Night Music – Mozart, Schumann, Ravel, Padereski
Jan Lisiecki (piano) (DG)
(scroll down for English review)
利謝茲基繼蕭邦夜曲全集後，很快又在DG出新碟，碟名「夜之音樂」，正是他2018年香港獨奏會的標題，碟中其中兩首樂曲：舒曼《夜之小曲》（軌14至17）及拉威爾《夜之加斯巴》（軌18至20）也在當晚彈過。
開碟的莫扎特《小星星變奏曲》（軌一至13）我說不出和夜晚有幾大關連，或者是因為搖籃曲的主題？無論如何，聽完列翁絲卡雅的莫扎特鋼琴奏鳴曲全集，再聽利謝茲基彈此曲，就覺得他的觸感未夠列翁絲卡雅來得分明，我也搞不清楚他想帶出此曲哪種特質：童真還是從童真衍生的繁複？舒曼《夜的小曲》我仍覺得是次級的舒曼，同樣我覺得利謝茲基未投入足夠信心及認真去讓聽者感受到這首作品的真正價值，如果有的話。
當時現場聽《夜之加斯巴》，覺得第二樂章「死刑台」（軌19）很慢，昏昏欲睡，但又未去到荒謬的慢、沒有音樂感的慢。從這個錄音的時間來看，原來他比大部分演奏用多了七、八成時間。但這次聽錄音，始發覺他應該是把4/4拍子，拆散成八拍來數，並不是單純的拖慢，令我反而覺得真的要一個一個八分音符來彈才「對」（有引號），難怪我那時覺得慢得來有又音樂感。其餘第一及三樂章，我相信各人有心水的詮釋，我其實對它們沒有很確實的想法，不過我覺得利謝茲基很能把握到旋律對伴奏的比重，不被繁複的伴奏拖累旋律的歌唱（第一樂章）或者總體氣氛的爆發（第三樂章）。
Following on the heels of his complete Chopin Nocturnes album, Lisiecki’s new album is entitled “Night Music”, name of a recital programme he’s been playing in concert several years ago. I heard that recital when he played it in Hong Kong in 2018, of which the Schumann Nachtstücke and Ravel Gaspard de la Nuit were placed alongside with some Chopin nocturnes.
I’m not sure of the “nightly” qualities of Mozart’s Ah! vous dirais-je maman Variations (tracks 1-13), perhaps it’s because the theme is a lullaby? And I don’t get Lisiecki’s intention in playing this work. Was he trying to show the naivety, or the complexity that Mozart derived from that simple tune? Schumann’s Nachtstücke (tracks 14-17) is sub-par Schumann in my estimation and Lisiecki didn’t play with enough conviction to raise our perception to this neglected work.
I still remember Lisiecki’s live Le gibet (track 19) as super-slow but not maddeningly so. With this recording I realized Lisiecki took 40% more time than most interpretation. Now listening with the score it now dawned on me that Lisiecki split the 4/4 rhythm into 8 beats. Yet this made perfect sense to me, it was musical, although I felt drowsy when I heard that live and when I just heard it at home. I don’t have a precise perception on how Ondine and Scarbo should go, but I think Lisiecki found the right balance between the complex accompaniment and the simple melody, without letting the former drowning out the latter.