All But Love

1, 2, 2+CA, 2+BCl, 2+CBsn

4, 3, 3 (2 Tenor, 1 Bass), 1

1 (5 heads), 2

Percussion 1:

Glockenspiel, Crotales [2 octaves], Cymbals [pair], Suspended Cymbal [with brighter tone]

Percussion 2:

Vibraphone, Suspended Cymbal [low, not bright], Tam-tam [large], Triangle [bright, heavy overtones], Bass Drum

Harp

14, 12, 10, 8, 6 (the number of musicians are exact)

Drawing on several motives from the Ring, such as the signature interval of Hagen and the lyrical melodic flow of ‘Brünnhilde in Love’, the orchestra flows in different speed in thick texture, developing vast number of sonorities. ‘You first lost in time’, as said by Sue Elliott at the symposium, in which Wagner artfully crafted for the audience to immerse in the world of Wagnerian Opera, the music flows in no tempo and nostagia. The first few chordal sounds from the Götterdämmerung unweaves into lines of woodwind melodic shapes.

The dissonant Hagen motif, symbolizing dark forces, interferes and hence begins their rivalry. The first halt is marked by a short appearance of a fixed tonality at a relaxed atmosphere by the woodwinds, not long before it is again taken up by rapid variants of the Rhine motif by the strings, the music suddenly runs into a fast wind, and the Hagen motif struggles with its consonant version.

At last the music burst into joy and ecstasy, leading to the highest climax. The music ends with sublimation of all feelings and senses, all into the empty perfect fifth that represents the void of love that Hagen’s motif resolves into.

這首小品可以為音樂會打開序幕。作品意念來自上面1852年原來華格納為《指環》寫下的結尾。這作品著意表現華格納所述的愛情的力量。

作品使用了幾個來自《指環》的音樂動機來發展出樂團豐厚的織體，例如代表哈根的減五度音程和代表墮入愛河的布倫曉特的悠揚旋律。還記得艾略特在港樂為《諸神的黃昏》舉辦的研討會上提出華格納的歌劇音樂之所以不令人覺得冗長，是因為他寫的音樂令人感受不了速度，迷失在「他的時間」裡面。作品以此形象開始，並隱約聽到《諸神的黃昏》開首的和聲，緩緩地融和至木管樂的旋律線條之中。不久後，象徵黑暗的哈根動機突進，並與優美的旋律展開追逐，直至第一個暫時的歇息。音樂於一個較為穩固的調性中心稍微舒緩了。很快萊茵河動機的變體在弦樂中急速膨脹成一陣亂風，黑暗（哈根動機）和它和諧的變體抗爭，最後在狂喜中達至高潮部分。樂曲在一片聲音中蒸發，剩下一個純五度。拿掉所有感官和感情後，留下空洞的愛。