Liszt-Schubert: Soirées de Vienne (Complete)
Alberto Ferro (piano) (Piano Classics)
(scroll down for English review)
李斯特在1853年寫曠世傑作《B小調奏鳴曲》，他同年出版了一套共九首、接近80分鐘的《維也納晚會》，其實並非原創作品，取材自舒伯特鋼琴舞曲，但又不是搬字過紙的改編。李斯特把頗多舒伯特歌曲改編給鋼琴獨奏，例如三套聯篇歌曲，另外也把原本是鋼琴獨奏的《流浪者幻想曲》改編成協奏曲。
《維也納舞會》則是另一種改編。我們常聽到舒伯特的鋼琴奏鳴曲或者即興曲，其實他寫過很多鋼琴舞曲，一共有五張CD的份量，但這些我們絕少聽到，有很多都是一分鐘、甚至不夠一分鐘的超短舞曲。李斯特就是用這些短舞曲作為原材料，賦以某種結構，編成這些每首大約八、九分鐘的舞曲，例如第一首（軌一）用了三首舒伯特舞曲的主題，第三首（軌三）則有七個舒伯特主題。
有些作者認為李斯特把這些舞曲編成組曲，我看則較像「諧謔曲加三重奏」或「迴旋曲」的結構，舒伯特的原曲是很原始的旋律，不繼續發展下去，也不會死不斷氣地重覆，李斯特則善用曲式所容許的重複，其實也對聽者有利，因為連續聽二三十個舞曲旋律根本不是樂事。
我記起布拉姆斯聽過二十歲的理察史特勞斯的《第二交響曲》後，叫年輕人去研究舒伯特的舞曲，去學習如何寫八小節一句的旋律。這套《維也納舞會》就是充斥着這些均稱悅耳的八小節旋律。後來理察史特勞斯的管弦名作，都有很多八小節旋律。
不過說了這麼多的樂曲背景，我也很坦白地說這套作品實非李斯特或舒伯特的最佳作品，也不是追求深刻音樂的朋友，能夠耐心聽完，不過我有聽完。假如試聽的話，可能任意抽一首都差不多，我覺得比較特別有軌五，整個樂章明顯比其他感傷，軌六的後半有較花巧的旋律及節奏。軌九則可當成李斯特原創作品，因為是一套主題變奏曲。
1853 was the year when Liszt wrote his monumental Piano Sonata in B minor, the same year he brought out an 80-minute set of nine piano pieces entitled Soirées de Vienne. It wasn’t an original work but arrangements of Schubert’s dances. Liszt was an avid arranger of Schubert’s compositions, such as transcribing the three song cycles for piano solo or arranging the Wanderer Fantasy as a piano concerto. Yet these pieces weren’t transcriptions in the usual sense.
The Soirées de Vienne were more like re-workings on material by Schubert. Apart from the oft-played piano sonatas and impromptus, Schubert produces five CDs worth of short dances for piano solo which are now almost forgotten. Many of these dances were just one minute in length and some were even shorter. Liszt reworked the themes into a more substantial form lasting eight or nine minutes. For example track 1 of this set utilized three Schubert themes while track 3 reworked seven of them.
Some writers described these arrangements as suites but to me they’re closer to the musical form of a scherzo-trio or a rondo. Those Schubert dances were mostly simple melodies without further developments but Liszt, in using a structure to bind these themes together, allowed the themes to repeat on a reasonable time span and frequency. It is easier for the listeners too as it isn’t really an enjoyment to listen to tens of these Schubert dances in a row.
While listening to this set I recalled the advice Brahms gave the 20-year-old Richard Strauss after listening to the young man’s Second Symphony. Brahms urged Strauss to study Schubert’s piano dances to learn how to write 8-bar melodies. This Liszt set was full of such neat 8-bar phrases. Brahms’ counsel was well heeded as many of Strauss’ well-known orchestral masterpieces contain tidy 8-bar phrases.
But frankly, the set wasn’t the best of Schubert or Liszt. If you demand a certain degree of depth then you probably won’t be able to finish the set. I did, and I can say sampling just one or two of these Soirées de Vienne would be enough. To me track 5 stood out for its melancholic melodies. Track 6 had particularly florid pianistic writings and rhythms. Track 9 differed in form as it was a set of variations (by Liszt) on a Schubert theme.