Stamitz: Four Symphonies
Michael Alexander Willens / Kölner Akademie (CPO)
(scroll down for English review)
Carl Stamitz（1745-1801）的名字往往會在一些中提琴協奏曲（他本身是中提琴家），以及單簧管協奏曲出現，這碟收錄了他四首交響曲。簡單來說，這是古典派作品，若要說多一點，可能要用上很古典派的古典派來形容。
我們對古典派作曲家的認識，往往局限在海頓、莫扎特、貝多芬。不管他們的不朽作品是否真能代表整段古典時期，但至少音樂學家在這些維也納古典派作曲家以外，區分出一個「曼海姆派」，曼海姆位於德國西南，離法蘭克福不遠，但和維也納就已有相當距離。
而我會將曼海姆派視為一種古典派的典範，Stamitz就是他們一個重要人物。正因為他們的作品不及海頓等人傳世，就可以更清楚見到一種凌駕了個人的風格。當然我不是指「即是好聽」或「即是不好聽」，而是這派的音樂將旋律的重要性放得很重，也代表了和巴洛克音樂的徹底割裂，就是我說「很古典派的古典派」的原因。
不過這四首Stamitz交響曲，我覺得雖然是順耳，但又不未到悅耳的層次。最特別的是寫於1772年《田園大交響曲》（軌11至14），副題為「多變的一天」。Stamitz將他一天在凡爾賽宮遇到的天氣變化，寫成一首四樂章交響曲，第二樂章是暴風雨，最後樂章又是輕快的舞曲。即使貝多芬寫《田園交響曲》之前，用音樂描繪天氣或大自然已是一種潮流，但我又沒想到早他三十多年便有。一般貨色，一聽無妨。
The name of Carl Stamitz (1745-1801) was usually associated with viola concertos (he’s a reputable violist) and clarinet concertos. This album collected four of his symphonies. It’s classical stuff, or if you allow me, “classical classical” stuff.
Musicologists stress the importance of the Mannheim School, of which Stamitz was an important figure, in the evolvement of classicism, alongside the Viennese classicism of Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven. Precisely because Stamitz isn’t as timeless as those three titans, it’s quite easy to feel an impersonal style in the music of Stamitz. I’m not making a value judgment out of this: it’s just to explain why I said his music is “classical classical”.
The four symphonies on this album are easy listening, though not really pleasing. The outstanding piece is the 1772 Grand Pastoral Symphony (tracks 11-14) with the subtitle Le Jour variable. Stamitz experienced a day of changing weather at the Versailles and he turned it into a four-movement symphony. The second movement is a storm while the finale is a light country dance which reminded me of Beethoven’s Pastoral Symphony. Surely there had been a fad of such illustrative music long before Beethoven penned his masterpiece, but I never expected there had been one written an entire generation before Beethoven. An ordinary piece but worth a casual listen.