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Heifetz Plays Gershwin

听Heifetz Plays Gershwin,感受这位风格有如英勇战士的演奏家柔情的另一面。

Gershwin的钢琴作品比较闻名,但未见有小提琴作品。这张专辑是Heifetz从Gershwin作品改编的小提琴小品。其技术要求自然是不低的,但更引人入胜的是浪漫不羁Jazz风格,双音、大胆的滑弦不绝于耳。关于这几个改编作品的来历,请看以下引文:

In the roaring 1920s, George Gershwin, then a sleek young Broadway songwriter, was invited to the swellest New York parties. To the delight of his hosts, he’d head straight for the piano and play his songs for hours. Sometimes he’d look up and see another frequent guest, Jascha Heifetz, the stunning violin virtuoso, who himself was quite the man about town.

When Gershwin spotted Heifetz, he’d break into “Mischa, Yascha, Toscha, Sascha”, a song he and his brother Ira had written about Heifetz and three other Russian violinists (see Judaic Treasures of the Library of Congress: George Gershwin-Andrew Sun). Soon the two men became friends. They played music together, and of course Heifetz asked Gershwin to write a work for him. Gershwin, however, was preoccupied with other projects, and in 1937, two years after the premiere of Porgy and Bess, he developed a brain tumor and died at the tragically young age of 39. He never wrote a major piece for the violin, but Heifetz, as if to fill the void, made violin arrangements of five Porgy and Bess songs, along with the Three Preludes, originally for piano.

以下是专辑的曲目:

An American in Paris
Five Selections from Porgy and Bess:
-Summertime and Woman is a Sometime Thing
-My Man`s Gone Now
-It Ain`t Necessarily So
-Bess, You is My Woman Now
-Tempo di Blues
Three Preludes for Piano

许多人都喜欢说Heifetz的风格很cold,我相信其中“看”音乐之人居多。如果闭着眼音,不看Heifetz演奏时的高傲的神情,就能感到一股热。他的Sibelius,Tchaikovsky和Brahms协奏曲就是明证。若说在这些协奏曲中,Heifetz虽热情但缺乏柔情,那么在他的小品录音中就可以看到他的另一面。除了Gershwin的这几个作品外,Heifetz还改编了如Chopin的Nocturne,Mendelssohn乘着歌声的翅膀等,其浪漫可与Kreisler比美。

Filed in: music

Heifetz的两个贝协版本

一个前辈教育我,听协奏曲除了要听主奏乐器,还要学会听协奏乐团。好的协奏应该是那种乐团和主奏乐器交融的版本,而不是主奏乐器从头带到尾的版本。

由于我从来不听交响乐作品,所以对协奏曲中乐团部分的优劣不太敏感。我很喜欢Richter与Karajan合作的Tchaikowsky No.1,主要是因为Richter的演奏;但所有人都告诉我,这个版本Karajan和Richter脱节得很严重,但我就听不出来。

但这次在听Heifetz的贝协时,我开始感觉到了。

两个版本分别是:

NBC Symphony Orchestra
Arturo Toscanini, conductor
Recorded: 11 March 1940

Boston Symphony Orchestra
Charles Munch, conductor
Recorded: 1955.11.27-28

第一个版本琴声圆润细腻,整体速度自然是较快的,但是在一些地方乐团慢得下来,节奏比较多变。在这一版本里Heifetz经常让琴声淹没在乐队中,时隐时现,有种欲抱琵琶半遮脸的感觉。

相比之下,第二个版本的琴声就比较干,起弓有暴发力的情况也多。 Munch把乐团指挥的就像进行曲,毫无表情。也许有的人喜欢这种演绎,但我认为贝多芬的这个协奏曲还是应该比较温柔的,正如他的“春天”奏鸣曲一样。

在回复中有朋友对Szigeti的录音产生兴趣。其实,Szigeti的贝协远不如他的Mendelssohn等录音容易上耳。其声音是真正的干和硬,有一段很多三连音的地方,他全部都拉成了附点。我之所以把Szigeti的录音奉为上品,就是因为他并不追求感官上的美。就好像乌龙茶,要越品才越有味。

参考这一个评论

Filed in: music

遇到Erick Friedman

Erick Friedman的文件夹里面有一些录音。我以前没有听过它们。今天我发现,Erick Friedman已于2004年3月去世。于是认真听了这些录音:

Chausson
Poeme, Op.25
Paganini
Rondo-Allegro Spirtuoso
(第一小协的第三乐章)
Saint-saens
(不知道是什么作品,风格是Tango)
Allegretto E Lushinghiero
Allegro Ma Non Troppo
Allegro
Sarasate
Zigeunerweisen
Wieniawski
Legende, Op.17

音诗十分美。这里所说的美,绝不同于类似Perlman的大众化之美。与著名的Oistrakh的录音相比,Friedman的声音更纤细,也许是由于师从Heifetz的缘故。Paganini的回旋曲处理很有个性,听起来像是位本应当受到更广泛关注的演奏家。从Saint-Saens的tango和Sarasate的流浪者,我还发现他很喜欢爆发,重音的地方提琴轰轰作响。

车祸夺去了他的左手,使他不能继续演奏,而转向音乐教育。

Filed in: music