Program:

Mendelssohn Hebrides Overture

Schuman piano concerto in a minor,

Strauss Ein Heldenleben.

Conductor: Edo De Waart.

Soloist: 陈萨（Sa Chen）

  The string section created a transparent and silky sound in the overture with exceptionally good intonation and ensemble, though occasionally the lower strings were not strong enough on the important dotted or triplet rhythms. The winds were tight and well blended and surprisingly the horns didn’t take the overture as some kind of warm up material. When did this orchestra became so stylish and precise? It certainly was largely because of Edo De Waart as I was told afterwards. On the concert he looked as if he was part of the music, not some kind of metronome or show-off that sticks out from the orchestra, and one can hear clearly that he knew exactly what he was doing.

  I enjoyed very much guiding Sa and her mother in Wellington, I enjoyed a lot the gift she gave me, and I enjoyed ENORMOUSLY her Schuman concerto! I could only say one word: Brilliant. I loved the clarity of her playing, especially in the left hand (This is something that does not happen in New Zealand very often). From her playing I felt as if I can see the piano score in my head. I always believed that projection is not about volume but clarity, precision and sharpness. Sa proved my opinion. She was musical yet controlled and logical, knowing exactly the reasons behind every phrase; this was an excellent attitude towards any German concerto. She is definitely going to have a long-lasting career, I bet on it.

  I was also pleased with the orchestra during the concerto. I could still remember vividly how awful it sounded when林昭亮（Zhao-liang Lin）came to play the Brahms concerto: It was so grey, totally boring and about to fall apart. This time with Edo, the orchestra achieved what should be achieved in a concerto, and thus helped Sa a lot.

  Somehow, the inward sound from the Mendelssohn concerned me that it wasn’t quite right for Strauss. But the NZSO simply BLOWN ME AWAY. It was solid, passionate and florid. The strings surprised me the most, with such an expensive and flowing sound, they were just flawless. On top of that was Vessa’s solo, he was the surely the “Helden” of the second half. Hard intonation for the winds but it was rare to hear them actually play out, they were always “shy”, especially the horns. I must say the horn section in NZSO is the weakest, but they were reasonable in Ein Heldenleben. The timpanist didn’t drown the orchestra (he loved doing that) and the brass section always had a perfect concept of balance.

  This was certainly the best NZSO concert for me.         

  德奥作曲家严谨的逻辑思维，纵向的写作手法与对结构和曲式的重视，使他们的音乐较其他民族的作品而言更富理性美。典型的例子有 Bach， Mozart， Beethoven， Schuman， Wager， Bruckner， Schonberg，Berg。

  很明显，Schubert是例外。他擅长即兴写作，抒情的歌曲和旋律优美的室内乐是他的长处，在派队上即兴弹上一两首更是他的拿手好戏。但他善变的乐思和他那厌世的态度令他无法驾驭庞大的交响作品。Schubert缺乏耐心，经常在一个作品还没完成前就对其失去了兴趣，成为了一个“未完成多产者”（当然他的经济状况也是很重要的一个原因）。而且他不喜欢复习与修改自己的作品，不擅于重新构思，加以改进。因此在大编织的作品上他与前述的作曲家比起来，就较为逊色了。在某些方面，Mendelssonh跟SCHUERT有相像之处，但就作曲手法来说他比Schubert会“扬长避短”，在交响作品上他也更有成就。虽然有时两者的音乐都很缠绵，但Mendelssonh比Schubert更乐观，更有活力，更客观也更理性。

  Mozart有美丽动人的旋律不可置疑，但他也是典型的纵向作曲家----从和声的基础上发展旋律。Mozart在写任何作品之前，无论奏鸣曲，协奏曲或是交响乐也好，脑子里已经清晰地刻画出整部作品的结构。他的音乐永远是平衡的，完美的。在他晚期的室内乐里我们能听到他感情的宣泄，但他的音乐永远不会失去那种脱离世俗的典雅。的确，Mahler的音乐及其感性，细腻。但在这多愁善感的音乐背后，是复杂严密的构思。Mahler用的每一个动机都有它特殊的意义，他精心安排这些动机，让它们互相穿插，结合；或者让它们产生摩擦，争吵，决斗……每一首交响曲都像是一部纪录片，不但记录着人间百态，还记录着天堂与地狱。

    大多数德奥作曲家有一个共同点，那就是他们对巴哈的敬仰与推崇。严格的对位训练与传统的和声守则倍受重视。这反映出日耳曼人的民族特性（当然也有很多德国作曲家是犹太人，E.G.   Mendelssonh，Mahler, Schonberg）。Schuman在写过“音乐家守则”一文，其中第一条守则就是“每天必须弹奏BACH的平均律”；Mahler在他作曲室里总要挂一幅BACH的画像；Hindemith曾说过：“严格仔细地学习对位法是绝对必要的”；Berg不止一次在自己的作品中采用BACH的旋律，比如他在Violin Concerto末乐章引用了Bach的Cantata中合唱的一段旋律。还有好多类似的例子。

    傅雷说过：“感性认知要通过理性认知得以升华，成为艺术”。德奥作品中的理性美，使这些音乐富有深奥的逻辑，百听不厌。每听一次，都有一些新的发现，每听一次，我都不禁对这些音乐巨匠的智慧与才华叹为观止。我特别喜欢德奥德交响曲，室内乐，奏鸣曲及协奏曲作品。可是如果说歌剧，我觉得德奥的歌剧作家偏好着笔于歌剧中戏剧的部分，有时不那么“人性化”。在我心目中，意大利歌剧的位置是不可被取代的。我对Verdi和Puccini的喜爱远远超于Wagner；在我喜欢的歌唱家中，也没有很多日耳曼人，大多数是拉丁人。