Messiaen: Le Tombeau resplendissant, Les Offrandes oubliées, Un Sourire, L’Ascension
Paavo Järvi / Zurich Tonhalle Orchestra (Alpha)
(scroll down for English review)
P約菲在蘇黎世的第一張唱片，居然是全梅湘專輯，先翻譯一下曲名：《閃耀的墓穴》、《被遺忘的奉獻》、《微笑》及《基督升天》。《微笑》是梅湘1989年向莫扎特致敬的作品，和其餘三首作品相差了五十幾年。這些作品，我可能從2008年的梅湘周年就沒聽過，除了迪華特和港樂奏過兩次的《被遺忘的奉獻》。
這些雖不是我心目中最能代表梅湘的作品，亦不一定是最出名的，但我肯定是梅湘的管弦樂中最易入門的。《微笑》聽來和其餘三曲沒多大分別，但梅湘其實已經歷了幾十年的成長，快的部份就是他典型的「鳥歌」旋律。
所謂易聽，其實只需分成慢及快、靜及吵就可以，假如你想知道這些代表甚麼，簡單的歸納就是慢及靜多是虔誠的默想，頭兩曲的快及吵，通常是代表死亡或恐懼，但《基督升天》的快及吵，就是讚美。《基督升天》也是梅湘早期管弦作品的一個綜納，至於你能否享受，就各安天命。
至於演奏方面，我覺得約菲首要想管弦色彩夠乾淨，這些作品的對位性不強，但要不同音色的樂器疊出「一舊」和弦出來，我覺得約菲還差一點才展現出梅湘早期作品的光輝音色，但我還是感謝他把梅湘介紹給新一代聽眾，以及在慢的段落，把梅湘實在太慢的速度指示奏快一點點。此外，《基督升天》第一樂章值得留意三支小號輪流獨奏，俱表現不錯，甚是難得。
The first CD of Paavo Järvi at his new Zurich base is an all-Messiaen album, Mostly his early works with the exception of Un Sourire (track 2) which was written half a century after the other three. That track doesn’t sound much different but Messiaen had already underwent noticeable evolution, the faster sections are the birdsong imitations or transformations that are synonymous with the Messiaen style.
These aren’t my favourite Messiaen but I can say for sure that they are the best introductions to the new Messiaen listener. All you need is to distinguish fast and slow, loud and soft. The slow (usually ultra-slow so you won’t miss it) and soft is usually religious meditation while the fast and loud is associated with death and fear. But the faster portions of L’Ascension are praises to God.
As for Järvi’s performance I think his priority are the tidiness of the orchestral palette. Messiaen isn’t really counterpoint-orientated but his typical sound requires the overlapping of tone colours. To me Järvi didn’t quite deliver the Messiaen sound in its full glory. Still I welcome his willingness to introduce Messiaen to the new generation and his slightly faster rendering of the slower sections is appreciated. Also there isn’t just one trumpet in the 1st movement of L’Ascension (track 4). The three players took turn, it’s rare to hear they all played so well.