|
 The Memorable Maestro – Frederick Fennell ~ By Jeffrey Tseng
Recently, I’ve noticed the title “The Legendary TAS Super LP List Returns!” on the cover of TAS in Issue 264, and I’ve also seen an album “HI-Fi a la Española” (Mercury SR-90144) which continues to hold up very well on the “Best of The Bunch: Classical” of TAS Super LP List for years. I am a Mercury aficionado, and this album is one of the best sounding Mercury recordings I have ever heard. The music itself is very attractive and interesting - as the title says, these tracks were written by nine composers from six countries (Spain, Cuba, Mexico, Brazil, USA and Australia), and the conductor of this album is Frederick Fennell (1914~2004) who conducts such pretty compositions in very emotional and thrilling way.
I have been a fan of Frederick Fennell since I first heard his recording on Mercury when I was young. He remained the best-known for his Mercury recordings with the Eastman Wind Ensemble. In 1952, Dr. Fennell organized the Eastman Wind Ensemble in Rochester, New York, and since that time he has unceasingly dedicated himself to the exploration of musical works originally scored for wind ensemble, and to the stimulating of interest on the part of contemporary composers in writing works for this particular instrumentation.
Frederick Fennell was long recognized as a preeminent conductor of the finest wind and percussion music, however, he is no stranger to the symphonic “pops” repertory too. He had been an annual guest conductor of the Boston “pops” since 1949, where his performance are characterized, in the words of a newspaper reviewer, “by a rare combination of wit, vivaciousness and musical sensitivity”.
Dr. Fennell brought to the wind ensemble a finesse of phrasing, dynamics and balance usually found only in orchestras. He claimed to have studied the conducting of Toscanini, Klemperer, Stokowski, Beecham and others through assiduous attendance at rehearsals and concerts.
I think, everything a conductor shows should reflect the music, and therefore when musicians see the music in the conductor, they have empathetic responses. As a conductor, I have to say Fennell’s conducting gestures expressed completely the music.
I was very fortunate, I had participated in conducting workshop and studied conducting with Dr. Fennell in 1999 Taiwan. I will never forget this learning experience. Dr. Fennell had encouraged us, he said, “You have to learn how technique is developed by not talking, and if you can’t make it happen with your technique, all the words in the world are not going to do it for you.”
When we talked about other aspects of musicianship that do contribute to the overall development of a conductor, Dr. Fennell said: “You have to begin with solfege (a sight-reading book) because that takes care of everything.” I also remember Dr. Fennell once said, “Feeling must be a part of the musical line.” I’ve heard Dr. Fennell performed Richard Wagner’s “Elsa’s Procession to the Cathedral” in Taiwan, and adored how he made the slow piece – very expressively! He showed great intensity of Wagner’s music.
From 1984 to 1989, Dr. Fennell was appointed chief conductor of the Tokyo Kosei Wind Orchestra in Japan, and he transformed this Wind Orchestra into a world-class touring and recording group. The first piece for the rehearsal was March of Julius Fučík – Florentiner March. Fennell’s first request was regarding the bass drum’s solo after the initial fanfare. “Bass drum is a low frequency instrument which should be sounded with a low frequency.” Fennell said, as he personally tuned the instruments. Moreover, he also asked that the Trio portion should be played slower while sounding the melody with more emotions.
Frederick Fennell received numerous honors from the worlds of music and academia, and in 1994 he was presented with the Theodore Thomas Award of the American Conductors’ Guild, in recognition of his leadership and service to wind band performance throughout the world. The two previous recipients of this award had been Solti and Bernstein. He was undoubtedly one of the very greatest conductors of the twentieth century.
And, finally, back to the album - “HI-Fi a la Española”, Dr. Fennell sparkled in the light classical repertoires are among the best performances of these works on disc. You can feel both disciplined and lively ensemble playing in a program of light classics. Thus, this is definitely one of my “Desert Island” records.
永遠懷念的大師 － 費德利克･芬奈爾( Frederick Fennell)
最近我注意到第264期TAS(The Absolute Sound)雜誌的封面有一個標題: “The Legendary TAS Super LP List Returns!”，當下，毫不猶豫買一本回家。我看到“HI - Fi a la Española”(Mercury SR-90144)這張唱片持續高掛在“Best of The Bunch: Classical”的榜單上多年，心中甚喜。我是Mercury Living Presence唱片的愛好者，而這張唱片是我所聽過的 Mercury 最佳錄音唱片之一。它的音樂很吸引人而且錄音精彩，正如唱片封面標題所說的－“HI - Fi a la Española”。裡面的曲目是來自六個國家(西班牙、古巴、墨西哥、巴西、美國、澳洲)的九位作曲家的作品，由美國指揮家 Frederick Fennell (1914～2004)指揮伊斯曼羅徹斯特大眾管弦樂團。Dr. Fennell將這些輕鬆的古典小品演奏得生動有趣，熱情洋溢。
在我年輕時，當我第一次聽到Fennell在Mercury的錄音便成為他的樂迷，他與伊斯曼管樂團在Mercury的錄音使他一直享有很高的知名度。在1952年Fennell在紐約羅徹斯特大學成立伊斯曼管樂團，從那時起，他便不斷地致力於管樂團原創作品的研究，並且激勵多位當代作曲家為這個特殊樂器編制組合的樂團創作樂曲。
長久以來，Fennell被公認為是一位在精緻管樂與打擊樂方面的卓越指揮家，而且，他在大眾管絃樂的領域方面也一樣不陌生。從1949年開始，他就是波士頓大眾管弦樂團每年必邀請的客席指揮，他的演出很有特色，我在此引用當時樂評家在媒體發表的一段話為例: “他的音樂具有一種稀有的特質，兼具了風趣､活潑與音樂敏銳度的組合”。
Dr. Fennell 在訓練管樂團時，無論是樂句、力度、及聲部之間的平衡都處理得相當細緻，通常這樣的處理方式只在管絃樂團中發現得到。他常向學指揮的學員們呼籲：必須透過積極地參與各樣的排練與音樂會，向指揮大師們(如:托斯卡尼尼、克倫裴勒、史托科夫斯基、畢勤…等)孜孜不倦的學習他們的指揮藝術。
我認為，指揮的肢體語言應該能適切地反映出音樂的情感，因此，當音樂家在指揮身上看到音樂的帶領時，他們自然會有移情作用的反應。以身為一個指揮而言，我必須說，Fennell 的指揮手勢完全地表達音樂的情感。
我非常幸運的，曾經於1999在台灣參加一個指揮營，向Dr. Fennell 學習指揮，我永遠難以忘懷這次的學習驗。 Fennell曾鼓勵我們，他說： “你們必須不藉著講話來發展指揮技巧，如果你不能善用你的指揮技巧指揮樂團，縱然使用全世界的話語也不能幫你做什麼事”。
當我們討論有關於音樂才能對於一位指揮整體發展的幫助時，Dr. Fennell 說： “你必須從視唱聽寫開始練習，因為它對於你的音樂發展有很大的助益”。我還記得Dr. Fennell曾經說： “情感必須是音樂線條的一部分”。多年前，我曾在台灣聆聽Dr. Fennell 演出理查･華格納的作品 － “艾爾莎進教堂的行列”，我非常欽佩他將這首慢板樂曲的音樂性處理的相當豐富，呈現出華格納作品的音樂張力，實在令人動容!
從1984~1989年，Dr. Fennell 擔任日本東京佼成管樂團的首席指揮，在五年內將這個樂團提升到國際級的職業樂團水準。他與佼成管樂團第一次排練的樂曲是朱利葉斯･伏契克的作品－佛羅倫斯進行曲。當排練開始時，他對樂團的第一個要求是在這首進行曲一開始四個小節後的大鼓獨奏，Fennell聽到大鼓的音有一點偏高，當他本人親自去調整大鼓鼓皮的音高時，他說：”大鼓是一個低音樂器，應該發出低頻率的聲音”。後來，他還要求在這首進行曲中間樂段的優美旋律樂句，應該演奏稍微慢一點，讓旋律更富有歌唱性。
綜觀Frederick Fennell 的一生，無論在音樂界及學術界都享有極高的榮譽。1994年，他授頒美國指揮家協會的最高榮譽獎－Theodore Thomas Award，推崇他對全世界管樂團演奏的帶領與貢獻。在此之前，有兩位指揮大師也得到此獎－蕭提與伯恩斯坦。毫無疑問地，Frederick Fennell 是二十世紀最偉大的指揮家之一。
最後，回到這張唱片－“HI - Fi a la Española”，Dr. Fennell 的演奏與詮釋可說是同曲目錄音的典範。你將發現在這張輕古典音樂曲目中，它兼具訓練精良與生動有趣的演出。所以，這張絕對是我的 “荒島唱片”。 ~ Jeffrey Tseng
|
