SSO GALA: JANINE JANSEN / Singapore Symphony Orchestra / Review

SSO GALA. JANINE JANSEN

Singapore Symphony Orchestra

Esplanade Concert Hall

Thursday (19 October 2017)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 21 October 2017 with the title "Summer solstice and Arctic winters".

The Singapore Symphony Orchestra gala concert that showcased Dutch violinist Janine Jansen carried in its publicity the adjectives “Golden, Delicate, Ethereal”, as if this would add to the allure of her Singapore debut. It also applied to the evening's first soloist, SSO's Associate Principal cor anglais player Elaine Yeo, the heart and soul of Finnish composer Jean Sibelius' short tone poem The Swan Of Tuonela.

Hers was the most mournful of solos, first answered by Ng Pei-Sian's cello counter-melody, and then gliding over a calm lake of muted strings and soft drum-rolls. Starkly beautiful, the timelessness of a mythical landscape was evoked. Dark and brooding, yet strangely comforting, this has to be the best advertisement ever devised for a land of the dead. 

Large part of its success is owed to the subtle yet decisive direction of young Swedish conductor Daniel Blendulf, who reprised the same in Sibelius' evergreen Violin Concerto in D minor which starred his wife Jansen. Their partnership was not a contest of strong wills, but a dramatic masterclass on how an orchestra supports a soloist to the ultimate triumph of music.

For her part, Jansen has to be the most commanding and charismatic of violin soloists since those cherished 1999 gala concerts which featured a certain Anne-Sophie Mutter. From the concerto's quiet flickering opening, Jansen ran the gauntlet of dynamic extremes with a frightening intensity. She maintained a strong, incisive tone with perfect intonation throughout, so acute as to melt icebergs and boil lava, a volatile meeting of volcanic fire and glacial ice.  

Try as one may, there was no alternative to sitting on the edge of one's seat with this kind of playing. Her pianissimos in the outer reaches of the 1st movement cadenzas and slow movement were crystal clear, and within seconds would expand inexorably into shuddering climaxes.

The audience held its breath through the relentless drive in the finale's “polonaise for polar bears”, and there was no letting up until the last cadential outburst. Prolonged applause and bravos were greeted with an encore of perfect temperance, the sublime Sarabande from J.S.Bach's Partita No.2.

If the Sibelius relived Arctic midwinters, conductor Blendulf summoned Merlin-like a Bohemian summer solstice for Dvorak's convivial Eighth Symphony in G major. The sheer warmth it radiated from the opening bars, aided by Jin Ta's smiling flute solo, would have made both orchestra and listeners relax, but wait, there was to be several stings in the tail.

Respite without vigour and vehemence as contrasts is pointless, and this performance brought the two opposites cheek by jowl as to make both viewpoints feel equally vital. The slow movement's rusticity and ensuing waltz of the 3^rd movement sounded all the more special on this count. As trumpets rang out the fanfare heralding the finale, the scene was set for one last celebratory hurrah, which closed with more vocal outbursts of acclaim. Gala concerts are supposed to end this way.

CD Reviews (The Straits Times, December 2013)

CHAUSSON Concert / String Quartet

JENNIFER PIKE, Violin

TOM POSTER, Piano

Doric String Quartet

Chandos 10754 / *****

Ernest Chausson (1855-1899) would have become a major composer of the late Romantic French school had he not gotten in a bicycle accident that claimed his rather short life. Left unfinished in three movements was his String Quartet in C minor, completed by fellow composer Vincent d’Indy. Both were students of Cesar Franck, who in turn worshipped Wagner, and the music shares the master’s austerity and economy of themes. There is also a Beethovenian intensity that makes the music sound more Germanic than French.

Chausson’s most performed work after the popular Poeme for violin is arguably the Concert for violin, piano and string quartet (1889-91). Note the spelling of the piece, as it was not designated a concerto. Instead the term harks back to the concerts royaux (royal concerts) of the French baroque age, music for various instrumental ensembles as an entertainment. Its four movements play almost like a symphony in 40 minutes (Franck’s Symphony in D minor comes to mind at certain points), with strong thematic cohesion, orchestral effects and gestures. These most satisfying performances come from the cream of young musical Britons, for whom instrumental virtuosity is merely a tool of expression, and which comes as naturally as breathing. Highly recommended.

SCHUBERT String Quintet

SCHOENBERG Verklarte Nacht

JANINE JANSEN, Violin et al

Decca 478 3551 / *****

It is a sign of the times where a performer’s name is set in far larger letters than those of composers. The glamorous young Dutch violinist Janine Jansen will probably sell more records than either Arnold Schoenberg or Franz Schubert, even if she is one artist among six, or that is what the executives of the Decca label think. Thankfully, she is in good company as her fellow musicians violinist Boris Brovtsyn, violists Maxim Rysanov and Amihai Grosz, and cellists Torleif Thedeen and Jens Peter Maintz work extremely well as a unit in this generous chamber disc which plays for over 83 minutes.

Schoenberg’s most popular work Verklarte Nacht (Transfigured Night) is heard in its original string sextet version. Inspired by Richard Dehmel’s poem about a couple’s midnight stroll and transcendent love (with the revelation that the baby she is carrying is not his), the music transforms from agitation and trepidation to a blissful calm, which is exactly what the performers convey by capturing the febrile mood so vividly. Schubert’s late Quintet in C major is a surprisingly upbeat work from a dying man, and the players spare no effort in bringing out every ounce of pathos (the rapt slow movement in particular) and congeniality everywhere else. Here is chamber music at its finest and most joyous.

CD Reviews (The Straits Times, March 2011)

BLASCO DE NEBRA Piano Sonatas
JAVIER PERIANES, Piano
Harmonia Mundi 902046
*****

When was the last time you heard piano music that is exquisitely crafted, sounds somewhat familiar but yet completely unknown? Welcome to the cloistered world of the short-lived Spanish composer Manuel Blasco de Nebra (1750-1784), a contemporary of Mozart and Salieri, whose music languished undiscovered for centuries. Spanish pianist Javier Perianes performs a selection of six sonatas, originally for harpsichord or fortepiano, and these sound perfect on the modern piano. Each lasts about 10 minutes, beginning with a meditative slow movement where the sonorities could easily have come from the late Romantic period. The shorter concluding fast movements bear influences from keyboard masters Scarlatti and Soler and share their whimsical qualities. The two Pastorelas, drawn from the archives of Montserrat monastery near Barcelona, close with two dance-like fast movements. This is highly engaging music, beautifully performed.

PUPILS OF CHOPIN
Hubert Rutkowski, Piano
Naxos 8.572344

****1/2

The Romantic era saw the emergence of many pianist-composers who are virtually never heard of today. The names of Karol Mikuli, Thomas Tellefsen, Carl Filtsch and Adolph Gutmann are united by the distinction of having been taught by Frederic Chopin. Their piano music unsurprisingly betrays the master’s influence. The best known of the four, Mikuli lived long enough to develop a more individual style in his Polonaises (Op.8) and character pieces. Tellefsen introduced his native Norwegian elements into his Mazurkas, which look forward to Grieg’s Lyric Pieces.

Filtsch’s Impromptu No.1 is almost a carbon copy of Chopin’s own First Impromptu, while his Impromptu No.2 contains a page right out of Chopin’s First Ballade. The young virtuoso should perhaps be forgiven, having died from peritonitis at the age of 14. Gutmann was Chopin’s favourite student, and his Nocturne (Op.8 No.1) and Bolero are more than mere imitations. Polish pianist Hubert Rutkowski accords this collection of 22 pieces with the same cantabile and elegant virtuosity as the best of Chopin. Recommended listening.

BEAU SOIR
JANINE JANSEN, Violin
Itamar Golan, Piano
Decca 478 2256

*****

Dutch violin sensation Janine Jansen’s first recital disc explores French music. The major works are violin sonatas by Debussy and Ravel, one form where the so-called Impressionist composers differ like chalk and cheese. Debussy’s intimate musings, recalling the spirit of the French baroque, are poles apart from Ravel’s urbane manner where he even dabbles in the blues. Ironically, it is Olivier Messiaen’s early Theme and Variations which sounds most impressionistic while honing a lofty spiritualism which has come to define his later music.

Jansen lavishes the music with a gorgeous sonority, full of lush vibrato allied with perfect intonation. The disc is also filled with miniatures; Fauré’s Apres un reve (After A Dream), Debussy’s familiar Clair de lune and the titular Beau soir (Beautiful Evening), all in transcriptions, belong to the Belle Epoque. Swiss composer Richard Dubugnon contributes three short pieces. The dreamy half-lights of La minute exquise (The Exquisite Minute) and Hypnos evoke twilight moments and somnolence, while Retour a Monfort-l’Amaury is his tribute after visiting the home of Ravel. A most delightful anthology.