奧菲斯室樂團DG錄音全集有兩張理察史特勞斯專輯，這張是兩首管樂小奏鳴曲。父親是頂尖圓號手的史特勞斯，在青年時寫過一批管樂作品，相隔60年，在他大約80歲的時候，他又寫了好幾首管樂作品。《第一小奏鳴曲》（軌一至三）寫於1943年，《第二小奏鳴曲》（軌四至七）於1944年寫好第一樂章，隔了一年、二戰結束後才把其他三個樂章都寫好，他中間經歷了逃避納粹的追捕的驚險場面。
這些作品名為小奏鳴曲，但看長度一點都不少，兩首都是35分鐘以上，相信是史特勞斯的自謙，他在《第二小鳴奏曲》索性寫明那是一首管樂交響曲。它們卻不是他著名歌劇及交響詩那種浪漫、宏大，而是回歸古典派，其實也就是他晚年一連串「迴光反照」名作的一部分。外頭在打仗，一面頹垣敗瓦，在音樂完全聽不出來。
雖然沒有依足莫扎特《大組曲》的配器（例如史特勞斯用了莫扎特沒用的長笛及低音單簧管），但對莫扎特致敬之心昭然若揭，在《第二小鳴奏曲》索性寫明獻給莫扎特。不過對史特勞斯的認知還在「嘈吵」、「爆棚」的朋友，聽這張碟可要放鬆心情，亦不要期望有搶耳的旋律。我覺得史特勞斯在這兩首作品都很重視音樂的流動，但又會記住不時把主題或其局部重覆，這點就跟幾天前談過，在相同時期寫的福特萬格勒《第一交響曲》很不同。其實想起來，這兩首小奏鳴曲本來就有交響曲的規模，莫扎特《大組曲》相對上就沒這麼緊密的結構。
至於奧菲斯室樂團的演奏，我坦白說我聽這碟是因為推出這套全集，驅使我嘗試這兩首我未試過聽完的作品，哪管我對史特勞斯的歌劇及交響詩有很大興趣。所以我未能站在熟悉樂曲的制高點去談奧菲斯好不好，單從樂器演奏而言，我覺得獨奏樂器的演奏未夠個性，未可以像奧菲斯的弦樂這麼突出卓越。
There are two R.Strauss albums in the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra’s DG mega set, and this one is the two wind sonatinas. Son of a master hornist, Strauss wrote a series of wind music as a young man. Nearly 60 years later he once again turned to the genre and wrote the First Sonatina (tracks 1-3) in 1943. He started the Second Sonatina (tracks 4-7) in 1944 but only managed to finish it in June 1945, when the war in Europe was over. In the meantime he made a perilous escape ahead of the Gestapo.
The term sonatina is definitely a misnomer as these two works each last longer than 35 minutes. In the second one Strauss indicated that it was a symphony for winds. But these are not the Strauss of majestic operas and symphonic poems. It was a regression into classicism and very well belonged to the wonderful output of his Indian summer.
Although the layout differs from Mozart’s Gran Partita (for example the inclusion of two flutes and one bass clarinet) Strauss paid obvious homage to Mozart. If you still have a bombastic view on Strauss you better sit back and relax, but don’t expect knockout melodies. Strauss kept the music flowing but he knew the importance of a recognizable theme as a point of return, unlike Furtwängler’s overlong First Symphony written in the same period. Yet these two sonatinas are really symphonies in disguise, while Mozart’s Gran Partita didn’t have such tight structures.
I must confess being a big fan of Strauss’ operas and orchestral music I never heard these sonatinas in full. So I can only comment on the Orpheuses’ performance by the playing. To me their wind sound was too uniform without enough character as their recordings with strings.