Duet 二重奏

喬治-本雅明（George Benjamin）為 2008 年盧塞恩音樂節創作的鋼琴與管弦樂隊二重奏雖然只有短短 12 分鐘，但其表現力和情感效果卻達到了極致。在這首作品中，本雅明成功地跨越了獨奏者與樂隊之間的鴻溝，找到了兩者之間的契合點，特別是將鋼琴劃分為幾個不同的音域，與樂隊中的音色對應。與此同時，鋼琴在管弦樂中仍然是一個陌生的形象，它經常在樂器的紋理中獨立前行，而管弦樂似乎有意忽略了它的存在。管弦樂隊的編制有所縮減，尤其是沒有了小提琴。鋼琴的近親--調諧打擊樂，尤其是豎琴，在一定程度上得到了突出。這首二重奏以欽佩和感激之情獻給皮埃爾-洛朗-艾瑪爾，他是本傑明在巴黎學習初期就結識的朋友

作曲家: Benjamin, George
樂器: Piano, Orchestra
出版社: Faber Music
原文簡介:
Commissioned by Roche for the 2008 Lucerne Festival, George Benjamin’s Duet for piano and orchestra plays for just 12 minutes, but its expressive and emotional effects are on the largest scale. In the piece Benjamin succeeds in crossing the divide between the soloist and the orchestra by finding compatible areas between them, specifically by dividing the piano into a few distinct registers with timbral equivalents in the orchestra. At the same time the piano remains an alien figure in the orchestral landscape and often treads an independent path through instrumental textures that can seem intentionally oblivious of it. The orchestra employed is somewhat reduced, above all by the absence of violins. A certain prominence is given to the piano's nearest relatives in tuned percussion and, especially, the harp. This Duet is dedicated with admiration and gratitude to Pierre-Laurent Aimard, Benjamin’s friend since the earliest days of his studies in Paris. ‘Benjamin’s Duet sounds like no other piece he has ever written – and no other piano concerto in the repertoire. Its premiere revealed music of startling concentration… Most strikingly of all, in the centre of the work, Benjamin writes music of stark intensity, distilled to its essentials: individual notes and chords in the piano part and ghostly flickers of string writing, with staccato tremors in the cellos and harmonics in the violas. There was a physical sense of the music being wrenched into another dimension.’ The Guardian (Tom Service), 2 September 2008