Stravinsky: The Soldier’s Tale, Elegy, Duo Concertant
Isabelle Faust (violin), Alexander Melnikov (piano), Dominique Horwitz (speaker)
Coppola, Zafra, Friedrich, Van Rijen, De Boeve, Curfs (ensemble) (Harmonia Mundi)
(scroll down for English review)
浮士德在史特拉汶斯基周年的專輯，重點是佔三分二碟長的全本《大兵的故事》，另加兩首小提琴作品。《悲歌》（軌一）原為無伴奏中提琴所作，史氏將作品調高五度，成為小提琴版本。樂曲依賴雙音效果，而這種陰沉帶鼻音的聲音，是因為樂曲指定用弱音器演奏，浮士德以穩定的運弓，拉出像管樂的效果。
這張專輯一個賣點是追求原音，使用20紀初的樂器，其他樂器會在《大兵的故事》出場，而浮士德的小提琴就用了羊腸線。或者是這個緣故，《協奏二重奏》（軌二至六）的她，音色比其他小提琴家柔和，她在第四樂章的吉格舞曲（軌五）以沒有噪音的頓奏，輕快奏出跳躍感，聽她拉這套作品，洗刷了史氏作品聲音刺耳的印象。但浮士德不會局限於一種聲音，她用很大幅度的揉弦拉緩慢的第五樂章（軌六），聲音浪漫至極。
《大兵的故事》（軌七至30）本身是用戲劇的形式寫成，音樂的重要性遠遜歌劇或芭蕾舞劇，所以它較多以組曲形態演奏，把劇情、唸白全部拿走。即使我說這是全本，但也有一些刪減，這個演奏都已經有57分鐘了。這個錄音同時灌錄了原裝法語版，以及英語版及德語版，由兼擅三語的Dominique Horwitz擔任說書人，並同時聲演大兵及魔鬼，我選了英語版。
由於大兵的樂器是小提琴，它在全曲是最重要的樂器，那就是浮士德的表演時間。不過57分鐘裏面旁述應該過半，假如只想聽音樂，可以先聽軌七、九、13，軌19開始音樂較多，故事講到大兵及魔鬼來到王國，前者用小提琴喚醒公主，又順便打敗魔鬼（不過這還未是結局）。
原音樂器中，我覺得感覺最為不同的是小號（正確來說是短號），其次是長號及單簧管。我覺得浮士德有意淡化小提琴部分的郷村或粗鄙感覺，大部分時候都是把聲音滑溜地抹出來。這是我聽此曲未遇過的，其餘樂手也有類似取態，但這是否原來的史特拉汶斯基風味呢？我就不敢肯定。Horwitz的旁述很出色，而且當中很有戲，若只是呆板的讀台詞，我就不想全部聽完了。
Isabelle Faust celebrates the Stravinsky anniversary with an almost full recording of The Soldier’s Tale. A third of the CD was made up of two violin works. Elegy (track 1) was originally written for solo viola but Stravinsky transposed it up a fifth to produce this solo violin version. The work is dominated by double-stop polyphony and the violin is to play con sordino throughout, that explains the nasal sound. Furthermore, Faust maintained a very steady bowing which gave the sound a quasi-woodwind quality.
The Soldier’s Tale was recorded with early 20th century instruments. Faust, with her Strad, used gut strings, which might be why her Duo Concertante (tracks 2-6) sounded tenderer than other violinists. In the gigue (track 5) Faust’s staccato was non-percussive and she delivered a light swing. But she played Dithryambe (track 6) with a very broad vibrato that gave a highly romantic sound.
There are three versions available for The Soldier’s Tale (tracks 7-30): the original French, English and German, all narrated by the trilingual actor Dominique Horwitz. There were some cuts in the text but the whole thing is already 57 minutes long, and less than half of them are music. If you don’t care for the drama you might go to tracks 7, 9, 13 then onto track 19 and you’ll have a long sequence of music. The soldier awakens the princess with his violin and dispels the devil, but that’s not the end.
Of the authentic instruments, the trumpet (a cornet, to be precise) stood out, followed by the trombone and clarinet. Faust tried to strip the music of its rustic qualities and the violin part no longer sounded so rough that I was used to. The ensemble likewise delivered a sound that was quite sweet. But whether this was what Stravinsky had in mind, I’m not so sure. I chose the English version and Horwitz’s narration was quite delightful. If it were just a straight recitation I wouldn’t have listened to this recording in full.