用大提琴重現「歌劇魂」：馮勇智《幻想曲》展現無畏與創意

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　　大提琴家王健是二○一九年柴科夫斯基大賽大提琴組的評審之一。在一次閒談中，我特意向他問起那一年的首獎得主馮勇智（Zlatomir Fung）。當時馮勇智的專輯《幻想曲》（Fantasies）剛出版，我聽了幾次，心裡有一些想法。王健的回應很簡短，但是很有力：「除了他，我不知道那年還有誰能拿金牌。」

　　馮勇智來自美國的一個移民家庭，雙親都是數學家，但都熱愛古典音樂，尤其是來自保加利亞的母親。她認為音樂是通識教育的一部分，因此家中的四個孩子都學習過弦樂器。馮勇智出生於一九九九年，三歲半開始跟隨一位鈴木教學法的老師學習大提琴，直到九歲；平常也會參與地區性的小型弦樂團演出。由於父母將學習樂器視為課外的「遊戲」活動，因此一開始每天的練習時間並不長，直到九歲進入波士頓新英格蘭音樂學院預備學校後才有所改變。

　　從十三歲起，馮勇智陸續參加音樂比賽，並被視為極具潛力的青年才俊。然而，隨著周遭期待帶來的壓力不斷增加，馮勇智開始質疑自己能否達到別人預期的標準。甚至曾有一段時間懷疑自己是否真心喜愛音樂，或只是為形勢使然。十五歲那年夏天，他哭著向亞斯本音樂節（Aspen Music Festival）的老師表示想放棄大提琴，他無法理解「把音樂當成職業」的意義。不過，隨著逐漸克服低潮，馮勇智明白這種掙扎是音樂家成長的一部分，並且學會把壓力轉化為成長的動力。二○一七年，馮勇智進入紐約茱麗亞音樂學院（Juilliard School）就讀。

　　馮勇智曾於二○一二年參加在瑞士舉行的柴科夫斯基青年音樂家大賽，當時獲得第二名。二○一九年二十歲時，他成功奪得第十六屆柴科夫斯基大賽大提琴組金牌，成為史上最年輕的大提琴首獎得主。儘管比賽結束約九個月後，全球爆發新冠肺炎疫情導致許多演出計畫被迫暫停，但大賽首獎的光環仍成為馮勇智音樂事業的「發射台」。二○二一年完成茱麗亞音樂學院學業後，馮勇智於二○二四年回到母校擔任大提琴教職人員，正式進入教學領域。

　　在新冠肺炎疫情封鎖期間，馮勇智靜下來重新思考與審視自己的演奏，並重拾少年時期的作曲興趣。青春期的馮勇智為大提琴寫了很多作品，雖然如今看來仍不成熟，但他相信演奏和作曲是相輔相成的，就像十九世紀的包佩（David Popper）或是塞爾韋（Adrien-François Servais）一樣。這些以前輩根據歌劇改編曲拓展大提琴表現力的音樂家，激發了馮勇智的創作靈感。

　　絕大部分大賽得獎人的首張專輯曲目都很保守，不是知名經典作品就是決賽時的協奏曲。馮勇智的第一張專輯竟然不是《洛可可主題變奏》或是蕭斯塔科維奇第二號大提琴協奏曲，而是一張包括十九世大提琴家前輩和自己根據歌劇名曲為大提琴創作的幻想曲集。像是塞爾韋運用等多樣技巧的《唐尼采第歌劇〈聯隊之花〉主題幻想與變奏曲》，展現大提琴抒情吟唱線條的威廉密（August Wilhelmj）《華格納歌劇〈紐倫堡的名歌手〉閃耀在玫瑰色曙光中》，強調大提琴中音域，以細緻音色變化，傳達深刻情感張力的布基尼克（Mikhail Bukinik）《柴科夫斯基〈葉甫格尼‧奧涅金〉連斯基詠嘆調》，以及自己根據楊納傑克歌劇寫成的《耶奴法幻想曲》（Fantasy on Jenůfa），希望再現楊納傑克作品特有的節奏風格，以及不規則重複的音樂語言，而非單純以炫技片段來堆疊結構。最後是委託同世的美國作曲家埃斯特林（Marshall Estrin）創作，融入法語台詞與肢體表演等戲劇元素，挑戰雙音、快速音階技巧的《卡門幻想曲》（Fantasia Carmèn）。光是這六首曲目選擇所散發出來的無畏、自信、主見與創造力，首先就讓我感到佩服！

　　馮勇智認為「歌劇幻想曲」這種盛行一時，但是現在已經鮮少演奏的樂曲形式，本身就充滿開放性和各種即興的可能，允許演奏者在不同角色與情緒間自由轉換、探索聲音語言的多樣性。因此他的演奏不追求絕對精準，而強調劇場般的現場感與表達的流動性，甚至在錄音中保留些微「不完美」，使作品更富動態與「人味 」。而這樣的演奏手法，也讓這些十九世紀作品在當代語境中幻化出新的樣貌，成為一種與當代聆聽者對話的手段。

　　整張專輯是一次對「幻想曲」的探索與再創造，呈現的不只是技巧與曲目，而是一場十九世紀沙龍跨越至當代舞台的聲響實驗。對一般聆聽者而言，這張專輯提供認識大提琴與歌劇音樂交集的可能性；對熟悉大提琴音樂的愛樂者而言，《幻想曲》則是一次兼具考古、創作與展現個人演奏視角的多元「策展」。

Cellist Jian Wang was one of the jurors for the cello division of the 2019 Tchaikovsky Competition. During a casual conversation, I specifically asked him about that year’s first-prize winner, Zlatomir Fung. At the time, Fung’s album Fantasies had just been released, and after listening to it a few times, I had some thoughts. Jian Wang’s response was brief but powerful: “Besides him, I don’t know who else could have won the gold that year.”

Zlatomir Fung was born into an immigrant family in the United States, with both parents being mathematicians who deeply loved classical music, especially his mother from Bulgaria. She viewed music as part of a well-rounded education, so all four children in the family learned string instruments. Born in 1999, Fung began studying the cello at three and a half under a Suzuki method teacher until he was nine. He also participated in local small string ensembles. Since his parents treated learning an instrument as an extracurricular “play” activity, his daily practice time was initially limited. This changed after he joined the New England Conservatory Preparatory School in Boston at age nine.

Starting at thirteen, Fung began entering music competitions and was seen as a highly promising young talent. However, as expectations from those around him grew, he started to question whether he could meet others’ standards. There was even a period when he doubted if he truly loved music or was simply following circumstances. At fifteen, during a summer at the Aspen Music Festival, he tearfully told his teacher he wanted to quit the cello, struggling to understand the meaning of “making music a career.” Over time, as he overcame this low point, Fung realized such struggles were part of a musician’s growth and learned to transform pressure into motivation. In 2017, he enrolled at The Juilliard School in New York.

Fung participated in the International Tchaikovsky Competition for Young Musicians in Switzerland in 2012, earning second place. At twenty, in 2019, he won the gold medal in the cello division of the 16th Tchaikovsky Competition, becoming the youngest cellist ever to achieve this. Although the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted many performance plans about nine months after the competition, the first-prize win became, in his words, “the launch pad for everything that I’m doing now” in his performing career. After graduating from Juilliard in 2021, Fung returned to his alma mater in 2024 as a cello faculty member, formally entering the teaching field.

During the COVID-19 lockdown, Fung took time to reflect and reassess his playing, reigniting his teenage interest in composition. As a young teen, he wrote many pieces for the cello, which he now considers immature but believes performing and composing go hand in hand, much like 19th-century cellist-composers such as David Popper or Adrien-François Servais. These predecessors, who expanded the cello’s expressive possibilities through operatic adaptations, inspired Fung’s creative process.
Most competition winners’ debut albums feature conservative choices, such as well-known classics or the concertos performed in finals. Fung’s first album, however, is not Tchaikovsky’s Rococo Variations or Shostakovich’s Cello Concerto No. 2 but a collection of operatic fantasies composed by 19th-century cellist predecessors and himself. These include Servais’s Fantaisie et Variations sur des motifs de l’opéra ‘La Fille du Régiment’ de Donizetti, which employs a variety of techniques; August Wilhelmj’s Walther’s Prize Song from Wagner’s Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, showcasing the cello’s lyrical singing lines; Mikhail Bukinik’s arrangement of Lensky’s Aria from Tchaikovsky’s Evgeny Onegin, emphasizing the cello’s mid-register with delicate tonal nuances to convey deep emotional tension; and Fung’s own Fantasy on Jenůfa, which aims to capture Janáček’s distinctive rhythmic style and irregular musical repetitions rather than merely stacking virtuosic passages. Finally, there is a commissioned work by contemporary American composer Marshall Estrin, Fantasia Carmèn, which incorporates French spoken lines and physical performance elements, challenging the cellist with double stops and rapid scale techniques. The boldness, confidence, originality, and creativity reflected in these six selections alone left me deeply impressed!

Fung believes that the “operatic fantasy”, a once-popular but now rarely performed genre, is inherently open and full of improvisational possibilities, allowing performers to freely switch between roles and emotions while exploring the diversity of musical expression. Thus, his playing does not pursue absolute precision but emphasizes a theatrical sense of presence and fluid expression, even retaining slight “imperfections” in the recording to make the works more dynamic and human. This approach breathes new life into these 19th-century pieces within a modern context, serving as a means to connect with contemporary listeners.

The entire album is an exploration and reinvention of the “fantasy” genre, presenting not just technique and repertoire but a sonic experiment bridging 19th-century salons to today’s stages. For general listeners, this album offers a chance to discover the intersection of cello and operatic music. For those familiar with cello repertoire, Fantasies is a multifaceted “curatorial” endeavor combining historical rediscovery, original creation, and a unique performance perspective.

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