Yoyoma Bach CD Reviews:You Gotta Have Faith

馬友友巴赫專輯樂評：人要有信仰

 By Tony Frankel 

Last night at The Wallis Performing Arts Center in Beverly Hills, I was privileged to witness MacArthur “Genius” Alisa Weilerstein perform all six of Bach’s Unaccompanied Cello Suites. It felt almost surreal to do this after driving through horrendous L.A. traffic listening to updates on the mass murder in nearby Thousand Oaks, reports that were interrupted by more news: That same community’s rankled citizens had just been evacuated as fires engulfed swaths of Ventura and L.A. counties.

昨晚，在比弗利山莊的瓦利斯表演藝術中心，我有幸親歷了麥克阿瑟“天才”獎得主艾莉薩·魏勒斯坦完整演奏的六首巴赫無伴奏大提琴組曲。參加這場音樂會，有種近乎玄幻的感覺，因為此前剛剛驅(qū)車穿過交通可怖的洛杉磯街道，聽著最新的，關于附近千橡市屠殺案的報道，而報道隨時又在被更新的消息所打斷：由于文圖拉和洛杉磯的大片地區(qū)大火肆虐，事發(fā)區(qū)的民眾剛剛已被疏散。

 With smoke filling the skies above the theater, I sat watching people prior to the concert arguing at the foot of the stage about seat assignments (with mid-term elections proving just how divided Americans are, who isn’t weary of finger-pointing?). Once Weilerstein began, someone’s phone began to go off low-but-incessantly throughout the first two suites — turns out an older woman was getting alerts about the fire but she didn’t turn down the volume properly and had poor hearing (so did that man with the watch alarm).

劇場上空，濃煙彌漫，演出開始前，我坐在那兒，觀賞著舞臺腳下因座位安排而起了爭執(zhí)的觀眾 。（鑒于中期選舉已經(jīng)證實，美國人是何其分裂，誰不厭倦指責？）魏勒斯坦的演奏一開始，有人的手機就低聲響起，聲音不高但堅持不懈地伴隨了前兩組樂曲，后來發(fā)現(xiàn)是一位年長的女士，聽力很差，在收到火警時，沒有適當?shù)卣{(diào)低音量，另有一位腕表響鈴的男士，情況類似。

（譯者注:原文的A-LEE-sah WYE-ler-steen：應是作者以大寫和拖音強調(diào)演奏者的腕兒大，以示興奮）

What’s a person to do? Well, Bach already created the medicine, now it just needs to be taken. And to do that, one must actively listen, a lost art in this information- and noise-filled world. If you don’t do that, the Suites can be more of an endurance test for the listener than they are for the player .

什么才是一個人必須要做的？巴赫早已經(jīng)開出了藥方，而今照辦即可。要做到，我們就必須主動、積極地去聆聽，在這個充滿信息和噪音的世界里，這是一門遺失的藝術；做不到，那這套組曲就成了對忍耐力的考驗，相對演奏者，于聽眾而言尤其如此。

(which explains why quite a few people left after the first break, more during the second, and a few between the fifth and sixth Suite). I focused my eyes between the bridge and tailpiece of the cello, and let Bach’s magisterial, mathematical, mesmerizing, meditative, mythical, magical, miraculous, mysterious music cast its spell. Even that cell phone stopped bugging me.

這也解釋了為什么很多人在第一次休息時離去，在第二次休息時離開的更多，而在第五和第六組曲之間卻很少。我將注意力集中在大提琴的琴橋和弦板之間，任巴赫那威嚴、精確、迷魅、深邃、雄奇、美妙、魔幻、神秘非凡的音樂統(tǒng)攝身心。連那部手機都不再煩我了。

So when you buy Yo-Yo Ma’s new release of the Cello Suites from Sony Classical (which you must), it shouldn’t be used as background music. It is your opportunity to get involved by participating with your senses, not just your ears. While the 36-year-old Weilerstein did a remarkable job yesterday (the memorization of two and one half hours of music alone boggles the mind), Yo-Yo Ma’s new rendition is less practical and more emotional and precise, more worldly and magical, more solid and wise. 

因此，當你購得索尼古典新發(fā)行的馬友友大提琴組曲時（必須的），它不應被用作背景音樂。你有機會將全部知覺投入其中，而非僅憑雙耳去聽。盡管36歲的韋勒斯坦昨天的演奏非常出色（單是記住兩個半小時的樂譜就足夠驚人），而馬友友新的演繹更加揮灑自如，更富于情感、更精準、更入世、更奇妙、更堅實和睿智。

This isn’t to dish Weilerstein, as her interpretation was truly valid and improved as the night wore on, but this — Ma’s third go-around recording the Suites — is also, shall we say, more mature and insightful than his own previous releases. Very little is spelled out by Bach as far as tempo and mood, so there is great room for interpretation.

這并不意味著貶抑魏勒斯坦，她的演繹無疑是令人信服的，且在昨晚，隨著時間的逝去愈顯優(yōu)秀。但這個，是馬友友第三次重新錄制這套組曲，也可以說，它相較于此前的版本更成熟、更具洞察力。在樂曲基調(diào)和行進速度方面，巴赫的闡述極少，為演奏者留下了極大的發(fā)揮余地。

Recorded at Mechanics Hall in Worcester, MA, recording engineer Richard King has ensured the tiniest bit of reverb, as if we were sitting with Ma in the apse of a church, which aids in the spiritual journey, or for some, a religious experience. “Transcending even Bach’s profound devoutness?！?nbsp;

該唱片是在馬薩諸塞州伍斯特的邁坎尼克音樂廳（Mechanics Hall）錄制的，錄音工程師理查德·金在錄制時，確保了能夠還原哪怕是最微小的混響。這樣，在欣賞唱片時，我們就如同和馬友友一起坐在教堂的凹形大殿中似的，這對精神體驗有助益，亦或?qū)δ承┤硕裕?strong>是宗教體驗。

Ma’s lifelong friend Michael Stern writes in the liner notes, “these works are statements of faith pared down to their purest essence.” And unlike music for meditation, which can be sleep-inducing, Bach’s suites — each with seven short movements — go from dissonant to dance to probing to reflective.

馬友友的終生好友邁克爾·斯特恩（Michael Stern）在唱片說明中寫道：“這甚至超越了巴赫的深邃和虔誠，這是對信仰最純粹、最本質(zhì)的呈現(xiàn)。”與那些可能會引人入睡的冥想音樂不同，巴赫組曲中每組都有七個短章，從不協(xié)和到舞曲、到探究、再到沉思。

I woke up this morning to lingering smoke and devastating news from my own friends who have been evacuated, so the first thing was to pop in this CD, put on headphones, and allow all 133 minutes to wash over me like a tonic. With profundity, Ma’s version makes it easier to listen; it just draws you in. 

今早，在煙霧繚繞中醒來時，聽著被疏散了的朋友們傳來的頹喪消息，繼而要做的第一件事就是放入這張CD，戴上耳機，讓這133分鐘的音樂如瓊露般滌清身心。馬友友的版本，因其深刻精到，更易入耳，它只是吸引著你入乎其中。這可能是自偉大的西班牙大提琴演奏家帕布羅·卡薩爾斯（Pablo Casals）以來，最好的巴赫大提琴組曲錄音。

This may be the best recording of the Cello Suites since the great Pablo Casals, the young Spanish cellist who found a copy in the music store he worked in over a century ago, ultimately recording them from 1936-39 after two decades of study. In Ma’s beautifully written notes, he asks us to share it with people seeking equilibrium and solace at a moment of unprecedented change. Which is most of us, yes? You gotta have faith. This will help.

一個多世紀前，年輕的西班牙大提琴手在其工作的音樂商店里找到了一份樂稿，經(jīng)過20年的研究，最終在1936至1939年間錄制下來。在馬友友所寫的精彩題記中，他請求我們，將巴赫分享給那些身處空前變化時刻，正在尋求內(nèi)心平衡和慰藉的人們。這說的不正是我們大部分人么？人要有信念，信者得救助。