Vivaldi: The Four Seasons
CD 475 6418
SACD 475 6195
Buylinks
» iTunes USA (with bonus tracks)
» iTunes UK (with bonus tracks)
» iTunes NL
» iTunes DE
Artists
Janine Jansen (Violin)
Tracklist
Concerto No. 1 "La primavera". RV269 (Spring)
Movt 1 Allegro
Movt 2 Largo
Movt 3 Allegro
Concerto No.2 "L’estate", RV315 (Summer)
Movt 1 Allegro non molto
Movt 2 Adagio - Presto
Movt 3 Presto
Concerto No.3 "L'autunno" RV293 (Autumn)
Movt 1 Allegro
Movt 2 Adagio molto
Movt 3 Allegro
Concerto No.4 "L’inverno", RV297 (Winter)
Movt 1 Allegro non molto
Movt 2 Largo
Movt 3 Allegro
About the Album
‘Music is, just like nature, surprising, inexhaustible, endless and breathtaking. It is by far my largest source of inspiration.’ So says Janine Jansen, the brilliant young Dutch violinist whose first disc for Decca has taken the music world by storm. ‘For me making music is a way to express my feelings and that is why I approach every piece as freshly and spontaneously as possible. While trying to be faithful to each score, emotion and passion are very important to me in a performance. Technique has to be there, of course, but it should never be the main thing. I have always felt that a concert performed with deep engagement of the artist, even with some risk, and a wrong note played but with the right intention, is much to be preferred than the right note performed with no soul.’
There’s not much chance of soul lacking in a Janine Jansen performance, however. After she performed the Tchaikovsky Concerto with conductor Vladimir Ashkenazy, he said, ‘I think she is one of the most wonderful and harmonious talents I have come across in the last couple of decades. In my opinion this young woman has everything – complete mastery of the instrument, warmth and understanding, and an uninhibited power of communication.’ And in The Guardian Tom Service wrote of the same performance, ‘Her complete command of the technical difficulties of the score was matched by her musical insight.’
For her latest disc, Janine Jansen turns her attention to one of the most popular works ever written for the violin: The Four Seasons by Vivaldi. But, in typical Jansen fashion, she has approached the performance in a fresh and intriguing new way. Usually the work is accompanied by a full size string orchestra, but Jansen has chosen to perform it in single orchestration - solo strings plus harpsichord, organ and theorbo - and she’s very enthusiastic about the result. ‘It feels fantastic to do it this way because it creates a wonderfully transparent sound,’ she says, ‘and it allows the musicians to be very flexible in colouring, dynamics and timing.’ The disc is also notable for the inclusion of a triptych of concertos by Vivaldi which are rarely heard together, and which have never been recorded as a group: Il sospetto (suspicion), L’inquietudine (anxiety) and Il riposo (rest.)
Why did she choose this approach? ‘It all started with an experiment I tried a few years ago. I began playing the Bach concertos with reduced orchestra, to see what it would sound like – and I found it worked extremely well. So I decided to give it a go with Vivaldi as well, and last year I toured the Netherlands playing The Four Seasons with solo accompaniment. The response from the public was fantastic, and it all gave me such a good feeling that I was keen to make a recording of it.’
The recording took place in Amsterdam in June 2004 at the Beurs van Berlage hall, a venue with special associations for Jansen. ‘I used to play there when I was studying at the Conservatory of Utrecht,’ she says. ‘So I really knew the acoustic of the hall well. Some people were a bit surprised at the choice as not many recordings have been made there, but it’s a wonderful, generous sound and I think it was perfect for what I was trying to do. And the Decca balance engineer Philip Siney did a fantastic job.’
The recording sessions were also a lot of fun. ‘Of course I thought long and hard about getting the right people to play in such a small ensemble, since I knew it had to be the right mix. The result is a superb group of players that includes my brother Maarten on the cello, and my father Jan on harpsichord. The recording itself was very intense, but very enjoyable too.’
Her father and brother aren’t the only musical members of Jansen’s family: her grandfather is a choirmaster and her uncle and mother are singers. With this background it’s hardly surprising that Janine began to show great promise at her chosen instrument from a very early age. She started having lessons at six, made her debut with the Netherlands Radio Symphony Orchestra when she was just 14, and since then she has performed all over the globe with some of the world’s greatest conductors and orchestras. And as if this weren’t enough, in 2003 she also founded her own chamber music festival in Utrecht.
It’s interesting to note that many of Jansen’s family are specialists in baroque music and authentic performance practice. ‘It was a huge part of my childhood,’ she recalls, ‘and I love listening to authentic performances of the baroque repertoire. But I also love my modern bow!’ On this recording she uses modern concert pitch and a modern bow, but period practice has influenced her style. ‘I love the style of performing of Ton Koopman and Frans Brüggen for example, but not necessarily on period instruments. I enjoy the freedom that the baroque style offers the performer, for example to improvise certain parts of the ornamentation. In the end it's just a question of taste: I try to find my own way of playing of this wonderfully rewarding music.’
Had she listened to a lot of recordings of The Four Seasons? ‘Yes, but I haven’t listened to anything for quite a while. I wanted to approach the piece with a clean slate, and not be too influenced by other people.’ And was she worried about tackling one of the most often-recorded pieces of music on the planet? ‘No, not really. If you start worrying about that, and what other people are doing, then it stops being music. I’m so grateful to be given the chance to record this wonderful piece.’
Does she enjoy recording? ‘Yes, I do – I find it very rewarding. But it’s also difficult. When you think that a moment of time will be held forever it can be scary. But the recording producer [Dominic Fyfe] was very helpful, and gave us lots of chances to do complete performances in whole takes. That way you can preserve the energy of the piece.’
Perhaps unsurprisingly for someone who has pared her Vivaldi orchestra down to solo string textures, chamber music plays an important role in Jansen’s life. ‘It’s such a big part of what I love,’ she says, ‘and such a big part of my life.’ In December 2003 she decided to set up her own international chamber music festival, a four-day affair in between Christmas and New Year, in Utrecht. She attracted musicians like cellist Mischa Maisky, pianist Itamar Golan and violinist Julian Rachlin (who plays viola on this Vivaldi recording). The whole festival was an enormous success, and there are plans to make it an annual event.
‘I believe Janine Jansen will soon be important on an international level,’ said Valery Gergiev in 2003 after conducting a concerto performance by Jansen. It seems his prophecy has come true sooner than even he could have expected.
