限極為敏感。如果想當然把這兩曲都當成「偉大鋼琴家少有地寫弦樂奏鳴曲」，用同一方法奏，難免會兩頭不到岸。
Four years after the Brahms sonatas disc with Alexandre Tharaud, Jean-Guihen Queryas returned to standard cello sonata repertoire. His partner on this Chopin and Rachmaninov disc was Alexander Melnikov, the pianist in Queyras’ Beehoven sonata set. Given Melnikov’s penchant for period pianos it wouldn’t be a surprise that Melnikov used his own Erard piano on the Chopin. A Steinway was used on the Rachmaninov. On the surface such piano choices accounted for the different sound of the two sonatas in this recording, but I think that wasn’t the main reason.
In the Chopin (tracks 1-4) Queyras managed not to be drowned by the piano as in so many recordings. Surely the Erard was one of the reason, but not the chief one. Queyras correctly disregarded Chopin’s slurs for the cello part, and split up the phrases as he saw fit. The melody was now more vivid and the cello sounded louder with such re-phrasings. The piano being his instrument Chopin surely wrote a rich piano part but the problem, to be precise, was the thick texture. Rachmaninov (tracks 5-8) was aware of that, I think. He still wrote a lot of notes for the piano but he remembered to trim down its texture. For the cello part Queyras now played the phrases in long, long legato which matched the style of this piece.
I’d like to conclude that it wasn’t the pianos per se that made this recording so wonderful, but the sensitivity of both Queyras and Melnikov to the two sonatas’ sonic demands and limitations. It’s common practice to pair the Chopin and Rachmaninov cello sonatas on one disc, just like the Grieg and Schumann piano concertos. But if a cellist treated the two sonatas the same way he or she might have lost the mark on both of them.