Jansen & Mäkelä make simpatico partners in new concerto disc
Sibelius: Violin Concerto; Prokofiev: Violin Concerto No. 1. Janine Jansen, violinist; Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra; Klaus Mäkelä, conductor (Decca).
On this new disc, Jansen Jansen delivers inspired performances of a pair of Romantic violin concertos with the support of Klaus Mäkelä and the Oslo Philharmonic.
The Sibelius Violin Concerto begins atmospherically with the soloist rising, as if from a distance, out of the hushed pulsing of the orchestra. The Dutch violinist plays well throughout and has the full measure of the concerto’s roiling drama and Northern atmosphere. Mäkelä is, no surprise, fully at home in the idiom of his great Finnish compatriot and closely supports the soloist with a rich orchestral tapestry. The drama of the first movement emerges organically, rising to explosive tuttis and a stirring climax.
Jansen takes a romanticized approach to the slow movement, and her lush style and generous vibrato are accented by the forward balancing of the soloist. The finale is quicker and less lumbering than usual—Allegro, yes, but light on the ma non tanto. Still, the lean, driving approach works effectively and there is ample excitement in Jansen’s impassioned playing, with a cumulative buildup to the climax and emphatic final chords.
If anything, the coupling of Prokofiev’s First Violin Concerto is finer still. The first movement begins in similar fashion to the Sibelius, the soloist emerging over the quiet tremolo backdrop of the orchestra. But Prokofiev’s score is more gracious and lightly lyrical than tense and dramatic. Jansen and Mäkelä are graceful and simpatico partners here, and the conductor provides an accompaniment of great delicacy and restraint.
The quicksilver scherzo goes with headlong energy from Jansen; in Prokofiev’s tick-tock finale the violinist’s playing is at its most communicative, with a beautifully judged diminuendo by all at the coda.
The recording harkens back to a kind of classic analog Decca sound, with the soloist out front and a refreshingly retro, well-upholstered orchestral image.
Klaus Mäkelä’s 2022 set of the complete Sibelius symphonies with the same orchestra received wildly mixed reviews but few reservations need be had about this new disc, which serves as a pendant to that set as well as a fine showcase for the gifted Janine Jansen in her own right.
