Star violinist Janine Janssen is given every opportunity to excel by her friends

A star appears on stage: in a bright red dress, a very shiny shirt, and a shiny satin skirt. The red chair ready for her on stage looks pale. It's star violinist Janine Janssen. In its wake, at a respectable distance, three indistinct men dressed in black followed.

The Utrecht International Chamber Music Festival celebrates its anniversary this year. It was founded by Janine Janssen twenty years ago. In 2016 I handed over artistic direction to others, but fortunately it seems that was just a break this year. It's back, not just for this anniversary edition, but it's back. Great news for chamber music lovers.

Janine Janssen doesn't program music, friends do. She said this week that once she gets her friends together, she will build the program with them Norwegian Refugee Council. During the opening concert, you will also see familiar faces from previous festivals: playing with violinists Amihai Gross and Timothy Ridout, cellists Jens Peter Mainz and Daniel Blendolf and pianist Denis Kozukhin.

Together they play Mahler quartitsatz (He was 16 when he composed that!) And Brahms Third Piano Quartet. The audience gets exactly what they want: Janssen's unparalleled expression. Her strength is in storytelling. When Janine Jansen plays, her interpretation of the music is presented to you on a silver platter. She reads music to you, as it were. In Mahler she still retreats, but in Brahms she gives herself completely.

Service Friends

Janssen's three good friends respect her. And not just a few; They hold Janssen high on the shield by remaining as inconspicuous as possible. As a result, Janssen can actually take all the space he needs to excel beautifully. But in the long run, the negative attitude of others becomes a bit annoying. Is this Janine Jansen with her friends or Janine Jansen with her servants? Violinist Timothy Ridout is still a highly respected, princely romantic with Jansen in Brahms, but the cellists (Maintz in Mahler and Blindolf in Brahms) play so submissively that they are difficult to hear.

After the break Janssen did not play. Then Showman is beautiful Piano Quintet For Grosz and Maintz, supplemented by other friends of Jansen: Boris Proftsen (first violin), Clara Gumi Kang (second violin) and Sunwook Kim (piano). The contrast between Janssen and Brovtsyn could not be greater. Janssen: mobile, narrative, solitary. Proftsin: Straight, reliable and stable. With him as the first violinist, every player in the band became much more equal. Grossz excels for once, and now you can hear Mainz. The difference is also noticeable between pianists Kim and Kozukhin in the two pieces before the break. Kim plays more absorbed, more focused, and more fun.

Another advantage for more equal parties that do not interpret individually: as a listener you get to interpret the music yourself. These musicians will put the book in front of you, but you have to read it for yourself. This is a nice change.

Read also
Read also an interview with Janine Janssen with three tips for the IKFU ceremony

The icing on the cake is the late-evening concert by musician and singer Lucy Horsch, resident artist at TivoliVredenburg. It's been described before: Horsh is good. But she doesn't just play well; When you turn on the recorder it's straightforward amazing; Not only in her meticulous playing of all those fast notes and virtuoso rhythms, but also in the joy of playing and the endearing impromptu conversations between them. Her interaction with the great folk music violinist Amy Storms is a lot of fun. Classical guitarist Raphaël Feuillâtre has some overly ambitious accompaniment parts, but that doesn't spoil the fun.

To participate




Email the editor