LEBRECHT LISTENS | Violinist Janine Jansen And Maestro Klaus Mäkelä Create Unmissable Sibelius & Prokofiev 1

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Conductor Klaus Mäkelä and violinist Janine Jansen (Photo from the album cover/courtesy of Decca Records)
Conductor Klaus Mäkelä and violinist Janine Jansen (Photograph from the album cowl/courtesy of Decca Information)

Sibelius — Prokofiev 1 — Violin Concertos (Decca)

★★★★★

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When Janine Jansen is on music, no dwelling violinist comes shut. The Dutch virtuoso has been susceptible to live performance cancellations resulting from bouts of sickness and self-doubt, however when she performs as she does on this recording, you’ll forgive each previous disappointment and guide directly for the subsequent stay encounter.

Within the Sibelius concerto Jansen is so commanding she makes Heifetz sound effortful. In distinction to most interpreters, she ignores icy metaphors of a sub-Arctic composer and teases out heat from between the crevasses. The opening motion is a surprise in its personal proper. Solely Heifetz, Ida Haendel and Hilary Hahn are on this class of mastery. All of the efficiency misses is a flash of Ivry Gitlis mischief (however there was just one Ivry). Jansen presently tops the Sibelius league desk.

Her whispering entry to the primary Prokofiev concerto has the intimacy of pillow discuss. Prokofiev #1 is the Physician Zhivago of violin concertos, written throughout the revolutionary years with a tormented romance in thoughts. Jansen achieves Pasternak-like poetics, hinting all of the whereas at ominous historic occasions and ending in courageous irresolution. Her dialogue with the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra could be deemed intuitive had been it not for the highly effective involvement of its chief conductor Klaus Mäkelä.

That is one of the best I’ve heard from Mäkelä on file. With a febrile soloist, he each anticipates and accommodates her whims, muting the orchestra or letting rip as required. That is sensitivity of a excessive order, allied to an empathy uncommon amongst podium kings. His efficiency is a parallel masterclass. Don’t miss it.

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