J.S. Bach: Concertos for Harpsichord and String BWV 1052-1054 (The English Concert / Trevor Pinnock)

應該要練習將要發的文章變得更精簡，免得廢話連篇，看的人看得無聊。決定回到大家熟悉的作曲家，大師巴哈。

這張是由Trevor Pinnock帶領的The English Concert，於1980年左右錄的巴哈大鍵琴協奏曲集。他們將巴哈寫給一、二、三、還有四台大鍵琴的協奏曲，共十三首，錄成三張CD。這是系列中的第一張。後來Archiv，又有分別在Trio還有套裝系列中，重新發行。

這些大鍵琴協奏曲，是音樂史上最重要的鍵盤協奏曲之一，因為甚至可以說是鋼琴協奏曲的前身。從他到他兒子們對鍵盤協奏曲的重視，才有影響接下來莫札特等古典樂派對鋼琴協奏的發展，至今成為最受歡迎的樂器協奏曲之一。

巴哈之所以會動筆寫這些協奏曲，是因為他在1729左右起，擔任萊比錫(Leipzig)音樂協會Collegium Musicum的會長。這兒，他在創作上沒有任何一方的壓力，可以自由地去實驗新的音樂形式。他決定去探索鍵盤協奏曲這個未被踏過的領域，將原有寫過的器樂協奏曲，改編為大鍵琴協奏曲。一來，他不覺得有需要寫新樂的必要，而且二來，可以真的好好了解並比較大鍵琴當獨奏樂器的各優缺點。

二十世紀初，許多專家對這些鍵盤協奏曲的評價相當低。其中最嚴厲的，莫過於諾貝爾獎得主，同是醫生又是巴哈學者的史懷哲(Albert Schweitzer)。他說這些改編「寫得又倉促又粗心，根本不值得搬到台面上演出…   那麼優美的小提琴旋律，交給那麼脆弱的大鍵琴，要不是確定是他本人所作，不然我們一定會替巴哈提出最高的抗議。」當然一來，當時巴哈音樂的演奏方式根本不像今天那麼講究，仍用舊思維，在大音樂廳和大樂團，大鍵琴當然難撐大局。不過二來更客觀的事實，就是今天有保存下來，巴哈寫給其他樂器的協奏曲裡，也都有大鍵琴的改編版。反觀，有許多大鍵琴協奏曲，原始樂器的協奏曲譜則是遺失了。光這點，就知道巴哈將他大鍵琴協奏曲譜是看得多麼寶貝。而且，經學者再三地研究，也都推翻先前的說法，認為巴哈在改編的過程中，可是非常謹慎，小心翼翼的。

這張CD的三首協奏曲裡，BWV 1054的D大調協奏曲是有名的BWV 1042 E大調小提琴協奏曲改編的。熟悉巴哈的人，一聽前幾個小節，就可將剩下完整地哼出來了吧。可看到大鍵琴版是降了一個音，因為一般大鍵琴的音域沒那麼高，所做了適度的調整。BWV 1053的E大調協奏曲，原樂器協奏曲譜已不在，不過認為應該是給雙簧管之類的樂器。BWV 1052的D小調協奏曲，則認為是另一首遺失的小提琴協奏曲。其中，這一首D小調的協奏曲，算是巴哈的大鍵琴協奏曲裡規模最大的一首，充份地見識出巴哈作品中的深思熟慮和嚴謹的態度。不管是哪一首的大鍵琴獨奏的部份，經改編過後，則變得相當有挑戰。拿譜來對照一下，就會發現大鍵琴幾乎整首沒啥喘息的機會，除了自己的獨奏的部份外，絃樂團合奏時，大鍵琴又要切換回帶樂團的角色。上次聽Lars Ulrik Mortensen現場彈奏BWV 1052，親眼見識到厲害。

Pinnock和English Concert的錄音雖然有30年的歷史，但今天拿出來聽，仍然相當清新有活力，不亞於接下來後輩的錄音。錄音方面，大鍵琴雖然聲音單薄，但是換到獨奏片段，仍是夠有力的。而English Concert 的成員，當時仍然年輕，演奏風格已成熟。樂團推動音樂的流動相當有氣勢，而Pinnock的彈奏，雖然比較中規中矩，但穩健。很多地方，但有變換register，大鍵琴上下排之間遊走，做出大小聲音色變化，像是回聲效果，是他部份創意的表現。不管其他人的表演是否更有音樂性，Pinnock的實力是不容懷疑的。English Concert和Pinnock的表演，還是可以經得起時代的考驗。

許多現代沒有大鍵琴背景的音樂家選擇在鋼琴上表演，是有另一種風味。但大鍵琴的清脆聲音，退居幕後時和樂團合奏時比較能融合，而鋼琴的聲音沒有那麼純淨，是聽起來較礙耳的地方。當然，各種表演方式都有自己的擁護者，不過在擁護自己喜好時，也不需要過度打壓其他的音樂表現方式。(在這兒要尤其點名巴倫波英~~~ )

(好像還是寫了太多…)

This is CD is the first of three released by The English Concert and Trevor Pinnock in the early 1980s.  It has subsequently been reissued in an Archiv box set and another Trio series.  Historically, these keyboard concertos are the first of its kind, which undoubtedly made way to the later piano concerto.  Bach's vision lies in his willingness to the explore the harpsichord's capabilities as a solo concerto instrument.  While early 20th century criticism has been harsh to these pieces (that of Albert Schweiter's stand out the most), opinion has turned around considerably, and these keyboard concertos are considered masterpieces along his other many works.

The fact that all existing non-keyboard solo instrument concertos exist in a harpsichord concerto form but not necessarily the other way around (a few have been lost) also is some evidence to how much Bach took pride and care in these transcribed pieces, even if not original.  The first disc comprises of BWV 1052, believed to be a lost violin concerto, BWV 1053, thought to be originally an oboe concerto, and BWV 1054, transcription of the famous BWV 1042 E major violin concerto.  Bach was careful and thoughtful in his transcriptions, and he would transpose the music down a semitone or two, and transpose sections of the original instrument part down an octave due to the limited harpsichord range.  The final transcriptions show a demanding keyboard part, almost perpetually in motion.  A recent live performance of Mortensen playing BWV 1052 is evident.

The recording by the English Concert and Pinnock have aged surprisingly well.  Comparing the tempi they adopted 30 years ago to later recordings show that they are on par with them.  The support from the string players is lively and vibrant, as I reckon the players were still young but their playing style already matured, achieving a good cohesive sound.  Pinnock's playing is always solid, technically flawless, if a bit stoic overall.  He does have fun switching between registers to providing differences in tone color and create echo effects, a sign of his creativity.  You can argue that there have since come along players who make the music more dramatic and engaging, but Pinnock's Bach harpsichord concerto cycle will always stand out as a monumental achievement by many standards.

Also, the recording is balanced fairly well.  The harpsichord suffers only slightly in the tutti sections, but during the solo sections or when the string is kept to a minimum, the harpsichord shines through.