Saint-Saëns: String Quartets No.1 & 2
Viotti Quartet (Erato)
(scroll down for English review)
我們較常聽到的法國弦樂四重奏作品，大抵都是德布西或拉威爾這兩首，其實佛瑞及聖桑其實都有寫，只不過佛瑞那首實在是他水準之下，至於聖桑寫了兩首，但都不是他熱門的作品。
多產的聖桑在十幾歲便寫交響曲，但要去到1899年，即是他64歲才寫得成《第一弦樂四重奏》，其實他已試過數次寫弦樂四重奏，要去到那一刻他才成功。我對第一樂章的霎時印象，是它和典型的法國室樂不同，包括聖桑自己的室樂作品，旋律的直率感情比較像布拉姆斯，但從第二樂章（諧謔曲）開始，就愈來愈重貝多芬的影子，切分音、頓奏和弦都是貝多芬四重奏的手影，第三樂章（慢板）很像後期貝多芬的超然慢板，只是沒寫得那麼長。
二十年後，亦即是他84歲時，寫成《第二弦樂四重奏》，它只得三個樂章，省略了諧謔曲，但第三樂章開始時有一個間奏曲，多少代替了諧謔曲的功能。聖桑又找到了另一種風格，第一樂章尤其像海頓的古典派優美，然而第二樂章卻有接近十九世紀末的東歐作曲家，例如德伏扎克及柴可夫斯基的四重奏，深情而不濫情。第三樂章回復古典派的輕快，絲毫不會令人覺得這是高齡老人的「後期風格」。
連結會直接去到兩首弦樂四重奏，但這套碟的碟一其實是聖桑的兩首小提琴奏鳴曲，加四首小提琴小品，有興趣可以選聽。
The most-played French string quartets are probably the ones by Debussy and Ravel. Fauré and Saint-Saëns also contributed to the genre but Fauré’s only quartet is sub-par Fauré. Saint-Saëns wrote two in his old age but sadly these were not well known.
Saint-Saëns wrote his first symphony as a teenager but he struggled quite a bit in writing his first string quartet. After several abortive attempts he finally completed his First String Quartet in 1899, when he was 64. The opening struck me as so un-French for its clear-cut melodies reminded me of Brahms. But from the second movement on Beethoven seems to be the guiding spirit. This scherzo movement is full of Beethoven trademarks such as syncopation and staccato chords. And the heavenly third movement is so late-Beethoven, only that Saint-Saëns didn’t stretch it like Beethoven did.
Twenty years later, the 84-year-old Saint-Saëns came up with a second string quartet. It is in three movements, having done away with the scherzo. Yet the interlude in the opening of the third movement serves as a surrogate scherzo. Now Saint-Saëns found another style or styles in his second quartet. The first movement is guided by the classical elegance of Haydn. The second movement takes on more Romantic sentiments, which reminded me of Tchaikovsky or Dvořák. Then we’re back to classicism in the third movement, its lightness hardly suggests the fact that this is a work by an octogenarian composer.