Jansen Janine

"Jansen is a completely winning soloist, with consistently lovely sound, a superb technique that is always at the service of the music, and a rare instinct for how and when to build towards climaxes."

Janine Jansen releases her first concerto album in nine years, pairing the iconic Violin Concertos of Sibelius & Prokofiev. Janine is joined by Klaus Mäkelä and the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra for this album, forming the ultimate classical dream team. “The highlight of the program was the Sibelius Violin Concerto, in the hands of the Dutch Janine Jansen… Jansen and Mäkelä recorded this concert together last summer… and it promises to be a true reference, based on what was heard in Oslo.”

This unusual coupling works surprisingly well, God only knows why. Perhaps the Britten’s neo-classical (or Baroque) leanings and formal freedom sit well next to Beethoven’s echt-Classical language, but whatever the reason the performances of both works are extremely fine. Paavo Järvi’s expertise in Beethoven with the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen is by now well-known, and in Janine Jansen he has a soloist who matches him for vibrancy and freshness.

Eschewing its usual heavy orchestral sound in favor of a more stripped-down instrumentation, Dutch violinist Janine Jansen's second album offers a fresh interpretation of one of the most performed classical works, Vivaldi's The Four Seasons. The 2005 follow-up to her Barry Wordsworth-conducted debut, the subtle but passionate renditions of the "La Primavera," "L'estate," "L'autunno," and "L'inverno" concertos are performed with a sparse, eight-piece ensemble including Lithuanian violinist Julian Rachlin, her cellist brother Maarten, and harpsichordist father Jan.

Given how often these chamber works by John Harbison are played in concert, it is somewhat surprising that this is the first CD to offer them on one program. At once highly abstract, completely accessible, and intensely personal, Variations and Twilight Music were written in the 1980s and have become classics in their own right, fitting comfortably alongside the likes of Bartók’s Contrasts and Brahms’ and Ligeti’s respective Horn Trios. Although both pieces on this recording were taken from live performances by the fine members of Spectrum Concerts Berlin, the sound is not compromised in the slightest.

Janine Jansen embarks on a journey recording on 12 of the world's most precious instruments. "All 12 violins are by the master Italian luthier Antonio Stradivari and have been played by an encyclopedic list of great violinists. Each of them has its own distinctive sound and character which violinists normally have months, if not years, to respond to and make their own. Jansen had only a matter of days with these violins before going into the recording studio accompanied by Sir Antonio Pappano.

"Beau Soir" - named after Debussy's evocation of evening - takes us from dusk to the moonlit night, from lullabies into sleep, from dreams to awakening and recollection. Popular classics such as Faure's Berceuse and Apr s un r ve and Debussy's Claire de lune are contrasted with three substantial works; sonatas by Debussy and Ravel, and Messiaen's Theme and Variations. The album also includes three new works by the widely admired contemporary Swiss composer Richard Dubugnon, whose violin concerto Janine Jansen premiered in Paris in 2008.

Dutch violinist Janine Jansen has made some unorthodox recordings (check out her Vivaldi Four Seasons sometime), but here, in a work in which proportion and technique are exquisitely balanced, she plays it straight with impressive results. Prokofiev's Violin Concerto No. 2, composed in 1935 just before his return to the Soviet Union from France, has always been a popular repertory item, but Jansen's reading, ably accompanied by the London Philharmonic Orchestra under Vladimir Jurowski, has a pearly quality throughout, a kind of bright ease, that comes only at the highest levels of technique.

Janine Jansen, Joris van Rijn & Benjamin Schmid - 24 Capriccios for Violin from The Netherlands (2002) {2CD NM Classics 92120}
XLD rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 541 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 273 Mb
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© 2002 NM Classics | 92120
Classical / Contemporary Classical / Chamber Music / Violin

In 1998, the Rotterdam Arts Foundation commissioned 24 Dutch composers to write short works, or "capriccios", for solo violin, clearly with the idea of being a modern counterpart to the 24 caprices of Paganini. The one main rule was to compose acoustically, i.e. no use of electronics/remixing, overdubbing, or other outside means of sound besides the violin on its own and the violinist on her/his own. The Dutch music publishing house Donemus published these works in a single collected volume in 1999. All of these works received their premieres that same year at the International Gaudeamus Interpreters' Competition, which centered on the violin that year.