Vivaldi: The Four Seasons Janine Jansen

• 1 1. Allegro 03:20
• 2 2. Largo 02:23
• 3 3. Allegro 03:55
• 4 1. Allegro non molto 05:15
• 5 2. Adagio - Presto 02:12
• 6 3. Presto 02:42
• 7 1. Allegro 05:02
• 8 2. Adagio molto 02:45
• 9 3. Allegro 03:12
• 10 1. Allegro non molto 03:00
• 11 2. Largo 01:33
• 12 3. Allegro 03:16
• Total Runtime 38:35

Info for Vivaldi: The Four Seasons

For her latest album, 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.)

"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."

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.’

"Janine Jansen [marries] traditional expressive values with the textural vitality and bracing inventiveness of authenticity. Jansen possesses the ideal combination of intonational purity and tonal allure, and is beguilingly responsive to the music’s shifting moods, creating the uncanny impression of a series of vividly drawn characters passing before our eyes as we listen. The all-star ensemble responds to her every whim and caprice with a ravishing sequence of captivating sonorities that grow naturally out of the music rather than being superimposed on it. The recording possesses a seductive autumnal glow…With this exemplary release, the benchmark has been raised just that bit higher." (BBC MUSIC MAGAZINE)

Janine Jansen, violin
Candida Thompson, violin
Henk Rubingh, voilin
Julian Rachlin, viola
Stacey Watton, double bass
Maarten Jansen, cello
Liz Kenny, theorbo
Jan Jansen, harpsichord & organ

Produced by Dominic Fyfe
Balance Engineer: Philip Siney
Recording Engineer: Jürgen Bulgrin

Janine Jansen
is internationally recognised as one of the great violinists and a truly exciting and versatile artist. Her London debut in November 2002, with the Philharmonia Orchestra and Vladimir Ashkenazy, was quickly followed by invitations from some of the world’s most prestigious orchestras, including the Berliner Philharmoniker, Royal Concertgebouw, London Symphony and Mahler Chamber orchestras, as well as the Chicago Symphony, The Philadelphia, Cleveland and NHK Symphony orchestras. She has worked with such eminent conductors as Valery Gergiev, Mariss Jansons, Lorin Maazel, Riccardo Chailly, Neeme and Paavo Järvi, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Daniel Harding, Edo de Waart, Gustavo Dudamel and Yannick Nézet-Séguin.

Jansen has an exclusive recording contract with Decca (Universal Music). Her most recent release is a French recital disc entitled Beau Soir with pianist Itamar Golan. Each one of her previous five albums has been awarded a Platinum Disc for sales in The Netherlands. Renowned for her success on iTunes, her recordings have reached number one on the digital charts on a number of occasions.

Highlights of the 2010/11 season include performances with the New York Philharmonic, London Philharmonic, Oslo Philharmonic, Danish National Symphony orchestras and the Orchestre de Paris. Janine Jansen will be touring this season with both the London Symphony Orchestra and the Philharmonia Orchestra. She also toured Japan with Die Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen. In the 2009/10 season Janine Jansen curated her own ‘Carte Blanche’ series at Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, and this year is Artist-in-Residence for the hr-Sinfonieorchester, which includes a number of projects as well as a European Tour.

In addition to her concerto performances, Janine is a devoted performer of chamber music and is performing a number of recitals featuring the music from her latest album with Itamar Golan; cities include Paris, London, Dortmund, Brussels and Frankfurt. She established and curates the annual International Chamber Music Festival in Utrecht, and since 1998 she has been a member of Spectrum Concerts Berlin, an important chamber music series in the Berlin Philharmonie. Her chamber partners include Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Mischa Maisky, Julian Rachlin, Itamar Golan, Martin Fröst, Khatia Buniatishvili, Leif Ove Andsnes and Torleif Thedéen.

A former BBC New Generation Artist, Janine studied with Coosje Wijzenbeek, Philipp Hirshhorn and Boris Belkin. In September 2003, Janine received the Dutch Music Prize from the Ministry of Culture – the highest distinction an artist can receive in The Netherlands. She has received numerous other awards including the Edison Klassiek Public Award three times, three Echo awards for her Vivaldi recording in 2006, her Mendelssohn/Bruch album in 2007 and her Beethoven & Britten Violin Concertos disc in 2010, which was awarded top prize in the Concerto Recording of the Year category (for 20th and 21st Century music), as well as the NDR Musikpreis for outstanding artistic achievement in 2007. In 2008 she was given the VSCD Klassieke Muziekprijs for individual achievement, in May 2009 she received the RPS Instrumentalist Award for performances in the UK and in February 2010 an Edison Award followed for her Beethoven/Britten CD, in the “Concerts” category. In the same month the recording also won a Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik.

This album contains no booklet.