上次談奧菲斯室樂團演奏理察史特勞斯兩首管樂小奏鳴曲，那是古典派、尤其受莫扎特影響的樂曲，今次的這張，則是巴洛克風格的史特勞斯。兩套作品，《嬉遊曲》（軌一至八）甚少被演奏，但《貴人迷》（軌九至17）則是中度知名的樂曲，我曾聽楊遜斯現場指揮過。
《嬉遊曲》把庫普蘭的古鍵琴樂曲編給小樂隊，並用作芭蕾舞曲。在史特勞斯前，史特拉汶斯基就在《普欽奈拉》把佩高雷西的作品配器，可惜同人不同命，《普欽奈拉》至今仍是史特拉汶斯基名作，但史特勞斯《嬉遊曲》卻被遺忘。我近來對古鍵琴音樂的興趣，增添了我聽這套作品的樂趣，雖然《普欽奈拉》的旋律確是很易入口，但我還是找到這兩位現代作曲家重新詮釋巴洛克音樂的分別。
史特拉汶斯基盡量用不偏離古典風格的樂隊（例如不用單簧管），透過樂器的色彩，把原作的個性特出，就因為原作的旋律就是很搶耳，所以改編版再添一分。但我覺得史特勞斯並不是在放大原作，而是釋放原作蘊含的層次，當然是有創作的成份，但感覺還是忠於原著，卻又去到不同層次。
《貴人迷》是史特勞斯在《玫瑰騎士》之後和劇作家荷夫曼斯達的下一個計劃，想去嘗試「話劇＋歌劇」，話劇就是莫里哀《貴人迷》，最終這個嘗試不成功，兩者便分家，歌劇即是《拿索斯島的亞莉安妮》。具體來說，史特勞斯是為《貴人迷》的戲劇演出作配樂，這並非像《嬉遊曲》把現成的巴洛克作品配器及改編，較多是他用巴洛克風格去創作新曲。但有趣在史特勞斯有時不理風格的忠實，滲入一些自己拿手的浪漫派旋律，以及在《玫瑰騎士》寫得駕輕就熟的圓舞曲，便成就這套表面上是巴洛克，實際上是風格大雜燴的佳作。
Recently I reviewed the Orpheuses’ recording of R.Strauss’ wind sonatinas. Those are Mozartian works and here’s another album with Strauss flirting with the baroque style. Divertimento (tracks 1-8) is rarely performed but the Bourgeois Gentilhomme Suite (tracks 9-17) is relatively well-received by today’s audience.
Divertimento is made up of orchestrations of a selection of Couperin’s harpsichord pieces. Not long before it Stravinsky did a similar thing in Pulcinella, with the orchestrations of Pergolesi. The two works didn’t share the same fate, Pulcinella became a popular work while Staruss’ Divertimento remained in obscurity. I admit my recent exploration of harpsichord repertoire attracted me to this work. Although Pulcinella remains a very accessible work, but to me the two modern composers had a subtle difference in their updating of baroque.
Stravinsky confined himself to an orchestra not too remote from the baroque style, for instance, he used no clarinets. He sought to emphasize the qualities of the originals and as the Pergolesi works are already tuneful, so that’s the impression we get from Pulcinella. On the other hand Strauss had almost no qualms in authenticity and he set out to realize the hidden layers of Couperin and expand the originals into something much grander but you still have a baroque impression.
Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme was Strauss and Hofmannstahl’s follow up project after Der Rosenkavalier. Their outrageous attempt to fuse drama and opera into one long evening was finally given up, so this suite is a scavenging of Strauss’ incidental music for Molière’s play. Unlike Divertimento this work is Strauss’ trying to create something baroque in his own image. At times he threw in romantic melodies plus the waltzed that he mastered so well in Der Rosenkavalier. Perhaps that’s why this suite has the reputation it still enjoys.