Stravinsky: Works for Violin
Ilya Gringolts (violin), Peter Laul (piano)
Dima Slobendiouk / Galicia Symphony (BIS)
(scroll down for English review)
史特拉汶斯基專為小提琴而寫的原創作品，只有《小提琴協奏曲》及《協奏二重奏》兩首，合共約35分鐘，但格林高特這兩輯史特拉汶斯基小提琴音樂集，卻一共有135分鐘，多出來的是改編曲。另一方面，這些原創及改編樂曲橫跨1907至1944年，已是他三分二的創作生命，所以當成他作品的精選來聽也可以。
史氏要到差不多50歲才為小提琴作曲，《小提琴協奏曲》（第二輯軌16至19）及《協奏二重奏》（第一輯軌12至16）都是為Samuel Dushkin而寫，其中《小提琴協奏曲》是現在都不時演奏的作品，《協奏二重奏》則較少。假如放在史氏全體作品之中來看，我覺得《小提琴協奏曲》的成功不只是因為旋律易聽易記，更是因為每個樂章不長，五分鐘一個，就如一首歌，性格分明，《協奏二重奏》也有相近特質。此外，此兩曲的慢板我覺得都是史氏最優秀作品之一。
在78轉年代的的小提琴錄音，不時見到史氏短曲，尤其是改編曲，近代的小提琴家好像少碰。說史氏最大成就是芭蕾舞曲，應該沒幾多人異議，而它們之所以很適合改編成器樂樂曲，我認為不是因為「舞蹈」，而是芭蕾舞劇中的一個一個舞曲，自成一格。雖有優秀也有平凡，但在音樂廳演奏，擇肥而噬就可以，毋須擔心劇情連貫。
有兩套芭蕾舞曲給改編成多樂章的組曲，無獨有偶都是史氏改編、或者「二次創作」其他作曲家：《普欽奈拉》把巴洛克作曲家佩高雷西的旋律配器、《仙女之吻》則用柴可夫斯基較鮮為人知的樂曲，用很自由的方式編排及改寫。
《普欽奈拉》衍生了兩套小提琴組曲：《佩高雷西主題、斷章、小品組曲》（第一輯軌七至11）以及《意大利組曲》（第二輯軌三至八），前者絕少演奏，我之前也沒聽過，那是為波蘭小提琴家Paul Kochánski改編，《意大利組曲》是和Dushkin一起編寫。原材料相同，但兩個版本一個基本分別在於難度，《佩》較多追求為難而難，但拉到出來觀眾又未必聽得出，《意大利組曲》則是將難度用在刀口上，我相信是Dushkin令史氏掌握到技術與效果的關係。
《嬉遊曲》（第二輯軌九至14）來自《仙女之吻》，也是和Dushkin有關，同樣平衡到旋律與難度。還有很多小曲，恕不一一盡述，比較特別是出自歌劇《夜鶯》（第一輯軌17、18）的兩首，這齣歌劇改編自安徒生童話，這裏兩曲不只是賣旋律，更有一種神秘的風情。最後要說格林高特的演奏，我覺得以他的技術，能夠靈巧精準地表達作品，而不令人懷疑史氏只是怪僻，然而，我覺得格林高特太過遵從史氏不希望演奏者誇張的意願，最終令演奏變得稍為冷峻。
Stravinsky’s original works for violin consist of just two: Violin Concerto and Duo Concertant, both written for Samuel Dushkin. That’s about 35 minutes but Ilya Gringolts came up with a collection of 135 minutes. The extra stuff are transcriptions from his other genres. All in all, these two volumes also serve as a comprehensive overview of Stravinsky as a composer, covering works from 1907 to 1944.
Stravinsky was almost 50 when he finally wrote for the violin. The Violin Concerto (vol.2, tracks 16-19) is still frequently heard, Duo Concertant (vol.1, tracks 12-16) less so. Having heard all of Stravinsky recently, I can say one of the reasons for the success of Violin Concerto is its brevity, each movement lasting around five minutes. They have distinctive characters and constructed like songs. The same can be said of Duo Concertant. The slow movements of both works are among Stravinsky’s best in my estimation.
Modern violinists tend to overlook Stravinsky but his short pieces featured frequently in recordings of the 78rpm era. It’s hardly contestable that Stravinsky’s greatest achievements are his ballets, and to me, these make excellent transcriptions not because they are “dances”, but they are melodious and self-contained. So it’s very easy to select the best bits and play them in concert without worrying about dramatic continuity.
Two of the ballets were transcribed to suites for violin and piano, and incidentally these were Stravinsky’s reworkings of other composers’ materials. Pulcinella, after Pergolesi, was transcribed twice. The first one (vol.1, tracks 7-11) was made for Paul Kochánski and is hardly played nowadays for it was surpassed by the Suite Italienne (vol.2, tracks 3-8) for Samuel Dushkin. With the same material, the Kochánski suite seems to waste too much effort on the performer’s part because the audience would hardly notice the hurdles. But Suite Italienne has a more approachable guise. I believe Dushkin taught Stravinsky not just what is playable on the violin, but also what brings the best effect.
The Fairy’s Kiss is a free arrangement or rewriting of Tchaikovsky’s lesser-known pieces and this ballet is the starting point of Divertimento (vol.2, tracks 9-14), also a Dushkin-related suite. The miscellaneous pieces aren’t to be mentioned but the most special one, to me, are the selections from the opera The Nightingale (vol. 1, tracks 17,18) which was after the Andersen fable. The pieces aim for something above sheer melodiousness and convey an eerie atmosphere.
As for Gringolts’ playing, first it’s imperative to mention his virtuosity, which was essential to execute these works exactly, and without the sense of strangeness. But I think Gringolts followed too closely to Stravinsky’s penchant for a straight performance style, so this set sometimes sounded too rigid to me.