Nino Rota: Chamber Music
Eric Le Sage (piano), Emmanuel Pahud (flute), Paul Meyer (clarinet), Daishin Kashimoto (violin), Aurélien Pascal (cello), etc. (Alpha)
(scroll down for English review)
Nino Rota（1912-1979）說得上是傳世作品的，應該是他的電影配樂，例如費里尼《大路》、《八部半》；哥普拉《教父》的難忘旋律。那方面為他帶來最大的名利，但他同時熱衷創作自己的音樂，這些就較少人留意，加上他堅守有調音樂的創作路線，這點令前衛音樂愛好者或掌權者不會碰他的音樂，但聽慣經典作品的樂迷又未必會問津。
這張室樂專輯大致有三首稍長的作品：《長笛、小提琴、鋼琴三重奏》（軌一至三）、《九重奏》（軌七至11）及《單簧管、大提琴、鋼琴三重奏》（軌12至14），由星級獨奏家演奏，確是認識Rota非電影配樂創作的好入門。
這三首作品都是寫給少見的樂器組合，《九重奏》則是木管加弦樂，尤如一首室樂交響曲，也有點像莫扎特、貝多芬的小夜曲。我不打算逐首介紹，只談這些作品令我對Rota有甚麼印象，儘管我以前也有聽過很多張Rota作品（包括管弦樂）的唱片，只是沒令我有太大感覺。
Rota這些室樂作品都是以旋律帶動，又不追求大的架構，旋律不算是一聽難忘那種深刻，而是有鮮明性格，快板就活力，慢板就柔和。用20世紀音樂的眼光去看，很容易令人對他貼上新古典主義的標籤，不過我認為他並非倣古、或者貪時髦地懷舊，而是他很坦誠地相信音樂本應就要直接，但也不用壓抑感情。因此，我覺得他的音樂頗像浦朗克，不過可能較受演奏者歡迎，多過被時刻要求有深度、有後期風格、穿過喜和悲、跨過生和死的樂迷鄙視。
Nino Rota (1912-1979) is still remembered as a film composer, gracing us with the unforgettable melodies of La Strada, 8 1/2 and The Godfather. But he left a significant amount of concert works as well. Their tonal nature automatically disqualified him in the eyes of the young turks of his era, yet the average concertgoer might not consider him an equal to their favourite composers.
Flanked by some smaller pieces this album consists of three multi-movement works scored for unusual combinations: Trio for Flute, Violin and Piano (tracks 1-3), Nonet (tracks 7-11) and Trio for Clarinet, Cello and Piano (tracks 12-14). This star-studded album is an excellent introduction to this unknown side of Rota’s artistry.
I’ll take these works as a whole to outline Rota’s style and artistic credo. Melody-driven and in favour of more concise structures, these pieces struck me with their unambiguous characters: energetic allegros and relaxed adagios. It might be tempting to tag the neoclassical label, but to me Rota wasn’t being retrograde. These works show that he sincerely believed in directness of musical expression, without unnatural holding back of the emotions. In this respect these chamber music by Rota reminded me of Poulenc, whose joie de vivre endeared and still endears him by performers, but not necessarily by listeners who prefer profound music above everything else.