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艺术家：西蒙·拉特尔，柏林爱乐乐团
专辑名称：柏林爱乐乐团 马勒：第九交响曲
发行年份：2008年
厂牌：华纳古典
音乐类型：古典乐
音质：24位-44.1kHz FLAC / FLAC分轨
总时长：01:23:31
总大小：868 Mb / 406 Mb
官网：专辑预览
曲目列表
1. 第九交响曲：I. 舒适的行板 28:56
2. 第九交响曲：II. 悠闲的连德勒舞曲速度，稍显笨拙且粗犷 15:56
3. 第九交响曲：III. 回旋曲-谐谑曲（很快的快板，非常桀骜不驯）12:37
4. 第九交响曲：IV. 柔板（非常缓慢且仍有保留）26:02
演奏者：
柏林爱乐乐团
西蒙·拉特尔爵士，指挥
马勒的《第九交响曲》在录音史上堪称幸运之作。从1938年布鲁诺·瓦尔特在维也纳（纳粹入侵前几日）的现场录音，到西蒙·拉特尔2007年底在后冷战时期柏林的全新录音，这部作品似乎总能让指挥家和乐团在麦克风前展现最佳状态。它仿佛在挑战人们深入挖掘，寻找新的诠释角度，关联作曲家的生平、时代、音乐史地位，以及它能激发听众的共鸣。或许是作品本身的深刻性触动了演奏者和听众的内心，亦或只是一连串的幸运。无论如何，在马勒交响曲中，《第九》始终是最难推荐单一录音的作品，因为听众的选择实在太多。几年前我首次为这部作品撰写录音综述时，曾断言有五版绝对出色的演绎，它们以略有不同的方式诠释作品，但皆为不可或缺的经典：瓦尔特（索尼SM2K 64452，第二版）、克伦佩勒（EMI 5 67036 2）、霍伦斯坦（Vox CDX2 5509，唯一录音室版）、巴比罗利（EMI 72435679252）和海廷克（飞利浦4622992）。其中最新的是海廷克1970年代的录音，此后虽有其他优秀版本（如DG的布列兹和阿巴多），但我始终认为未超越这五部杰作。直到现在。
这是西蒙·拉特尔对该作品的第二次录音。他的首次录音是1998年与维也纳爱乐乐团的现场演出（由奥地利广播公司录制，EMI发行）。我在综述中曾评价：“西蒙·拉特尔与维也纳爱乐乐团的现场录音（EMI 5 56580 2），与伯恩斯坦的版本有相似的思想脉络，但说服力稍欠。另一个问题是录音的动态范围过广，为听清最弱乐段，不得不将音量调至震耳欲聋的程度。”
需立即指出的是，这版新录音解决了维也纳版的所有问题。拉特尔曾刻意追求的极端情感对比（在我看来如同穿错衣裳）已被摒弃，取而代之的是理性与感性的理想平衡。令人困扰的动态范围问题也通过指挥与工程师的共同努力得以优化。指挥家对马勒作品的第二次录音通常难有显著提升，但此版堪称完胜。因此，本文将不再提及拉特尔的首版录音——若您已拥有，此刻便需更新。
初听新录音终章时，最强烈的感受是它奇迹般融合了前五版经典的精髓，甚至让我产生这可能是《第九交响曲》理想录音的想法。它兼具克伦佩勒的清晰、真诚、“勃鲁盖尔式”的质朴力量与坚忍，将作品视为现代主义音乐的先声；同时以瓦尔特式的怀旧连奏柔化棱角，尤其在情感核心处极具说服力；霍伦斯坦式“灵魂的暗夜”阴影亦适时笼罩，扰动人心；巴比罗利式的情感张力如脉络贯穿始终，却未失平衡；海廷克式的“让音乐自白”亦在此体现，细节处理精湛入微，即便历经数十年聆听，仍能发现新的维度。对我而言，这是拉特尔新录音的额外亮点：每个小节都经重新思考，柏林爱乐对作品的熟稔让听众体验到全新的时代诠释——海廷克曾是20世纪末的标杆，而拉特尔此版则是21世纪初的典范。需明确的是，这种细节重构绝非拉特尔此前《第五交响曲》中那种窒息的“微观管理”，而是自始至终以深刻洞见呈现作品的完整图景。
开篇并非常见的梦幻般寂静，碎片化的动机被清晰勾勒，毫无朦胧感，仿佛宣告一种贯穿始终的创作清醒。木管的平衡让人想起克伦佩勒，弦乐内声部的清晰织体从起始便引人入胜，听众不禁专注于此前未察觉的音色层次。拉特尔以罕见的精准把控呈示部的速度变化，每次主题再现都深化结构连贯性，全乐章如流水般浑然一体。展开部中，直至第201-203小节的首次高潮崩塌，对位的清晰与推进的 momentum 均近乎完美。注意听高音长笛的呜咽与低音竖琴的钟声——竖琴声部在此版录音中尤为突出，定会带给您前所未有的听觉体验。首次高潮后，“激情”段落中低音弦乐以惊人的活力切入，弦乐织体的清晰竟让人联想到贝尔格，而“告别动机”的铜管齐奏更具震撼的预示感。此后，散落的乐思从寂静中凝聚，主高潮（314-318小节）以势不可挡的推进感抵达，长号嘶吼出开篇节奏，却与整体织体浑然一体。319-346小节，拉特尔精准捕捉“如庄严送葬队伍”的标记，恰似巴比罗利1963年与同一乐团的演绎。再现部中，长笛与圆号的独奏段落经重新构思，听来既新颖又陌生，柏林乐手的演奏堪称卓越。在乐章尾声，抒情与粗粝在音乐中激烈碰撞——这是充满力量的抒情，是历经世事者的回忆，整首第一乐章由此成为心灵与理智、抒情与粗粝、旧世界与新世界、现实与梦境的完美平衡。
拉特尔将中间两个乐章视为“生活的丑陋面”，他在近期访谈中称第二乐章是“乡村最令人厌恶的一切”，第三乐章是“城市最令人厌恶的一切”。尽管马勒本人可能排斥如此标题化的解读，但这一诠释不无道理。第二乐章中，不同舞曲段落通过三种速度的细致区分得以凸显：开篇连德勒舞曲中，弦乐以极具民族风格的张力切入主题，而非轻描淡写；圆舞曲素材虽带怀旧摇曳，却未冲淡“与死亡共舞”的基调。乐团的响应精准如鞭梢，却不失灵魂，木管与弦乐的平衡堪称听觉享受，柏林乐手时而展现的松弛感亦令人惊喜。第三乐章“回旋曲-谐谑曲”是马勒表达的极限，与第二乐章形成逻辑递进。拉特尔以稍作克制的速度开篇，动能隐而不发，直至尾声方显深意。抒情间奏的速度选择恰到好处——既不迟缓脱节，亦不仓促失色，高音小号的怀旧感尤为动人。回旋曲再现时，拉特尔如霍伦斯坦般在尾声渐催速度，最终全乐章如失控的重型卡车坠入深渊，印证了开篇克制的必要。
第四乐章作为马勒对生命与死亡的坚忍挽歌，拉特尔以恰如其分的克制诠释。他摒弃表面的多愁善感与情感泛滥，以聚焦的锐利平衡音乐中的深沉情感，开篇弦乐强劲而求索，音色令人再度联想到克伦佩勒。他拒绝以夸张强调沉溺情感，而是以理性框架赋予情感以支点，唤起更具人性的共鸣——正如第一乐章结尾那位历经世事者，此刻正思索一生萦绕的死亡命题，虽未病入膏肓，却比以往更清醒地感知宿命，并延续《大地之歌》的哲思。乐章中段，乐团以室内乐般的细腻织就永恒的音画，乐手间的聆听与呼应令人屏息。主高潮中，高音小提琴扬起，继而引出对生命至上的全情歌颂，音色饱满而坚定，为漫长的柔板尾声埋下伏笔。作品的终章演绎极少如此精湛：无数寂静被精准把握，主题碎片以令人惊叹的轻柔呈现，却未与寂静混淆而陷入死寂——这是拉特尔的精妙判断。此刻，我想起同样深谙柔板与碎片终结的沃恩·威廉斯《第六交响曲》，其引用的莎士比亚《暴风雨》台词“我们都是梦中的材料，生命终以睡眠为句点”，亦完美契合马勒《第九》的尾声。
对这部作品的诠释见仁见智。定会有马勒乐迷认为拉特尔的“理智与情感平衡”不够浓烈，那些渴望借《第九》宣泄焦虑的听众或许更适合伯恩斯坦、滕斯泰特或莱文的版本。但我坚信，仅停留在情感狂飙层面的演绎反而单薄。这部作品远比表面的情感冲击更深刻多元，而拉特尔与克伦佩勒式的坚忍中蕴含理智 rigor 的诠释，才真正触及内核。回顾开篇提及的五大经典，我不会说此版取而代之，但它无疑已跻身最优秀录音之列，在构思、演奏与录音质量上均属顶尖。
若有人初次选购马勒《第九交响曲》，我会毫不犹豫推荐此版。作为入门之选，它近乎理想地呈现了“马勒的第九”，而非“指挥家的第九”，理应获得最高赞誉。
——托尼·杜根
Artist: Simon Rattle, Berliner Philharmoniker
Title: Mahler: Symphony No. 9
Year Of Release: 2008
Label: Warner Classics
Genre: Classical
Quality: FLAC 24bit-44.1kHz / FLAC (tracks)
Total Time: 01:23:31
Total Size: 868 Mb / 406 Mb
WebSite: Album Preview
Tracklist:
1. Symphony No. 9: I. Andante comodo 28:56
2. Symphony No. 9: II. Im Tempo eines gemächlichen Ländlers. Etwas täppisch und sehr derb 15:56
3. Symphony No. 9: III. Rondo-Burleske (Allegro assai. Sehr trotzig) 12:37
4. Symphony No. 9: IV. Adagio (Sehr langsam und noch zurückhaltend) 26:02
Performers:
Berliner Philharmoniker
Sir Simon Rattle, conductor
Mahler’s Ninth has been a fortunate symphony on record. From Bruno Walter "live" in Vienna in 1938, only days before the Nazis marched in, to this new recording conducted by Simon Rattle in post-cold-war Berlin in late 2007, this work has always brought out the best in conductors and orchestras when the microphones were on. It is a work that seems to challenge them to reach deep, find new ideas, new ways of referencing the life of its composer, his time, its place in musical history and the responses it can provoke in we the listeners. Perhaps it is the profundity of the work itself that taps into something profound in players and listeners and inspires them, or perhaps it is just luck all along. What ever it is, this has always been the hardest of all the Mahler symphonies of which to recommend one recording, so spoilt for choice is the buyer. When I first wrote my Mahler recordings survey for this work some years ago I ruthlessly concluded that there were five absolutely outstanding versions on record, the crème de la crème, that address the work in slightly different ways but none of which I would ever wish to be without. These were great recordings conducted by Walter (Sony SM2K 64452 his second version), Klemperer (EMI 5 67036 2), Horenstein (Vox CDX2 5509 his only studio version), Barbirolli (EMI (72435679252) and Haitink (Philips 4622992). The most recent of these was Haitink’s from the 1970s and whilst there have been other excellent recordings of the Ninth released since then (Boulez and Abbado on DG spring to mind as superb) there have been none that I would quite place among what I consider to be the five elect. Until now.
This is Simon Rattle’s second recording of the work. His first was a "live" performance with the Vienna Philharmonic recorded for broadcast by Austrian Radio which EMI then issued in 1998. I had this to say about it in my survey of Ninth recordings:
"Simon Rattle's version on EMI (5 56580 2) also records "live" a first appearance with one of the great European orchestras, in this case the Vienna Philharmonic. It shares the same thought world and general approach as the Bernstein but doesn't, I think, quite convince in its own way. Another problem I have is the wide dynamic range of the recording. In order to hear the softest sections you have to endure the loud ones at a volume setting that could loosen the slates on your roof."
Let me say straight away that this new recording addresses every aspect of the Vienna one that I found ruled it out. The wide emotional extremes that Rattle indulged in, for me unconvincingly, like someone wearing borrowed clothes, have been banished for an ideal medium of head with heart. The wide dynamic range that I found so troubling has likewise been replaced by ideal balancing all round both by the conductor and the engineers. It is not often that a conductor’s second recording of a Mahler work results in an emphatic improvement but that is triumphantly the case here. So for the duration of this review I shall not mention Rattle’s first recording again. Suffice to say that if you have it then you need to replace it now.
After reaching the end of the new recording for the first time, among the strongest feelings I had overall was how it miraculously seemed to have in it all the elements that I admired most in my five elect recordings, pointing me towards a remarkable thought that I might even be in the presence of an ideal recording of Mahler’s Ninth. Here is the clarity, the honesty, the "Brueghelesque" primary coloured toughness, the Stoicism of Klemperer, promoting the work as precursor of Modernist musical thought. But this is tempered by the definite old-world mellowness of expressive legato that recalls Walter at his most persuasive, especially where the emotional core calls for it. Then, when needed, the "dark night of the soul" that Horenstein brings throws its broad shadow across the landscape and threatens to trouble the waking hours. The extra emotional charge of Barbirolli runs through it like a rich vein of feeling too but, as with Sir John, it never threatens to overwhelm and preserves that crucial head/heart balance Barbirolli was so good at in Mahler. If this wasn’t enough, Rattle also seems to share Haitink’s ability to simply let the music speak for itself overall. A feeling that the music is playing itself, that there is minimal intervention, a superb care for score inner detail that lets you hear aspects that, even after decades, you had not noticed before. This last is an extra plus to the new Rattle recording for me. It is as if every bar has been rethought and with an orchestra that clearly knows the work intimately we the listener can experience something genuinely new that moves the work into another era. Where Haitink’s was the Mahler Ninth of the late 20th century, this new Rattle is the Mahler Ninth of the early 21st. Be very clear, however, that this apparent bar by bar rethinking does not result in the kind of strangling "micromanagement" that spoilt Rattle’s recording of Maher’s Fifth with the same orchestra. Rattle never puts a foot wrong in delivering for us a complete view of this work that satisfies at a very deep level indeed.
The opening does not emerge from the usual dreamy silence it does so often. Those fragmentary motifs are remarkably delineated here, not dreamy at all, and appear in this way as a statement of the intent of a creative clarity that will not flag until the end. The close balancing of the woodwind recalls Klemperer again and the clarity of the inner string parts in particular point to a regard for the contrapuntal texture of the work that is absorbing from the start. You find you want to listen hard for tone colours that you might not have appreciated before. Rattle also observes with rare precision the variations in tempi in the Exposition that inform the opening pages of this movement and which, observed as they are each time the material returns, has the effect of knitting together the vast movement at the level of deep structure. All flows, though. There is nowhere an episodic feel, so carefully has Rattle thought the movement out and how closely his orchestra follow him. In the Development up to the first collapse climax at 201-203 again I was taken by the clarity of the counterpoint but also by the sense of forward momentum at what is a near-perfect Andante comodo. Notice the keening solo flute and also the tolling harp at the bass end, often not usually heard as well as this. The harp part is especially well served in this recording and I promise you will hear it in a way you have not heard it before. Following the first collapse climax, in the section marked Leidenschaftlich (Passionate) hear how the lower strings really dig into the music with terrific verve. The clarity of the string parts makes a Bergian feel to the music which is perfectly appropriate and it is also worth pointing out here how the lebwohl motif gets delivered with a spine-tingling sense of portent, the brass players absolutely at one. After this the way that the disparate material is gathered together from silence is masterly and the main climax at 314-318 is built to with an unerring sense of momentum so that when it comes there is a fearsome inevitability. The trombones roar out the opening rhythm but now they are in proportion to the rest, part of the texture rather than detached from it. At 319-346 Rattle catches absolutely the marking Wie ein schwerer Kondukt (Like a solemn funeral procession) just as Barbirolli did with the same orchestra back in 1963. In the Recapitulation the episode of the flute and horn solo is another passage that seems to have been thought through again so as to sound new and strange. It is certainly played superbly by the Berlin players. In this final part of the long movement the impression of the lyrical and the ugly being held together in the same music is very strong. This may be the music of long remembrance but it is a muscular lyricism, the memories of a man of the world, and so the whole first movement is summed up in this way. The heart and the head and held in perfect balance from first bar to last, lyrical and ugly, old world and new world, reality and dream.
Rattle correctly sees the two central movements as the ugly side of life, the most vicious music Mahler ever wrote, is how he described them in a recent interview. The second movement is everything you hate about the countryside, the third is everything you hate about the city, he tells us. I wouldn‘t wildly disagree with that as an interpretation, even though Mahler himself might baulk at such programmatic thoughts. In the second movement the separate dance episodes are well marked out for us by a careful attention to the three different tempi. In the opening landler I liked especially the really ethnic digging in of the strings as they swing into the main material Too often this is allowed to pass by the conductor with hardly a nod. The waltz material has a backward glancing lilt but does not dilute the feeling that right through Mahler is dancing to death before us. The response of the orchestra is absolutely faultless with whip-crack precision and ensemble but never sacrificing soul, the feeling of a story being told and the sound of woodwind against strings in perfect balance is a special joy. The Berliners are also remarkably unbuttoned at times. "How potent cheap music is," as Noel Coward once observed. Again, compliments to the engineers too here, but also to Rattle for the excellent balancing. The same applies to the Rondo-Burleske third movement. This is Mahler going to the limit of expression and is a logical development from the second movement and so it sounds here. Under Rattle it is a controlled environment to begin with, all kinetic energy in a slightly held-back tempo, but the significance of this does not become clear until the end. In the wonderful lyrical interlude Rattle makes the crucial tempo choice with ease - neither too slow that if seems detached from the rest, nor too fast that we miss its lyrical power. And just listen to the nostalgia in the high trumpet solos. When the Rondo Burleske does return, Rattle conducts it like Horenstein does in his "live" recordings. Gradually screwing up the tempo as the coda approaches so that, when the end comes, by then the whole movement is going to hell like a juggernaut out of control, justifying the controlled tempo in the first part.
For Mahler’s stoic elegy on life and approaching death in the fourth movement Simon Rattle adopts an appropriately stoic demeanour. Not for him a mawkish, drawn out, emotionally over-heated outpouring that satisfies on just a surface level. In keeping with the rest of the work’s emotional mapping, he gives a reading that balances the great depth of feeling written into the music with a sharpness of focus that burns into the mind in its own terms. The strings at the very start are powerful and questing. They draw the melodies with a confident tone of voice and a timbre that again recalls Klemperer. Whilst Rattle conveys the power of the emotions present, by his unwillingness to indulge them with overt emphasis he keeps an intellectual frame which gives point to the emotion and makes for a more human response. So the man of the world we met at the end of the first movement reflecting on times past now reflects on mortality as he had pretty well for all of his life but now in the knowledge that his own end may be closer. Mahler was not at this point in his life, as you still wrongly hear, terminally ill. He was still firing on all cylinders where life and career was concerned. But he was more than ever aware of his own mortality at this point and able descant on it, carry on the theses he had explored previously in "Das Lied Von Der Erde." In the central section of the movement the intimate details are woven here into a timeless tapestry with a degree of chamber-like playing by the orchestra that is breathtaking. Here are players who are really listening to each other. The main climax, where the high violins rear up and then usher in a full-throated noble assertion of the primacy of life, emerges naturally from the rest and is delivered with a wonderful, full but firm tone that prepares for the long, soft coda. The long close of the work itself has seldom been played so well as it is here. The many silences are perfectly observed, the fragments of themes delivered with breathtaking quiet, but they are never allowed to merge into those silences and become comatose which they can sometimes do. It is a careful judgement but one that Rattle succeeds in. I was reminded that here was a conductor of Mahler’s Ninth who knows Vaughan Williams’s Sixth with its own very particular soft and fragmentary close. Vaughan Williams quoted Shakespeare’s "The Tempest" at the same point in his symphony and that quote appears absolutely appropriate in Rattle’s closing of Mahler’s Ninth: "We are such stuff as dreams are made on and our little life is rounded with a sleep."
So much depends on how you believe this work should be played and interpreted. I am certain there will be many Mahlerites who will find what I call Rattle’s excellent "head and heart balance" here leaves them short. People who want the Ninth to be an excuse to climb on to the couch and pour out the angst by the shovel need to go to conductors like Bernstein, Tennstedt or Levine for that. But I believe conversely that it is in fact recordings like that which leave us short. This work is far deeper and more rounded than those which just operate on a high-octane emotional level and leave no room for the kind of Stoicism shot through with intellectual rigour of a Rattle or Klemperer. Returning to the recordings I listed at the start of this review as being, for me, the outstanding ones I would not say this new recording supplants any of them. However, I am convinced that it joins them as one of the finest recordings of the work that I have ever heard in terms of conception, playing and recording .
If someone who was contemplating buying a Mahler Ninth for the very first time were to ask my opinion I would reply without hesitation that this is the one to have. As a first recording it is near ideal in delivering Mahler‘s Mahler Ninth as opposed to that of the conductor on the rostrum and it deserves the highest possible recommendation. -- Tony Duggan
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发表于 2025-5-23 07:48:53