R. Strauss: Ein Heldenleben, Burleske
Bertrand Chamayou (piano)
Antonio Pappano / Santa Cecilia Orchestra (Warner)
(scroll down for English review)
隨着帕帕諾即將出任倫敦交響樂團下任音樂總監，他在羅馬聖切契利亞管弦樂團的日子也進入倒數。這張是他們的新碟，全理察史特勞斯曲目，《英雄的一生》配稍為冷門的《詼諧曲》。
我覺得這個《英雄的一生》（軌一至六）優勝在錄音質素，我側重點不是夠不夠爆，而是每個聲部的收音做到既細緻又不會太過貼近而失真，然後混音後的全體樂隊大圖畫非常勻稱。不過這幅大圖畫對我來說是不真實的，因為不像是在觀眾席，而是在樂隊之中，但假如真的置身樂隊之中，聲音其實是粗糙的。
另外，帕帕諾慣常採用小提琴分置左右，這個錄音也不例外。不過在傑出的理察史特勞斯錄音中，小提琴分置左右的例子其實不多，因為許多朋友喜歡的史特勞斯詮釋者較喜歡小提琴全放左邊，包括Reiner、Kempe、卡拉揚、貝姆……
但最令我驚奇的是這個2018年《英雄的一生》的現場錄音是樂團自己錄的，我從小冊子的錄音資訊得到這結論。這位兼任監製及錄音師的Giacomo de Caterini也負責了在2020年疫情期間灌錄的《詼諧曲》（軌七）錄音，但那個錄音還有多一個Executive Producer的崗位，可見它由唱片公司主導。
雖不是現場錄音，也不像《英雄的一生》錄得那麼好，我還是很滿意這個《詼諧曲》演奏。其實很難遇見指揮及獨奏俱好的同曲演奏，主要是有不有心的問題，想大量演奏史特勞斯的指揮，往往配搭不算傑出及真的想彈這曲的鋼琴家，著名的獨奏家彈時，指揮又很少會是史特勞斯專家。我覺得薩馬尤拿手聖桑，很符合這曲的技術要求，急速段落俐落，連奏句子亦甚具歌唱感。至於帕帕諾，也能夠釋放樂隊的熱力，令樂隊及獨奏並駕齊驅。
With his LSO appointment, Pappano’s tenure at the Santa Cecilia Orchestra is approaching the end. Now comes this new all-Strauss release pairing Ein Heldenleben with the somehow neglected Burleske. Bertrand Chamayou was the soloist.
I think this Ein Heldenleben (tracks 1-6) truly excelled in its engineering. I’m not talking about the decibels or the bombastics, though. The instruments were recorded with much detail but never too close to be distorted. The mixing rendered a very balanced full orchestral picture. But this picture to me wasn’t real as I felt being inside the orchestra and not in the audience.
Pappano always have antiphonal violins and this is no exception. But great Strauss recordings with antiphonal violins are actually hard to come by, as many of the notable Strauss interpreters preferred to have all the violins together. Like Reiner, Kempe, Karajan, Böhm…
But the true surprise was that this 2018 Heldenleben live recording was done by the orchestra’s house producer-engineer, Giacomo de Caterini. I deduced this fact from the recording data which only listed Alain Lanceron as the Executive Producer to Burleske (track 7) only. De Caterini produced and recorded Burleske as well but the Lanceron credit indicated that was a Warner project.
Although not as well engineered, this 2020 session recording of Burleske still pleased me a lot. A combo of great conductor and soloist is simply rare for this work. I believe Chamayou’s Saint-Saëns credentials brought him a lot of ease in this work. Chamayou played the rapid passages with much precision and strength and the longer melodies were very cantabile. Pappano was also able to exert a fiery performance from the orchestra, making this performance a true battle of the titans.