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‘French Music’
BERLIOZ: (i) Symphonie fantastique, Op. 14; Overtures: (ii) Le Carnaval romain, Op. 9; (iii) Le Corsaire, Op. 21; Le Roi Lear, Op. 4. La Damnation de Faust: Danse des sylphes; Menuet des follets. Les Troyens, Act I: Trojan March; (iii; iv) Act IV: Royal Hunt and Storm. BIZET: (iii) L’Arlésienne: Suites 1 & 2; (i) Carmen: Suite 1; (iii) Patrie, Op. 19; Roma: Carnaval; (i) Symphony in C. CHABRIER: (ii) España; (iii) Joyeuse marche; (i) Gwendoline Overture. DEBUSSY: (iii) Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune; L’Enfant prodigue: Cortège et air de danse. DELIBES: (iii) Le Roi s’amuse (ballet music: suite). (i) FAURÉ: Dolly suite, Op. 56 (orch. Rabaud); Pavane, Op. 50. FRANCK: Symphony in D min. (orch. Rabaud). (iii) GOUNOD: Faust ballet music; Roméo et Juliette: Le Sommeil de Juliette. GRÉTRY: Zémir et Azor: Ballet music (ed. Beecham). (i) LALO: Symphony in G min. (iii) MASSENET: Cendrillon: Valse. La Vierge: Le Dernier sommeil de la Vierge. SAINT-SAËNS: Le Rouet d’Omphale; Samson et Dalila: Danse des prêtresses de Dagon; Bacchanale. VIDAL: Zino-Zina Gavotte
EMI stereo/mono 9 09932-2 (6). (i) Fr. Nat. R. O; (ii) LPO; (iii) RPO; (iv) Beecham Ch. Soc.
Attempts have frequently been made to explain the consistently scintillating quality of Beecham’s performances and his own explanation, ‘I simply get the best players, and let them play,’ undervalues the special genius of his music-making. Never more so than his 1959 account of Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique, still unsurpassed. It has a demonic intensity that is immediately compelling and holds the listener on the seat-edge until the work’s electrifying close. In EMI’s latest (2003) transfer, in which every detail is crystal clear, the strings have a rich sheen and the brass a sonority and depth more telling than in previous incarnations of the recording. Even the tolling bells of the finale deserve a credit for their remarkable tangibility, while the warm acoustic of the Salle Wagram, Paris, frames a concert-hall balance of remarkable realism. The tinglingly atmospheric accounts of the Royal Hunt and Storm (with chorus), the Trojan March and the Overture, Le Corsaire are no less memorable. The two mono recordings, Le Carnaval romain, played by the LPO and dating from 1936, and RPO’s Le Roi Lear, made in the Kingsway Hall in 1947, are also full of excitement.
Among the other symphonies Beecham recorded, the Bizet C major work stands out. Beecham’s magical touch is especially illuminating and the music sounds freshly minted. The oboe soloist in the slow movement distinguishes himself and the finale is full of zest. Bizet’s Roma Symphony was written some years later but is more uneven in quality, so Beecham chose to play and record its best movement, its gay finale, Carnaval, with its pleasing secondary tune, not taking it too fast in order to respond to the composer’s markings of plus vite and più presto towards the close.
Beecham is also masterful in the rhythmic bite he gives to the great syncopated melodies that swagger their way through the outer movements of the Franck Symphony in D minor – the second subject in the first movement, and the opening theme of the finale. But he has to work harder with the Lalo G minor work when the material is thinner and the argument in the first movement lacks tautness. However, the second-movement Scherzo, with its highly effective flute writing, partly compensates, inspiring Beecham to a delectably pointed performance.
He was undoubtedly at his finest in the two L’Arlésienne Suites of Bizet, still unsurpassed, and here the early (1956) stereo gives the woodwind striking luminosity, yet plenty of body. Beecham’s own arrangement of a suite from Grétry’s Zémir et Azor in his own words offered music which possessed ‘a lightness, a grace and a melodic invention surpassed only by Mozart’, and in his hands the Pantomime movement made an exquisite effect and audiences would sometimes not be able to resist giving spontaneous applause. This movement was often played separately as one of Beecham’s celebrated ‘lollipops’, as were the airy waltz from Massenet’s Cendrillon, Gounod’s fragile picture of Juliet asleep, and Vidal’s delectable Gavotte from his ballet, Zino-Zina.
No one conducts Bizet’s Carmen Prélude with quite Beecham’s flair, set off by an explosive cymbal crash, while in his hands the Patrie Overture, even though it is played by the English RPO, it is as ebulliently Gallic as La Marseillaise, with a degree of brashness for good measure. The Gwendoline Overture has contrasting charm. The seven numbers of Gounod’s elegantly vivacious Faust ballet music, delightfully characterized, were recorded in Walthamstow, along with the delicately fragile Last sleep of the Virgin of Massenet (another ‘lollipop’). But the incomparably effervescent performance of Chabrier’s España used the Kingsway Hall and is one of the highlights of this collection, both for its unique exuberance and for the amazingly realistic mono recording of the LPO, with the percussion condiment glittering. It was produced by Walter Legge in 1939. Complete on two 78-r.p.m. sides, with each recorded separately nearly two weeks apart, the result, when they are joined together as here, is absolutely seamless as if the music was put on disc at a single session.
Fauré’s Dolly Suite brings the consistently imaginative and poetic phrasing that distinguished Beecham’s best performances, and the Berceuse, Le Jardin de Dolly and Tendresse (in Rabaud’s orchestration) are exquisite, while Le Pas espagnol has the kind of dash one expects from Beecham’s Chabrier. Fauré’s enchanting Pavane was Beecham’s last recording, yet it is as captivating as any music which had come earlier. Similarly, Beecham’s unsurpassed account of Saint-Saëns’s Le Rouet d’Omphale brings delicacy of string textures and wind playing (notably the flute) which is utterly beguiling, with its closing section particularly haunting. By contrast the Bacchanale from Samson and Delilah, like Chabrier’s Joyeuse Marche, has wonderful dash and flair, and one can imagine the twinkle in Sir Thomas’s eye.
Surprisingly, he recorded little Ravel or Debussy, but the Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune brings a ravishingly diaphanous web of sound, and the Cortège et Air de danse is exquisitely done. Delibes’ pastiche ballet score, Le Roi s’amuse, is given the special elegance that Sir Thomas reserved for music from the past, unashamedly re-scored to please the ear of later generations. After Delius this is all repertoire which showed him at his very finest. The remastering is marvellously managed, and all the recordings sound wonderfully vivid and fresh.
人们常常试图解释比彻姆演奏始终如一的精彩之处,而他本人则解释道:“我只是找到最好的乐手,让他们演奏而已。”这低估了他非凡的音乐天赋。然而,他1959年对柏辽兹《幻想交响曲》的演绎至今仍无人能及,更是如此。它拥有一种魔鬼般的强度,令人着迷,让听众始终沉浸在作品激动人心的结尾。EMI唱片公司最新(2003年)的版本中,每个细节都清晰可见,弦乐音色饱满,铜管乐的铿锵有力和深沉的音质也比之前的版本更具感染力。即使是终乐章中如钟声般隆隆的旋律也因其非凡的质感而值得称赞,而巴黎瓦格拉姆音乐厅温暖的音响效果则营造出一种音乐厅般的平衡感,营造出非凡的真实感。 《皇家狩猎与暴风雨》(含合唱)、《特洛伊进行曲》和《海盗》序曲等充满动感氛围的演绎同样令人难忘。两张单声道录音——伦敦爱乐乐团于1936年演奏的《罗马狂欢节》和皇家爱乐乐团于1947年在国王大道音乐厅录制的《李尔王》——也同样激动人心。
在比彻姆录制的其他交响曲中,比才的C大调作品尤为突出。比彻姆的魔幻笔触尤其令人叹为观止,音乐听起来焕然一新。慢乐章中的双簧管独奏家技艺精湛,终乐章则充满活力。比才的《罗马交响曲》创作于几年之后,但质量参差不齐,因此比彻姆选择演奏并录制其最佳乐章——欢快的终曲《狂欢节》,以及其悦耳的次要旋律。为了配合作曲家在结尾处“快进快出”的标记,比彻姆的演奏节奏并不太快。
在弗兰克D小调交响曲的外围乐章中,他赋予了那些气势恢宏的切分音旋律——第一乐章的第二主题以及终曲的开场主题——以精湛的节奏感。然而,在演奏拉罗的G小调作品时,由于素材较为单薄,且第一乐章的叙事缺乏紧凑性,他不得不付出更多努力。不过,第二乐章的谐谑曲以其极具感染力的长笛演奏弥补了这一缺陷,激发了比彻姆创作出一场令人愉悦的精彩演奏。
比才的两部《阿莱城姑娘组曲》无疑是他最辉煌的时期,至今无人能及。这部作品早期(1956年)的立体声赋予木管乐器惊人的光彩,却又不失饱满的质感。比彻姆改编自格雷特里《泽米尔与亚速尔》的一部组曲,用他自己的话说,其音乐“轻盈、优雅,旋律的创新性只有莫扎特才能超越”。在他的掌控下,哑剧乐章效果绝妙,观众有时忍不住自发鼓掌。这个乐章经常被单独演奏,作为比彻姆著名的“棒棒糖”之一,同样被演奏的还有马斯奈《灰姑娘》中轻盈的圆舞曲、古诺描绘朱丽叶沉睡的纤细画面,以及维达尔芭蕾舞剧《齐诺-齐娜》中令人愉悦的加沃特舞曲。
没有人能像比彻姆那样,以爆炸性的铙钹声指挥比才的《卡门前奏曲》。而他指挥的《祖国序曲》虽然由英国皇家爱乐乐团演奏,却如同《马赛曲》一样充满热情洋溢的高卢风情,还略带一丝傲慢。《格温多琳序曲》则展现出截然不同的魅力。古诺优雅活泼的七首浮士德芭蕾舞曲,风格鲜明,在沃尔瑟姆斯托录制,同时录制的还有精巧纤弱的马斯内《圣母最后的睡眠》(又一首“棒棒糖”)。但夏布里埃在国王大道音乐厅演奏的《西班牙》却活力四射,成为这张唱片的亮点之一,这既因为其独特的活力,也因为伦敦爱乐乐团令人惊艳的逼真单声道录音,以及闪耀的打击乐音色。该专辑由沃尔特·莱格于1939年制作。两面78转的唱片完整发行,每面唱片的录制时间相隔近两周。如此合二为一,效果天衣无缝,仿佛音乐是一次性录制完成的。
福雷的《多莉组曲》延续了比彻姆一贯的想象力和诗意,展现了他最杰出的演奏风格。《摇篮曲》、《多莉花园》和《温柔》(由拉博编曲)精妙绝伦,而《西班牙舞曲》则展现了比彻姆《夏布里埃》的那种潇洒潇洒。福雷那令人心醉神迷的《帕凡舞曲》是比彻姆的最后一张唱片,但它却与任何早期作品一样引人入胜。同样,比彻姆对圣桑《鸟儿的飞翔》的精彩演绎,展现了弦乐织体和管乐演奏(尤其是长笛)的精妙之处,令人沉醉,结尾部分尤其令人难忘。相比之下,《参孙和大利拉》中的《酒神节》与夏布里埃的《快乐的进行曲》一样,都充满了精彩的活力和才华,人们可以想象托马斯爵士眼中闪烁的光芒。
令人惊讶的是,他录制的拉威尔和德彪西作品很少,但《牧神午后前奏曲》却呈现出一幅令人心醉神迷、透彻如网的音色网络,而《舞蹈的送葬与空气》也堪称精湛。德利布的芭蕾模仿曲《国王的娱乐》被赋予了托马斯爵士为古乐保留的那种独特的优雅,并毫不掩饰地重新谱曲以迎合后世的审美。这些曲目均是德利布继《国王的娱乐》之后,展现了他巅峰时期的杰作。重新制作的制作非常精良,所有录音都听起来生动逼真、耳目一新。
(源于Google翻译)
https://115cdn.com/s/swwsazb3hq9?password=3377&#
Beecham, Thomas – French Music [EMI 6CD]
与三四星带花相比,这个推荐清单里比彻姆的比较少。
接下来该发贝多芬了。 |
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