Janine Jansen

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Essential Albums

  • Vivaldi: The Four Seasons
    Vivaldi: The Four Seasons
    Vivaldi: The Four Seasons

    Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons, a collection of four virtuosic violin concertos completed in 1720 at the height of the Baroque era, has mesmerized musicians and audiences in equal measure ever since. Recordings of it run into the hundreds, yet this one, released back in 2005 and remastered in Spatial Audio, stands out for its vibrancy and sense of fresh discovery. That’s because, Janine Jansen tells Apple Music Classical, this is a Four Seasons with a difference. “We did it with just eight people rather than a full orchestra,” she says. “And it was very exciting to experiment with this small group.” Among that tightly knit band of eight players were two members of Jansen’s own family—her cellist brother Maarten and father Jan on harpsichord and organ. Including them in the recording was, for Jansen, a natural extension of many happy hours spent making music together in the family home. “When I was growing up I played so many of the Baroque concertos with my father,” she remembers. “I learned so much from him. He would put together a small group of players for me to get a chance to perform these concertos, and we noticed with Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons that it worked really well. It gave something special to the sound and to the freedom.” Using a similar small-ensemble approach for this recording brought many musical advantages. “We were playing this very well-known piece, but somehow having a different sense of color, timing, and transparency. The benefits were really good, and I didn’t miss having a bigger strength in the strings.” Jansen led the Four Seasons sessions on first violin, giving a dazzling account of Vivaldi’s solo writing. And although she had a clear idea of how she wanted the music to be interpreted, Jansen recalls how democratic it all felt. “We listened to each other’s ideas verbally, but also through playing and communicating, and reacting to one another. We definitely looked for new ideas and new approaches.” There’s a spirit of adventure to this recording—a sense of each musician knowing they’re making something very familiar sound wonderfully new. Jansen has a simple explanation: “What I remember most about the project,” she says, “is that it was a lot of fun with a great group of people.”

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About Janine Jansen

The turning point in Dutch violinist Janine Jansen’s career came in 2004, when her chamber music-style recording of Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons became one of the biggest-selling classical digital releases ever. Before then, Jansen (born in Soest in 1978) had slowly been building a reputation as an uncommonly collaborative musician, mingling sharp intelligence with a silken violin tone and scintillating virtuosity. While still a teenager, Jansen made her debut at Amsterdam’s prestigious Concertgebouw, and in 2003 appeared for the first time at a Proms concert in London. In the same year, she released a recital album with Decca, followed by recordings of concertos by Bruch, Mendelssohn, Tchaikovsky, Britten, and Beethoven. By her early 30s, Jansen was an established star in Europe, founding the successful Utrecht International Chamber Music Festival and playing with the New York and Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestras. After taking a six-month hiatus from performing in 2010, Jansen returned to her musical activities with renewed vigor. In 2021 she completed a landmark project playing 12 of the violins made by the legendary Antonio Stradivari, resulting in the documentary Falling for Stradivari and accompanying album 12 Stradivari.

HOMETOWN
Soest, The Netherlands
BORN
January 7, 1978
GENRE
Classical

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