Boris Berman书里的普罗

Prokofiev's Piano Sonatas 笔记

（一）钢琴家

早年风格简单粗暴，干枯突兀，被人笑话成【恐龙的女儿】——这个形容绝了：

Some of the critiques reveal an astonishingly arrogant lack of musical understanding: “When a dinosaur’s daughter was graduating from the conservatory of her time, she had Prokofiev’s music in her repertoire.” A New York Times reviewer wrote regarding his performance of the First Concerto: “The duel between his ten mallet-like fingers and the keys ends with the beautiful sonor38 Prokofiev the Pianist ity being killed. . . . The piano stinks, wails, shouts, fights back and seems to bite the hands which assault it.”

人到中年就转了性了，当然也可能是老同学之间溜须拍马：

In 1927 Prokofiev toured the Soviet Union for the first time since leaving the country almost ten years earlier. For many of his old friends and colleagues, this was an opportunity to compare both his music and his playing with what they remembered. His former conservatory classmate Boris Asafiev, who had become a respected musicologist, published two reviews under the pen name “Igor Glebov,” in which he noted high rhythmic tension, virile unwavering energy, technical brio and brilliancy of accents.

. . . In general, Prokofiev’s playing became softer and more rounded . . . because of . . . strikingly touching and emotionally rich phrasing, as well as his outstanding ability to mold and carry on the melodic line....13 What is striking in Prokofiev’s playing is the outstandingly convincing expression and uncommon rhythmic plasticity.

. . . One should especially note a very original use of accents. There is an endless range of them: from hardly audible and scarcely noticeable pushes to pricks and passingby stresses to temperamental and powerful strokes. The accent in Prokofiev’s performance becomes the most valuable shaping element, bringing sharpness, capriciousness, and a special dry spark to his playing. Regular metric stresses disappear behind rhythmically refined and dynamically rich accents. This makes the phrasing especially clear and intensely vital.

. . . [Prokofiev’s] reserve does not imply dryness or indi¤erence: Prokofiev knows how to control his emotions, but does not shy away from the touching, gentle lyricism. He is not interested in pompous pathos. He found something better: simplicity and naturalness.... Prokofiev plays simply, clearly, and sensibly. Calmly, but without coldness of an over-confident virtuoso, brilliantly, but without showing o¤ his marvelous technique.... Melodic line is an important structural element. It determines the diProkofiev the Pianist 39 rection and character of the musical motion and gives . . . musical shape to the rhythmically organized texture. Because of this, Prokofiev’s playing has a beautiful singing quality, without ever being sweet. Because of this, each piece in his performance has an uncommon finish and completeness. From the beginning till the end, it is perceived as a purposeful unfolding of the material and as a dynamically intensive development of musical ideas.

此外，Oistrakh说普罗并不回避抒情，在必要的时候，天真优美得像个孩子；Richter回忆起12岁时看过普罗的现场，甚至说他技法polished。啧啧，what happened to dinosaur’s daughter？

当然，简洁自然是一以贯之的品质——不过作曲家演奏自己的作品都是这样叭，用老涅高兹的形容就是 “here is my material, he seemed to be saying, understand it and feel it as you please”……各有各的清白骄傲（&臭屁）。所以这个世界还是需要Horowitz这样的职业钢琴家啊。

Victor Delson对这种composer-pianist心理总结得也蛮一针见血：

Prokofiev, as if afraid of being excessively open, . . . limited his expressivity, made it appear restrained, neutral, even severe. . . . He never allowed himself to be sentimental and even used to say that he felt “ashamed” noticing it in the playing of other pianists.

老涅高兹夸起来则太到位了，【史诗感】都出来了：

Energy, confidence, indomitable will, steel rhythm, powerful tone (sometimes even hard to bear in a small room), a peculiar “epic quality” that scrupulously avoided any suggestion of over-refinement or intimacy (there is none in his music either), yet withal a remarkable ability to convey true lyricism, poetry, sadness, reflection, an extraordinary human warmth, and feeling for nature . . . were . . . the principal traits of his pianism.

参考音频：

偶像炫技时刻：https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGfWVh98p2g

偶像可爱时刻： https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mlwYfMU-kkM

偶像更可爱时刻： https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rZX17Ohaye0

偶像不爱用踏板依然很优美时刻：https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gk0jJyUh0T4

下面是重磅史料：

偶像弹拉赫：https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjutQ97DRhw

（多么正常而高贵的演绎啊，说好的最讨厌拉赫呢。）

偶像弹图展： https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eR_HuUpzfjc

（一上来的漫步是我听过，最，沙，雕，的钢琴演奏……但到了老城堡部分又沙雕得很有味道是怎么回事儿，不知道是不是piano roll的关系。）

虽然后期就不公开演奏自己的作品了——老涅高兹撺掇普罗搞一场独奏会，人民群众都爱听，他说我背谱子的功夫都够写一首奏鸣曲了，残忍拒绝——但他是个很凶又刻薄的家伙！对自己作品的演奏者容忍度超低！以至于干过这种事：

The composer also made himself available to other performers who wanted to play his works for him. Reportedly, in all such encounters Prokofiev was brutally frank. Richter described an episode when “a pupil was playing him his Third Concerto, accompanied by his teacher at a second piano, when the composer suddenly got up and grabbed the teacher by the neck shouting: ‘Idiot! You don’t even know how to play, get out of the room!’”

还好他有Richter和Gilels，少数在他眼中不是蠢货的小朋友。不过看起来他似乎更喜欢前者。

（二）作曲家

就因为倒霉地生晚了十年，被当作Stravinsky小弟的普罗每天都活在前者的阴影下：

In the beginning of his stay in the United States, Prokofiev was making his name (and income) primarily as a pianist, much to his distress. He certainly could not have appreciated the caption that appeared in Musical America under his photo with Stravinsky: “Composer Stravinsky and pianist Prokofiev.”

还有好多倒霉事儿，从本书讲述的方式来看，大部分都是老贱人自找的。他有个自传，应该比这本书里写的靠谱，回头找来看。

第一钢琴奏鸣曲：

Composed in 1906–9, premiered by the composer on March 6, 1910, in Moscow. First published in 1911 by P. Jurgenson. Dedicated to Vassily Morolyov.1

是从15岁就开始写了喔，本来是四乐章的大作品，后来他自己嫌太烂就给删删删、删成了单乐章。不过作为Opus 1，这是他早期众多学生作品里唯一一个愿意留下来的，说明他自己挺满意的。当然，他还是嘴硬：

As a rule the publication of his first opus is a landmark for the composer, a sort of dividing line between his early work and his mature compositions. With me it was di¤erent: the Sonata No. 1, a naïve and simple little piece, marked the end of my early period; the new began with the Etudes, Op. 2.

关于这首曲子，普罗在日记里写了他老师 Anna Esipova 第一次听他演奏时的评价（“This is very interesting music, she said,—but I would like to hear it performed not by you. One can make accents, but it is impossible to play everything fortissimo.”）——我就这样笑成了智障。

至于它的风格有多么传统浪漫毛子，我果然不可能是一个人：

The musical language of the First Sonata is traditionally Romantic. Victor Delson finds similarities between it and the “music of Medtner (and ‘through Medtner’ with Schumann) and, to some degree, of Rachmaninov and early Scriabin.”

（但我觉得这个评价不靠谱，梅特纳虽然浪漫，哪里有这么土hhhhh）

Boris Berman的录音（带谱）：https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=APxweGUCqIs

小特2016年的现场： https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d2jD_vzmyWQ

首先狂风骤雨的引子就特别不普罗。但就！侠客！

第一主题，三段重复，Berman的解读是到第三次重复才强奏，而小特第一次是最明确的，到第三次时为了跟bridge衔接得更自然，反而拖长节奏，清晰而温柔了。

Bridge部分是差距最明显的——小特真是一个特别好的钢琴家……他的强弱变化太美了，真的是如水一般闪烁的色彩，单听他就还好，跟别人一对比就没法儿再听别人了。

第二主题可就太好笑了。之前在Peter Donohoe（也是一个录了普罗钢奏全集的大爷）在留声机的采访中看到过，这里右手的两小节如果按谱面弹成均匀时值，会格外智障（obviously amateurish composition之类），之前听过的版本里有两三个还真这么弹了……没想到Berman也这么搞。但同样是rubato，Donohoe的节奏依然很僵硬，并不比按谱面好到哪里去。小特这里的处理则是完美的——就是太Scriabin了，神采飞扬那种，特别激情。

呈式部收尾，什么都不用说了，Berman讲得很好——结果全给小特弹出来了（。）可能就是天赋叭。

The closing section consists of two contrasting parts. The first (m. 74, 02:25) has a long singing line that bears a relation to the first theme. Tonally, it vacillates between the home key of F minor and the parallel key of A-flat major. The second part (m. 82, 02:38) is of a stormy, yet commanding nature and is based on fanfarelike calls. Later, in m. 93 (02:58), the succession of chords brings the exposition to a majestic close in A-flat major.

（一边听Berman一边想掐着他脖子吼——说好的long singing line呢！stormy yet commanding在哪里！majestic close您majestic了么！）

发展部一开头爷爷弹得挺好听的，至少照着谱子听，左手格外清晰，小特则一如既往糊成一片（……），但他对突弱和踏板的运用让这段相对平庸的音乐一下子就立体起来了。

（真是不懂哎，让人意识不到有左手的存在究竟是好事儿还是坏事儿呢。算了没关系，反正在我听来都是八只手。）

这部分的高潮+结尾写得好美，第116小节那里真的有chiming的音效呜呜：

In m. 104 (03:16), a buildup starts; the perception of meter changes to 3 4, the way it had happened in m. 34 (01:05). When forte is reached in m. 116 (03:36), the development is focused on the initial motives from both the first and second themes. In m. 134 (04:15), the pedal point of C in the bass (the dominant of the home key of F minor) signals the beginning of a retransition. Here the passionate melody initially sounds as a return of the first theme. After the first two bars of the theme are heard, however, they are repeated two more times, each time climbing up sequentially. The section ends with a climactic arpeggiated dominant ninth chord, as if with a rhetorical question mark.

再现部也没什么变化可言，本来就是很简朴的一支曲子嘛，旋律见长。至于演奏本身，更没必要对比了，表现力差太多太多太多了。Boris Berman更多地是一位教育家叭，工整清晰，完全缺乏tension，coda倒是很好，非常heroic——单拆出来听，小特就潦草了。但他在这首单调还不太流畅的曲子上展现出的流畅度和丰富性真的很可怕。

不过这本书写得好好啊……后面还有master class教你怎么phrasing，我他妈一不会弹钢琴的都看的心驰神往。情感色彩这种东西见仁见智叭，但Berman描述的都挺有意思的，比如他会告诉学生第二主题应该这样弹：

The second theme (m. 42) can be felt either as a warm meditative melody or as a proud majestic statement. The rhythm of consecutive dotted quarters should not sound square; rather, it must soar expressively. Do not allow the accompaniment in the left hand to cut the melodic flow. Two bars into the theme, it is interrupted by a parenthetical “aside,” which should be played lightly but melodically and should not be articulated excessively. The chords in mm. 54–57—and later in mm. 69–73—need to carry the melodic line; do not let them sound too separate from one another.

When the theme is repeated fortissimo in m. 58, give it a feeling of noble grandeur. The parenthetical bars (mm. 60–61 and 64–65) now contain imitations in the left hand; they need to be heard. Play the first part of the closing section (m. 74) expressively and with a singing tone, but stay in piano to create a contrast with the second part in m. 82.

帅大叔的超慢速演绎，甜甜的，很童话：https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jCbQCcVvU04

超快速版本，我莫名很喜欢，有种小作品就应该这么弹的感觉哎：https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ghYcBPI2gT0

这个姐姐歌唱性超棒，第二主题处理稍稍奇怪： https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z2Oxt4yqLV4

这个姐姐就很萎靡了，一盘散沙，旋律完全丢失： https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZB22oY9NzCQ

这个是目前听下来最好的了，歌唱性+细节+结构： https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O0-C5vITT3Q

当然了脑残粉如我只觉得小特电光四射那种highly convincing（。）

第八钢琴奏鸣曲

普八钢奏跟舒伯特960一样，是降B大调的。一样长长长长。

Gilels在拿到谱子后，经常练好一段就跑到普罗家弹给他听，普罗顺便也就可以在原稿上修修改改——作曲者与首演者之间的合作关系原来是这样的喔。

Richter说他听普罗弹过两次这首曲子，第一次就确定了这是部杰作，但直到第二次他才决定要亲自演奏它——估计是看老普罗弹琴时手颤颤巍巍的、整个人犹豫不决，怪可怜的？

Berman把普八称为最expansive的一部钢奏，我不能够更同意了。Richter这句话讲得也好：

At times it seems to grow numb, as if abandoning itself to the relentless march of time.

第九钢琴奏鸣曲

里赫特和普九：

It was Prokofiev’s birthday [probably 1947], and he invited me to visit him for the first time at his dacha at Nikolina Gora. “I’ve something interesting to show you,” he announced as soon as I arrived, whereupon he produced the sketches of his Ninth Sonata. “This will be your sonata. But do not think it’s intended to create an e¤ect. It’s not the sort of work to raise the roof of the Grand Hall.”

And at first glance it did indeed look a little simplistic. I was even a tiny bit disappointed.

. . . In 1951 he turned sixty. On his birthday Prokofiev was once again ill. On the eve of his birthday a concert was held at the Composers’ Union and he listened to it over the phone. It was on this occasion that I played the Ninth Sonata for the first time, a radiant, simple and even intimate work. In some ways it is a Sonata domestica. The more one hears it, the more one comes to love it and feels its magnetism. And the more perfect it seems. I love it very much.

普九结构上的新意：每个乐章结尾处都对下一乐章的材料进行preview。

、

（三）偶像

突然觉得普罗的钢琴作品是有一种极简主义的先声在里面的。与其说他是敲击风格，不如说他超级不爱用legato，即使音符很多的时候，听着依然是很冷清的。这点和Scriabin云山雾绕的大面积阴影和连续的不间断线条截然不同——大概也是为什么小特对普罗没有格外喜爱叭。当然我懂个P。

所以小特弹的普罗第一钢奏我之所以觉得好听，反而是因为他突出了其中非常不普罗的一面？完全弹成了年轻气盛的Scriabin，岩浆与烈焰啊。哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈哈他估计也是会被普罗掐住脖子吼滚出教室的那一类人。

但所谓忠实于作曲者的代价就是，除他之外的【规范】演绎都一股小学生味儿……我选滚出教室。