INTREGRITY OF MIND AND PURITY OF STYLE

Born on 6 October 1886 in Basle, Edwin Fischer was a member of thatPremarkable generation of pianists that included Artur Schnabel (18821951), Alfred Cortot (1877-1962), Walter Gieseking (1895-1956) and WilhelmKempff (1895-1991). Coincidentally, Fischer's close friend and colleague, Wilhelm Furtw?ngler, was also born in 1886. They first performed together in 1920 at a Berlin Philharmonic concert, and the two friends' careers also ended in the same year - Fischer made his last public appearance in 1954, the year of Furtw?ngler's death."Howeasy it would have been to make him into a musical wunderkind, but I didn'twant to," Frau Fischer often recalled. Her son's talent became apparent very early on;while his parents were playing four-hand music, little Edwin, still a toddler, came over, listened, struck a key, and announced "this is G." For the first year, Fischer's mother super vised the musical education of her son, who was only four years old when he began to study the piano; she was unrelenting in her criticism of his technique. In 1896, Fischer entered the Basle Conservatory, where he studied with Hans Huber. After the death of his father in 1904, his mother took him to Berlin for further study. There Fischer studied at the Stern Conservatory with Martin Krause, one of the last pupils of Franz Liszt.Early in his teaching career, Fischer had an experience he never forgot: "One day a youngster from Chile came tous. He wanted to play for me. I asked what he could play.He replied with a youthful candour, 'What do you want to hear? I know all of Bach.' After hearing him play for a few minutes, I was highly impressed by the unique talent of this seven-year-old. Later this wunderkind became a world famous pianist- Claudio Arrau."

Ferruccio Busoni was the pianist who made the greatest impression on Fischer. When Fischer asked him about his tone production, Busoni answered: "I have a single secret: When I play mezzoforte, others have to pound." Fischer was probably the only pianist wliu developed a similar tone quality - a seamless legato wedded to an atmospheric pianissimo. The first concerto that Edwin Fischer played in public was Eugen d'Albert's second (Op. 12 in E). D'Albert was so impressed that he asked Fischer to replace him as accompanist for his second wife, the singer Hermine Finck. This led to a close relationship with the d'Albert family and a rewarding experience accompanying Mme d'Albert on a concert tour.By1916, Fischer had gained considerable prominence; he had given many recitals and wasengaged as soloist by Nikisch, Weingartner, Beecham, Walter, Mengelberg and, of course, Furtw?ngler. Fischer, however, also devoted a substantial part of his career to conducting, including concerti from the keyboard. Late in her career, the pianist Elly Ney (1882-1968).remarked that, "When I play these days in Lübeck, I am reminded of the time in this historic town when Furtw?ngler, Hermann Abendroth, and Edwin Fischer performed in brilliant fashion. Under Fischer's direction I played the Brahms B flat concerto; later, Fischer and I played Bach's two piano concerto - an unforgettable experience."Phere were several notable chamber orchestras in the 1930s, but Edwin Fischer's exhibited a unique and particularly outstanding brand of musicianship. He continued his practice of conducting concerti from the keyboard and made recordings of Mozart and Bach concerti that are still in print. Rudolf Nel, the principal violist of Fischer's orchestra, recalled with much amusement a particularly telling anecdote which showed the close-knit relationship between Fischer and his orchestra: "During that tour, several Mozart concerti were scheduled which were alternated in different concerts. One time Edwin Fischer played a second theme from a different concerto. He was startled when he realised his mistake, and his fate was in God's hands. Then his blue eyes twinkled when he heard the orchestra enter with the same 'false' theme.In the cadenza, Fischer wallowed around in such a complicated way that even the sharpest critic couldn't tell what was going on."

We can sample Edwin Fischer's authoritative playing and conducting in his performance of Mozart's Concerto in D minor, K. 466. The fact that Mozart was overworked during the early months of 1785 may account for his omitting to write out cadenzas for this concerto. Beethoven wrote cadenzas for the first and last movements, but in this recording, Edwin Fischer plays his own cadenzas; these are relatively restrained, Fischer confining himself to fantasies on the various themes.

Fischer's performance of the "Emperor" is full of vitality, with an excitement that can only be explained by his complete commitment to Beethoven's ideals. He believed that a pianist's physical makeup and a predilection for particular kinds of music were related: As he stated, "Players of a particular constitution are best suited for works of composers of a similar constitution. For example, thickset hands are predestined for composers of a similar frame, while tall, long-fingered, sinewy players are, likewise, the best interpreters of the works of similarly constituted composers...Thus, Beethoven and Brahms players, Rubinstein and d'Albert, were the thickset type, while Liszt and Cortot were Chopin players par excellence. (Fundamentally it is a matter of touch; composers with soft, flabby hands and thick finger pads compose 'thick' music. Composers compose, as it were, for themselves. They unconsciously exploit their own qualities and need kindred spirits to interpret their work). The piano technique of Liszt came from long-fingered hands capable of wide stretches. It was for this reason that Busoni and Sauer were great interpreters of Liszt. Beethoven belonged more to the thickset type, and his music requires a broad, full, singing tone.But he was not only a broad type. When one examines the plaster cast of Beethoven's hand in the Beethovenhaus in Bonn, one is amazed at the tapered fingers."

Edwin Fischer was one of those "thickset types." A photograph of him at the piano shows himto have fleshy hands and thick fingers. In some general observations about the performance of Beethoven's sonatas, Fischer reveals his commitment to this philosophy: "There are two dangerous paths open to the interpreter: one consists of using Beethoven's language to express his own passions.The other is for the player to reproduce slavishly the notes and directions in the score... the most helpful counsel one can give is this: Love him and his work and you will inevitably become his servant and interpreter, and yet remain yourself. Your energy, your warmth and your love will kindle his energy, his spirit and his love in the hearts of men, and make them shine therein."

思想的完整性和風(fēng)格的純粹性

埃德溫-費(fèi)舍爾于1886年10月6日出生在巴塞爾，是引人注目的那一代鋼琴家中的一員，其中包括阿圖爾-施納貝爾（1882-51）、阿爾弗雷德-科托（1877-1962）、沃爾特-吉賽金（1895-1956）和威廉-肯普夫（1895-1991）。巧合的是，費(fèi)舍爾的親密朋友和同事威廉-富特文格勒也出生于1886年。他們于1920年在柏林愛樂樂團(tuán)的音樂會上首次同臺演出，兩位朋友的職業(yè)生涯也在同一年結(jié)束--費(fèi)舍爾最后一次公開露面是在1954年，也就是富特文格勒去世的那一年。"把他培養(yǎng)成一個(gè)音樂天才是多么容易，但我并不想這樣，"費(fèi)舍爾夫人經(jīng)常回憶說。她兒子的天賦很早就顯現(xiàn)出來了；當(dāng)他的父母在演奏四手聯(lián)彈時(shí)，還在蹣跚學(xué)步的小埃德溫走過來，聽著，敲著一個(gè)鍵，并宣布 "這是G"。在第一年里，費(fèi)舍爾的母親超級關(guān)注她兒子的音樂教育，他開始學(xué)習(xí)鋼琴時(shí)只有四歲；她對他的技術(shù)進(jìn)行了毫不留情的批評。1896年，費(fèi)舍爾進(jìn)入巴塞爾音樂學(xué)院，在那里他跟隨漢斯-胡貝爾學(xué)習(xí)。1904年他的父親去世后，他的母親帶他到柏林進(jìn)一步學(xué)習(xí)。在那里，費(fèi)舍爾在斯特恩音樂學(xué)院跟隨馬丁-克勞斯學(xué)習(xí)，他是李斯特最后的學(xué)生之一。在他教學(xué)生涯的早期，費(fèi)舍爾有一個(gè)經(jīng)歷，他永遠(yuǎn)不會忘記："有一天，一個(gè)來自智利的年輕人來到這里。他想為我演奏。我問他能彈什么。他用年輕的坦率回答說：'你想聽什么？我知道所有的巴赫作品'。在聽了他幾分鐘的演奏后，我對這個(gè)七歲孩子的獨(dú)特才能留下了深刻印象。后來，這個(gè)奇才成為世界著名的鋼琴家--克勞迪奧-阿勞。"

費(fèi)魯基奧-布索尼是給費(fèi)舍爾留下最深刻印象的鋼琴家。當(dāng)費(fèi)舍爾問他關(guān)于他的音色制作時(shí)，布索尼回答說。"我有一個(gè)秘訣：當(dāng)我彈奏中強(qiáng)時(shí)，其他必須要敲擊（？ When I play mezzoforte, others have to pound.）。菲舍爾可能是唯一一位發(fā)展出類似音質(zhì)的鋼琴家--無縫的連奏和有感染力的極弱音融為一體。埃德溫-費(fèi)舍爾在公開場合演奏的第一首協(xié)奏曲是歐根-德-阿爾伯特的第二首協(xié)奏曲（作品12，E調(diào)）。D'Albert對他留下了深刻的印象，他要求費(fèi)舍爾代替他為他的第二任妻子，歌手Hermine Finck做伴奏。到1916年，費(fèi)舍爾已經(jīng)獲得了相當(dāng)大的知名度；他舉辦了許多獨(dú)奏會，并被尼基什、魏因加特納、比徹姆、瓦爾特、門格爾伯格，當(dāng)然還有富特文格勒聘為合作獨(dú)奏家。然而，費(fèi)舍爾也將其職業(yè)生涯的很大一部分時(shí)間用于指揮，包括從鍵盤上演奏協(xié)奏曲。鋼琴家Elly Ney（1882-1968）在其職業(yè)生涯晚期曾說："當(dāng)我這些天在呂貝克演奏時(shí)，我想起了在這個(gè)歷史悠久的小鎮(zhèn)上，富特文格勒、赫爾曼-阿本德洛特和埃德溫-費(fèi)舍爾的精彩演出。在費(fèi)舍爾的指導(dǎo)下，我演奏了勃拉姆斯第二鋼琴協(xié)奏曲；后來，費(fèi)舍爾和我一起演奏了巴赫的兩首鋼琴協(xié)奏曲--這是一次難忘的經(jīng)歷。"20世紀(jì)30年代有幾個(gè)著名的室內(nèi)樂團(tuán)，但埃德溫-費(fèi)舍爾的室內(nèi)樂團(tuán)表現(xiàn)出一種獨(dú)特和特別出色的音樂風(fēng)格。他繼續(xù)著從鍵盤上指揮協(xié)奏曲的做法，并錄制了莫扎特和巴赫協(xié)奏曲的唱片，至今仍在印刷。費(fèi)舍爾樂團(tuán)的首席中提琴手魯?shù)婪?內(nèi)爾（Rudolf Nel）饒有興致地回憶起一件特別有說服力的軼事，它顯示了費(fèi)舍爾和他的樂團(tuán)之間的密切關(guān)系："在那次巡演中，安排了幾首莫扎特協(xié)奏曲，在不同的音樂會上交替進(jìn)行。有一次，埃德溫-費(fèi)舍爾演奏了不同協(xié)奏曲的第二主題。當(dāng)他意識到自己的錯(cuò)誤時(shí)，他嚇了一跳，他的命運(yùn)掌握在上帝手中。然后，當(dāng)他聽到樂隊(duì)以同樣的'假'主題進(jìn)入時(shí)，他的藍(lán)眼睛閃閃發(fā)光。在快板中，費(fèi)舍爾以如此復(fù)雜的方式沉湎于此，即使是最敏銳的評論家也無法分辨到底發(fā)生了什么。"

我們可以從埃德溫-菲舍爾演奏的莫扎特D小調(diào)協(xié)奏曲K.466中感受到他的權(quán)威性演奏和指揮。莫扎特在1785年的最初幾個(gè)月里工作過度，這可能是他沒有為這首協(xié)奏曲寫華彩的原因。貝多芬為第一和最后一個(gè)樂章寫了伴奏，但在這張唱片中，埃德溫-費(fèi)舍爾演奏了他自己的伴奏；這些伴奏相對克制，費(fèi)舍爾只限于對各種主題的幻想。

菲舍爾對 "皇帝 "的演奏充滿了活力，其興奮程度只能用他對貝多芬的理想的完全投入來解釋。他認(rèn)為，鋼琴家的身體構(gòu)成和對特定種類音樂的偏愛是相關(guān)的。正如他所說："具有某種特殊體質(zhì)的演奏家最適合演奏具有類似體質(zhì)的作曲家的作品。例如，手指粗大的人注定要演奏類似體格的作曲家的作品，而高大、長指、有筋骨的演奏者同樣是類似體格的作曲家作品的最佳詮釋者......因此，貝多芬和勃拉姆斯的演奏者，魯賓斯坦和德阿爾貝，是手指粗大的類型，而李斯特和科爾托是肖邦的卓越演奏者。(從根本上說，這是一個(gè)觸覺問題；擁有柔軟、松弛的手和厚厚的指墊的作曲家創(chuàng)作出 "厚重 "的音樂。作曲家是為自己而創(chuàng)作的。他們不自覺地利用自己的特質(zhì)，需要同類的精神來解釋他們的作品）。李斯特的鋼琴技術(shù)來自于能夠廣泛伸展的長指之手。正是由于這個(gè)原因，布索尼和紹爾是李斯特的偉大詮釋者。貝多芬更多的是屬于粗壯型，他的音樂需要寬廣、飽滿、歌唱性的音色。但他不僅是寬廣型。當(dāng)人們在波恩的貝多芬故居檢查貝多芬手的石膏模型時(shí)，人們會對其手指的細(xì)長感到驚訝。"

埃德溫-費(fèi)舍爾是那種 "粗大型"。他在鋼琴前的一張照片顯示他有一雙肉乎乎的手，手指很粗。在關(guān)于演奏貝多芬奏鳴曲的一些一般性意見中，菲舍爾透露了他對這一哲學(xué)的承諾。解釋者有兩條危險(xiǎn)的道路：一條是用貝多芬的語言來表達(dá)自己的激情；另一條是演奏者一味地復(fù)制樂譜上的音符和指示......人們可以給出的最有用的建議是："愛他和他的作品，你就會得到他的幫助。愛他和他的作品，你將不可避免地成為他的仆人和解釋者，但仍然是你自己。你的能量、你的溫暖和你的愛將在人們的心中點(diǎn)燃他的能量、他的精神和他的愛，并使他們在其中發(fā)光。"

菲舍爾的舒伯特即興曲的無以倫比的錄音之所以存在，是因?yàn)楫?dāng)時(shí)HMV指定的舒伯特專家阿圖爾-施納貝爾不在身邊；施納貝爾在1937-38年間在美國進(jìn)行了巡回演出。1938年3月12日，在費(fèi)舍爾完成錄制《即興曲》的三天后，希特勒吞并了奧地利。施納貝爾留在了美國，直到二戰(zhàn)結(jié)束后才回到歐洲。在第二首即興曲（降E調(diào)）中，埃德溫-菲舍爾實(shí)現(xiàn)了驚人的連音，以及對中間部分的戲劇性處理。

莫扎特C小調(diào)幻想曲，K.475（1785）為我們展現(xiàn)了莫扎特強(qiáng)大的即興創(chuàng)作能力。埃德溫-費(fèi)舍爾對結(jié)構(gòu)元素的把握隨處可見，他擁有將這一音樂帶入生活所需的敏感觸覺和精致的樂句。

出版商Cranz給貝多芬的學(xué)生車爾尼在1838年為這首四手聯(lián)彈奏鳴曲所作的改編起了一個(gè)標(biāo)題："熱情"。菲舍爾的評論再次為演奏者提供了寶貴的建議?！盁崆?#34;是奏鳴曲歷史上的一個(gè)高峰......找到正確的節(jié)奏是很重要的。每一個(gè)音符都很重要，因此與整體相關(guān)；任何不明確的地方都會導(dǎo)致最嚴(yán)重的解釋錯(cuò)誤。節(jié)奏不應(yīng)成為演奏者有時(shí)被標(biāo)題所引導(dǎo)的那種競賽......" 菲舍爾自己的演奏充滿了戲劇性的強(qiáng)度和情感的狂熱。

貝多芬的降A(chǔ)大調(diào)奏鳴曲，作品110，是他最親密的冥想曲之一，（完成于1821年12月25日）是他后期三部曲的中間作品，其中還包括E大調(diào)作品109和C小調(diào)作品111。貝多芬在他最后的歲月里廣泛地運(yùn)用了賦格和變奏形式。第一樂章的溫柔抒情之后，是晚期小品風(fēng)格的樂章。據(jù)阿爾弗雷德-布倫德爾說："它的反復(fù)無常很古怪，重音變化頻繁，開始和停止很突然。”第三樂章是受難曲式的音樂——一個(gè)巴洛克形式的綜合體，其中詠嘆調(diào)和賦格曲交織在一起"。(各部分安排如下：（1）宣敘調(diào)，（2）悲嘆之歌，（3）賦格，（4）悲嘆之歌的再現(xiàn)（"疲憊地哀嘆"），（5）賦格的倒置，（6）降A(chǔ)大調(diào)的同音結(jié)尾）。[有趣的是，"悲嘆之歌 "與巴赫的《約翰受難曲》中的詠嘆調(diào) "結(jié)束了 "有相似之處。］ 菲舍爾在這一樂章中發(fā)揮了他巨大的內(nèi)省能力。喬治-凱勒是巨著《音樂會上的鋼琴》（稻草人出版社，1982年）的作者，曾在薩爾茨堡與費(fèi)舍爾一起學(xué)習(xí)；他在關(guān)于費(fèi)舍爾的獨(dú)奏會的章節(jié)中寫道。"埃德溫-菲舍爾是巴赫、莫扎特和貝多芬鋼琴音樂的最佳演奏者之一。他的解釋的特點(diǎn)是對文本的深刻尊重，他有能力將自己淹沒在他所演奏的作品中，以及他的表達(dá)的深度和純度。除了他的演奏和作曲之外，沒有什么能比他的《音樂感言（Thoughts on Music）》中的這段話更清楚地揭示他的態(tài)度了："但是，如果一個(gè)人的整個(gè)生命不是為了調(diào)和偉大的思想和高尚的情感，那么最艱苦的研究、最真實(shí)的天賦、最艱苦的努力都是不夠的。每一個(gè)行動，甚至每一個(gè)思想，都會在人格上留下印記。每一個(gè)行動，甚至是最微不足道的行動，都必須注入正直的力量。