在柏林及琉森各聽了一首長七、八十分鐘，又有鋼琴獨奏的巨大管弦樂，一首是擺明車馬叫協奏曲，現場聽的機會寥寥可數，另一首題為交響曲，至少在歐美算是不時聽到。
(scroll down for English extracts)
Sep 5, 2022 8pm Philharmonie, Berlin
Antonio Pappano / Santa Cecilia Orchestra and Chorus Rome
Schoenberg: Transfigured Night
Busoni: Piano Concerto (Igor Levit, piano)
百聞不如一見的布梭尼《鋼琴協奏曲》，一整張CD的長度，五個樂章，最後一個有男聲合唱。果真是super virtuoso才能應付到的曲目，不只是管弦樂寫得很厚，還要是鋼琴都寫得很厚很多音，假如隨便用個數字去代表，應該是比彈一首拉赫曼尼諾夫協奏曲辛苦十倍。我對此曲的觀感是「小題大做」，極複雜之下其實所表達的頗為簡單，所以我用這詞不是貶意，因為我覺得不會「聽不明」。
於是這次演奏我最困惑的地方是，看是看到鋼琴幾乎彈足全首，但真正聽到的卻很少，太多音符根本無從用力，還要和樂隊鬥大聲。這刻我也必須承認自己狀態不佳，應該影響觀感。合唱終曲並不是貝九那樣而是像接李斯特《浮士德交響曲》，而鋼琴完全被吸進管弦及合唱的巨響之中。李維特只用了70分鐘就彈完，但現場聽過後，我認為彈得慢才更辛苦。我或許已浪費了可能是唯一一次現場看布梭尼《鋼琴協奏曲》的機會，或者等哈梅林或基斯坦吧。很有機會此曲是較適合在家聽，如果最想聽鋼琴的話。
A live performance of Busoni’s five-movement Piano Concerto is surely hard to come by, but I’m afraid I’d spoiled this experience as I was quite exhausted. Igor Levit was joined by Pappano and the Santa Cecilia Orchestra and Chorus for this Berlin performance. The previous day they played the same programme in Hamburg. Watching Levit in action I think I found the reason that this mammoth piece was hardly taken up by pianists. Arbitrarily speaking, playing this Busoni concerto takes ten time the effort of a Rachmaninov concerto, but despite the effort, the pianist has to struggle with the merciless onslaught of the orchestra.
Busoni wrote so many, many notes that it’ll take real fingers of steel to make them all sound loud enough. So I could hear the gigantic sound of the orchestra but not so much from the piano. Levit took only 70 minutes, basically the faster end of available recordings. I have the impression if he played slightly slower the notes would be better heard but he wouldn’t survive the ordeal. I’d also take in the factor that he just played it the previous day. Perhaps this Busoni concerto should be like heavy Wagner operas like Tristan or Siegfried: the lead player shouldn’t do it two days in a row.
Sep 6, 2022 7:30pm KKL, Lucerne
Esa-Pekka Salonen / Vienna Philharmonic
Bertrand Chamayou (piano), Cécile Lartigau (ondes martenot)
Messiaen: Turangalila Symphony
第一次現場聽梅湘《圖倫加利拉交響曲》是在琉森，想不到第二次也是在琉森，不過上次是在另一個廳，樂團只是音樂節的青年樂團Lucerne Academy，鋼琴獨奏由兩個青年鋼琴家輪流彈。今次是沙朗倫指揮維也納愛樂，鋼琴獨奏本是王羽佳，但她在一天前因病取消，薩馬尤頂替，他本來就會在下星期於巴黎和沙朗倫合作同一樂曲。
雖然我不保證王羽佳必然會比薩馬尤好，但聽過她彈《圖倫加利拉》始終是難得經驗，我一直都想港樂請她和梵志登合演此曲。但薩馬尤最近也有一張《聖嬰二十默想》新碟，其梅湘資歷是有的。此曲我覺得不易分鋼琴家的高低，但以這個演奏來說，薩馬尤有能力令極高音也有相當色彩，不致淪為純敲擊樂器。
於琉森KKL音樂廳聽此曲也可加分，不過這次我發覺此廳的低音頗重，某程度上增添了一種靚聲的錯覺，雖然此廳也是頂尖級數，只是我覺得這種低音有點不自然。沙朗倫將樂隊調得幾無噪音，但又沒有那種quel bordel(吵死人）的刺激。有兩點最為不足，第一是電子鍵盤ondes martenot的音量調得太細聲，好像可有可無。第二是去到全曲最後十秒，才知樂隊及這個音樂廳可以這麼大聲，就是被指揮壓住了。
I’m so sorry that Yuja Wang pulled out of this Lucerne performance just the day before. She has been touring with Salonen and Vienna Philharmonic playing this piece but she couldn’t make this last stop. Chamayou, who is to play the Turangalila with Salonen in Paris the coming week, jumped in. I think it’s rather hard to tell the difference of one pianist from another in this work but still, I was delighted Chamayou was able to conjure many colours even from the top registers, and the part became less percussive as it usually is.
The KKL Lucerne is an ideal venue for this cacophonous piece but this time I found this venue was too bassy. Some, or perhaps most listeners would enjoy it but to me this sound is a bit artificial. Salonen handled the orchestral balance masterfully but I missed the noise. And, I’m not sure if that’s the conductor’s decision, the ondes martenot (which was placed in front as per Messiaen’s instructions) simply wasn’t loud enough. It’s an electronic instrument so the volume is adjustable. And the final chord of this piece brought home to me the painful truth that Salonen has been holding back the orchestra for the past 75 minutes and only letting rip at this final moment.