Soprano Anna Dennis and guest conductor Steven Fox
11/19/2013
The Center for Performing Arts, Atherton
Music from Imperial St. Petersburg
BEREZOVSKY Symphony in C major
BORTNIANSKY Suite from Alcide
FACIUS Concerto for Violoncello in D minor, Op. 3
FOMIN Dance of the Furies from Orpheus and Eurydice
BORTNIANSKY Suite from Le fils rival
GLINKA Three Arias (arr. Rimsky-Korsakov)
Steven Fox, Conductor
Anna Dennis, Soprano
Tanya Tomkins, cello
大多數人對俄國古典音樂的認知或許是從Glinka開始的。之前到底還有誰，應該沒幾個人會知道。連自認對音樂涉獵算廣的我，也說不出幾個比Glinka更早的俄國作曲家。而PBO這場早期俄國作曲家的音樂會，儘管知道音樂並不見得會特別有意思，但為了滿足一下好奇心，還是前來參加。
年輕的客座指揮Steven Fox在美國以及英國完成學業後就到了俄國做有關於俄國早期古典樂的研究。除了挖掘出早被世人所遺忘的音樂之外，他還成立了俄國第一個古樂團，將這些曲子演奏給今天的觀眾聽。音樂會開始前，Steven Fox向聽眾說俄國的音樂絕不可能無中生有，而有自己一段豐富的歷史。
俄國早期古典樂免不了受到歐洲的影響。(就連俄國公認的音樂之父Glinka，也曾在義大利留過學)。十八世紀中凱薩琳大帝(Catherine the Great，原本來自普魯士帝國)即位後，為了提昇俄國的藝術文化水準，成功地高薪邀請到許多當時名氣頗大的義大利音樂家到聖彼德堡去。其中，有Galuppi，Cimarosa，與Paisiello等知名的歌劇作曲家。許多的俄國音樂家，便是在宮廷和這些義大利大師學習的。音樂造詣高的，更是獲得凱薩琳的青睞，被送到義大利繼續深造。這晚曲目上的九成的音樂，便是來自這時期的俄國作曲家。除了Johann Heinrich Facius，其餘的Berezovsky，Bortiansky，以及Fomin都是在俄國土生土長的「第一輩」俄國音樂家。
Facius出生於德國，是位出色的大提琴家，和上述的義大利音樂家一樣，是被請到聖彼得堡，後來在俄國定居了下來。這晚Tanya Tomkins和PBO表演了他的大提琴協奏曲，是整晚技巧最精湛的一首，也可以說是整場的重頭戲。這首協奏曲是早期古典風格，很難讓人不想到Boccherini的大提琴協奏曲們。技巧層面這首是沒難倒Tomkins的，但她整體演出加上音樂本身卻沒有給我留下什麼太特別的印象。在音樂會中聽不知名作曲家的不知名音樂，有時容易遇到這種情況。
其餘的三位早期俄國作曲家都曾留學過義大利，Berezovsky和Fomin甚至還是莫札特的學弟。Berezovsky的這首交響曲，有可能是俄國音樂史上第一首，深受歐洲古典曲風的影響。Fomin的那首舞曲來自他的歌劇Orpheus and Eurydice，是根據有名的希臘神話。當然，這讓人不禁聯想起Gluck知名度更高的同名歌劇。這個直覺完全是正確的，因為Fomin的舞曲名稱Dance of the Furies和Gluck的一模一樣，而音樂的味道也和Gluck的那首相似。Gluck作為Fomin參考的對象，是非常名顯的。
三位之中音樂戲份較多的為Bortniansky。他除了在義大利的時候寫了幾齣義大利文歌劇，他回到俄國後還寫了幾齣法文歌劇，也算是多才多藝 了。Bortniansky今日在俄國音樂的歷史定位是他所寫的choral concertos，為俄國東正教特有的音樂曲式，是沒有伴奏的合唱曲。PBO這天沒有演奏Bortniansky的choral concertos，而是在他義大利文與法文歌劇中各挑一首，從中再選出幾段拼成了兩首組曲。這些組曲不是純器樂曲，有詠嘆調，因此找來了英國女高音 Anna Dennis助陣。義大利文和法文的詠嘆調中，我比較喜歡法文的歌曲。Anna Dennis從義大利文切換到法文，將聲音弄得更加柔和，那首Aria d'Albertine真的是優美極了。
音樂會最後，PBO還是忍不住表演了Glinka的音樂。他的音樂風格，自然和Bortniansky他們有些不同了。畢竟，是他開始刻意將斯拉夫元素注入他的音樂作品中。PBO演奏Rimsky-Korsakov改編的這幾首Glinka時，換成了一人一聲部的小編制。只是，利用古樂器在這場音樂廳裡表演Glinka，因為本身樂器的限制，完全沒辦法營造出該有的氣氛。浪漫派的音樂，還是留給古典時期之後的樂器吧～～
Glinka之前的音樂為什麼被世人遺忘應該還是有道理可循的。十九世紀俄國民族主義興起時，和歐洲西方國家有關的事覺都刻意被做切割；能和西方能聯想在一起的東西，是會讓俄國人蒙羞的。連被俄國五人組批評為音樂過於「西方」的柴可夫斯基，在整理Bortniasnsky的合唱音樂時，都不屑地說：「東正教裡最不音樂，最不恰當的東西，莫過於Bortniansksy與Galuppi引進來的音樂。」二十世紀初，民族主義詩人Ivan Franko甚至大喊：「Bortniansky滾蛋！」諷刺的是，儘管俄國人想與歐洲撇清，西方對於俄國音樂的影響已是事實。
Steven Fox這晚帶來的早期俄國音樂，可滿足對於音樂史好奇的認真音樂聽眾。但若是希望這些曲子日後可成為音樂會上常見的曲目，機率應該是比中樂透還要難。不過，這些作曲家的音樂日後會不會出現在我的收藏裡，倒是值得商榷的～～～ ：）
The earliest Russian composer most people can recall is most likely Glinka. Even among the musically cultured, I'm willing to bet that only a handful of people can come up with composers earlier than Glinka. And that includes me, where I pride myself on the depth of general classical music knowledge. When I saw this program of early Russian composers offered by PBO, I decided to attend it to satiate my curiosity, even though I had a hunch that most of the music probably wouldn't amount to much.
Young guest conductor Steven Fox received his music degrees from the U.S. and the Royal Academy of Music. After that, he went to Russia to research, you guessed it, early Russian classical music. In addition to digging up long-forgotten works, he also founded the first Russian period-instrument orchestra to perform these works again to the public. Before the concert, he told the audience that he's been fascinated by the history of the early development of Russian classical music, and that the common belief held by most that there was nothing before Glinka is downright absurd.
Early Russian music's debt to Europe was inevitable (even Glinka, the "father of Russian music", studied in Italy). In the mid-18th century, after Catherine the Great's ascension to throne (she was born in Prussia), in an effort to transform the Russia into a more intellectual and cultured nation, one of the things she did was becoming a great patron of the arts. Her generous offers attracted many well-known Italian opera composers of the time to go to St. Petersburg, among them Galuppi, Cimarosa, and Paisiello, to name a few. The first generation of Russian classical musicians was developed at the St. Petersburg court, and the real talented ones were given stipends to further their studies in Europe (mainly Italy). Most of the composers featured in the program belong to this category, with the exception of Johnn Heinrich Facius.
Facius was originally born in Germany and was a gifted cellist. He, like many Italian composers of his time, was attracted to St. Petersburg. Apparently he liked it there so much that he settled down in Russia. Tanya Tomkins and PBO played one of his cello concertos, which was hands down the most virtuosic piece of the evening. In the early Classical style, it was hard not to remind one of Boccherini. While Tomkins's execution was sound, the music itself and her overall playing didn't really strike a chord (no pun intended) with me that much. That kind of comes with the territory in listening to obscure works by obscure composers.
The remaining early Russian composers all studied in Italy at some point, with Berezovsky and Fomin being alumni of Mozart. Berezovsky's symphony is currently credited as the first Russian symphony ever written. Traces of C.P.E. Bach and the Mannheim School are prevalent. Fomin's Dance of the Furies from his Orpheus and Eurydice pays an even more direct tribute to Gluck's more famous opera of the same name, which has its own Dance of the Furies.
Among the three, Bortniansky was featured the most in the concert. Not only did he write Italian operas during his studies with Galuppi, but upon his return to St. Petersburg, he composed additional French operas, showing his versatility. Today Bortniansky is most remembered for the numerous choral concertos he wrote, a musical genre unique to the Eastern Orthodox church. PBO stuck to Bortniansky's more "western" compositions, performing two operatic suites, one from his Italian opera Alcide and one from his French Le fils rival. The suites are not entirely instrumental, including a few arias sung by English soprano Anna Dennis. I enjoyed the French arias more than the Italian ones, and Dennis's softening of her tone color made the arias, especially the Aria d'Albertine, particularly exquisite.
To conclude the concert, PBO couldn't resist playing some Glinka. His music was in pretty stark contrast to Bortniansky's, roughly 50 years earlier. Kudos to Glinka for consciously adding Slavic folk elements to create a unique Russian identity. PBO performed three arias from his operas, arranged by Rimsky-Korsakov in a more chamber feel to it. Unfortunately, I don't think the period instruments were able to pull this off convincingly. Practically speaking, they simply were not built acoustically for performing this type of music in this particular venue. I hate to sound of contempt, but for once I must say that it might be better to leave the Romantic repertoire to modern instruments.
As to why music before Glinka was systematically ignored, there are perfectly reasonable explanations. At the dawn of the 19th century, with the rise of Russian nationalism, anything associated with the Western European countries was seen as a shameful embarrassment. Even Tchaikovsky, who was somtimes criticized by The Five as being "too Western", even cried out while editing Bortniansky's works "Nothing is more inappropriate to the Orthodox church than [the harmonies] introduced in the last century by Galuppi and Bortniansky." At the turn of the 20th century, Ukranian nationalist poet Ivan Franko at some point exclaimed "Away from Bortniansky!" Of course, no matter how the Russians wanted to distance themselves from Western Europe, its influence on Russian art and music was a done deal.
In essence, Steven Fox unveiled some early Russian classical music which might have delighted those inherently curious about musical history. I'm also willing to wager that these piece might not make it to the standard concert repertoire anytime soon. That being said, I don't mind adding these exotic composers to my collection in the near future.
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