寫給恩師的一封信：歐索金斯解讀皮亞爾特鋼琴作品

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　　九十歲的愛沙尼亞作曲家皮亞爾特（Arvo Pärt），擅長以簡約的語言說出最深刻的音樂。他的音樂既屬於信仰，也屬於人類共同的靈魂風景。在帕佛‧賈維（Paavo Järvi）帶領愛沙尼亞節慶管弦樂團錄製《信經》專輯，向這位從小就熟識的「酷阿伯」致敬的同時，另一位來自波羅的海國家拉脫維亞的鋼琴家歐索金斯（Georgijs Osokins），也以自己的方式向皮亞爾特的精神宇宙獻上自己的解讀。

　　《給阿爾沃》（For Arvo）收錄皮亞爾特所有鋼琴作品，並加入歐索金斯親自改編的《兄弟們》（Fratres）與《哀歌》（Lamentate）樂章〈脆弱而和解〉（Fragile e conciliante）等作品。

　　一九九五年出生於里加的歐索金斯出身音樂世家。父親謝爾蓋‧歐索金斯（Sergejs Osokins）是拉脫維亞知名鋼琴家與教育家，長年任教於曾經培養出楊頌斯（Mariss Jansons）、克萊曼（Mariss Jansons）、尼爾森斯（Andris Nelsons）的達爾津音樂學校（Emīla Dārziņa mūzikas vidusskola）與拉脫維亞音樂學院。再加上活躍於歐洲舞台的職業鋼琴家，也就是他的兄長安德烈‧歐索金斯（Andrejs Osokins），三人被合稱「三歐索金斯」（The Three Osokins）。父親謝爾蓋注重啟發式教學，強調思考與音樂直覺更勝於炫示技巧。哥哥安德烈形容：「父親讓我們知道，每次彈奏都像重新認識作品。」弟弟格歐爾吉斯則說：「父親的原則是，在每個學生、每個作品裡找到新的靈感。」這樣的家學，讓歐索金斯自小在理性與感性之間保持平衡，也使他對皮亞爾特音樂中的靜默、光與靈性，有著自然的共鳴。

　　歐索金斯很早就喜歡上皮亞爾特簡約卻深刻的「鐘鳴」（tintinnabuli）風格。回想第一次彈奏《給阿麗娜》（Für Alina）時，那種「每個音符如鐘聲般迴盪」的體驗，讓他視皮亞爾特為「靈魂的鏡子」，從而影響他對鋼琴詮釋的哲學，也就是強調內在張力而非技術炫耀。多年後，歐索金斯在塔林近郊的皮亞爾特中心（Arvo Pärt Centre）與作曲家本人及其家族相識，也透過長年合作的小提琴家克萊曼，進一步理解皮亞爾特音樂中的精神性。「與他相處，會發現皮亞爾特是一位極為謙遜甚至害羞的人，他從不談自己如何影響世界。可是他的音樂，尤其那份精神層面的靜默，改變了我們看待聲音與時間的態度。」

　　對歐索金斯而言，皮亞爾特的音樂「關於簡單、關於美，也關於光」。那並非甜美或感傷的光，而是一種在寂靜中閃爍的明亮，照見靈魂深處的誠實。他說：「皮亞爾特教我們擁抱每一個音符，理解沉默的意義。對他而言，沉默有千種面貌。」同時，他認為皮亞爾特對當代作曲界的影響更不限於音樂語言，而是一種倫理與態度。「許多人試圖模仿他的風格，卻忽略那份內在的張力。皮亞爾特的音樂看似簡單，其實充滿矛盾與掙扎；它讓你真誠的面對自己。」因此這張《給阿爾沃》不僅是致敬，也是一場很個人化的精神對話。他稱之為「寫給恩師的一封信」，以鋼琴語言重新詮解皮亞爾特的世界。

　　《給阿爾沃》的構想並不是臨時起意，而是長年對皮亞爾特音樂思考後的自然延伸。「我覺得從鋼琴這個角度去看他的創作，會是一件有趣的事。」歐索金斯說。「我們熟悉皮亞爾特的合唱或是管弦樂曲。他的鋼琴作品雖然不多，卻幾乎涵蓋所有的創作階段。」

　　專輯以時間為軸，串連起皮亞爾特從前衛到鐘鳴風格的轉變。從早期的《小奏鳴曲》（Sonatinas Nos. 1 & 2）與《組曲》（Partita），到首部鐘鳴風格作品《給阿麗娜》，再到歐索金斯親自改編的《兄弟們》與《哀歌》樂章〈脆弱而和解〉。其中，《等距》（Pari intervallo）與《獻給偉大城市的讚歌》（Hymn to a Great City）在專輯中以全新的聲響設計與詮釋方式呈現，展現歐索金斯對音色與空間感的重新想像。錄音使用一架百年歷史的「藍色史坦威」（Blue Steinway），這架鋼琴屬於漢堡交響樂團，聲音溫潤而清澈。歐索金斯形容它「像會說話的古老靈魂」，能在每一次敲擊中保留微妙的金屬共鳴，呼應皮亞爾特音樂裡那種「鐘鳴的回聲」。

　　在皮亞爾特的音樂裡，簡單從不等於容易。歐索金斯說：「在舞台上演奏他的作品時，感覺上幾乎是赤裸的。沒有和聲的遮蔽，也沒有炫技的掩護。每一個音符都要求完全的真誠。」他稱之為一種「催眠的張力」：要在整首曲子中維持純淨的能量，既克制又專注。任何過度的表現或刻意的情緒，都會讓音樂變得「化學化」，失去它的自然與靈性。

　　「他的音樂像一面鏡子。若你試圖在裡面加上太多自己，反而會破壞它的平衡。最困難的，是讓音樂自然發生。」這個極簡但是深邃的信念，也讓歐索金斯重新思考鋼琴的本質。「它不是為了展示，而是為了聆聽。當音符響起的那一刻，時間也開始呼吸。」

　　為了這張專輯，歐索金斯特別拍攝一支影像作品，在立陶宛的伊格納利納核電廠（Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant）。這座反應爐與車諾比結構幾乎相同，早已停機多年，預計要到二○三○年左右才會完全除役。影片中，歐索金斯在距離反應爐不到百公尺的廢棄廠區彈奏《哀歌：脆弱而和解》，畫面交錯著鋼鐵與自然、力量與脆弱。皮亞爾特本人曾說，《哀歌》是「為生者而作的哀歌」。它不是哀悼死亡，而是面對生存本身的痛苦與掙扎。歐索金斯將這段音樂化作一場關於人性與信仰的思索：「這部影片談的是力量與脆弱、希望與毀滅。我們生活在一個人類創造出毀滅工具的時代，音樂讓我們重新看見責任與愛。」影片結合了三個波羅的海國家的象徵：愛沙尼亞的作曲家皮亞爾特、拉脫維亞的鋼琴家歐索金斯、立陶宛的拍攝場景與自然。歐索金斯把這支影片視為三個國家對自然、靈魂與尊重世界的祈禱。

　　在皮亞爾特九十歲這一年，來自波羅的海三國的音樂家以不同方式回望他所開啟的思想道路。帕佛‧賈維以《信經》專輯重現信念的起點，歐索金斯則從鋼琴的角度重新詮釋「鐘鳴」的語言。兩人之間隔著一代，卻共享同一種對音樂真誠的態度；也就是相信在最少的音符裡，仍能看見思想與靈魂的光。這或許正是皮亞爾特音樂最恆久的啟示。


At ninety, Estonian composer Arvo Pärt continues to express the deepest truths with the fewest notes. His music belongs not only to faith but to a shared landscape of the human soul. While Paavo Järvi and the Estonian Festival Orchestra record the album "Credo" as a tribute to the "cool uncle" the conductor has known since childhood, another musician from the Baltic world, Latvian pianist Georgijs Osokins, offers his own interpretation of Pärt’s spiritual universe.

"For Arvo" gathers all of Pärt’s solo piano works and adds Osokins’s own transcriptions of "Fratres" and the movement "Fragile e conciliante" from "Lamentate".

Born in Riga in 1995, Osokins grew up in a family of musicians. His father Sergejs Osokins, a well-known Latvian pianist and pedagogue, has long taught at the Emīla Dārziņa mūzikas vidusskola - the same school that trained conductors Mariss Jansons, Gidon Kremer, and Andris Nelsons - as well as at the Latvian Academy of Music. Together with his brother, concert pianist Andrejs Osokins, the family is affectionately known as "The Three Osokins".

Sergejs emphasizes an intuitive, reflective approach rather than the pursuit of brilliance. "Our father taught us that every time you play, you rediscover the work", says Andrejs. "His principle", adds Georgijs, "is to find new inspiration in every student and in every score." Such a home environment trained Osokins to balance reason and emotion - and to respond instinctively to the silence, light, and spirituality within Pärt’s music.

Osokins was drawn early to Pärt’s distinctive "tintinnabuli" style - music of apparent simplicity yet deep resonance. Remembering his first encounter with "Für Alina", he recalls the feeling that "each note reverberates like a bell." For him, Pärt became "a mirror of the soul", shaping his own philosophy of piano playing - an art of inner tension rather than outward display. Years later, at the Arvo Pärt Centre near Tallinn, he met the composer and his family, and through violinist Gidon Kremer, a long-time collaborator of Pärt, he deepened his understanding of the composer’s spiritual language.

"Being with him", Osokins says, "you realize that Pärt is an extremely modest, even shy man. He never speaks about how he has influenced the world. But his music - and especially its spiritual silence - changes the way we perceive sound and time."

For Osokins, Pärt’s music "is about simplicity, about beauty, and about light." That light is neither sentimental nor sweet; it is a brightness that flickers within stillness, illuminating honesty in the depths of the soul. "Pärt teaches us to embrace every note and to understand the meaning of silence. For him, silence has a thousand faces." He also believes that Pärt’s impact on contemporary composers extends beyond musical language to a kind of moral stance. "Many try to imitate his style but forget the inner tension. Pärt’s music looks simple, yet it is full of contradictions and struggle - it forces you to face yourself honestly."

For this reason, "For Arvo" is not only an act of homage but also a personal spiritual dialogue - a "letter to a mentor", as Osokins calls it, written in the language of the piano.

The album was not conceived on impulse but grew naturally from years of reflection on Pärt’s music. "I thought it would be fascinating to look at his work through the prism of the piano", says Osokins. "We usually know him for his choral and orchestral pieces. His piano output is small, yet it spans every stage of his development."

Structured along a chronological arc, "For Arvo" traces Pärt’s evolution from avant-garde experiment to the meditative voice of "tintinnabuli": from the early "Sonatinas Nos. 1 & 2" and "Partita", to his first "tintinnabuli" work "Für Alina", and onward to Osokins’s own piano transcriptions of "Fratres" and "Lamentate: Fragile e conciliante".
"Pari intervallo" and "Hymn to a Great City" are presented in newly conceived sonorities and spatial designs, revealing Osokins’s sensitivity to timbre and resonance. The recording was made on a century-old "Blue Steinway" belonging to the Hamburg Symphony Orchestra - an instrument whose mellow clarity, he says, "is like an ancient soul that can speak", preserving in every keystroke the subtle metallic overtones that echo the "ringing of bells" in Pärt’s music.

In Pärt’s world, simplicity is never easy. "On stage", Osokins explains, "you feel almost naked. There’s no harmony to hide behind, no virtuosity to protect you. Every note demands absolute honesty." He calls it a kind of "hypnotic tension" - the challenge of sustaining pure energy through an entire piece, with restraint and concentration. "Any excess emotion or deliberate effect makes the music ‘chemical’ - unnatural."

"His music is like a mirror", he continues. "If you try to put too much of yourself into it, you disturb its balance. The hardest thing is to let the music happen naturally." This belief, austere yet profound, has led him to rethink the essence of the piano itself: "It isn’t for display - it’s for listening. The moment a note sounds, time begins to breathe."

For the album, Osokins also created a film shot inside the Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant in Lithuania - a facility nearly identical in design to Chernobyl’s, now long decommissioned and not due for full dismantling until around 2030. In the film, he performs "Lamentate: Fragile e conciliante" less than a hundred meters from the reactor’s shell, amid abandoned structures of steel and concrete. The imagery alternates between metal and nature, power and fragility.

As Pärt once said, "Lamentate" is "a Lamento for the living, not for the dead." It is not a requiem for loss but a meditation on the suffering and struggle of existence itself. "This video", Osokins explains, "is about strength and fragility, hope and destruction. We live in an age when humanity has created tools of annihilation; music reminds us of responsibility and love."
The film unites the three Baltic nations symbolically - Estonian composer Pärt, Latvian pianist Osokins, and Lithuanian landscape and light. To Osokins, it represents "a prayer from all three countries - for nature, for the soul, and for respect toward the world."

In this year of Pärt’s ninetieth birthday, musicians across the Baltic Sea have found their own ways to retrace the path he opened. Paavo Järvi’s "Credo" album revisits the origins of faith; Georgijs Osokins, through the piano, reimagines the language of "tintinnabuli". A generation apart, they share the same integrity of approach - the conviction that even within the fewest notes, one can still glimpse the light of thought and spirit. That, perhaps, is the most enduring revelation of Arvo Pärt’s music.

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