SIBELIUS, PROKOFIEV
Violin Concerto; Violin Concerto 1
Janine Jansen, violin; Oslo Philharmonic/Klaus Mäkelä Decca 485 4748 (CD). Jørn Pedersen, prod.; Arne Akselberg, eng.
PERFORMANCE
SONICS
The Sibelius immediately registers as something special. Janine Jansen’s entry in the quietly rustling opening is uniquely delicate and restrained. As the music expands, her intensely dusky sound on the G string makes a startling contrast with her luminous higher range, a color change she turns to advantage in the cadenza’s backand-forth overlaps. Her fervent, prayerful entry in the Adagio is particularly striking; so is her fierce, thrusting vitality in the driving finale. And the tone is lovely, mostly vibrant and focused, the legato faltering only slightly in some of the pianos and the octave crossings.
The Prokofiev, too, begins with a tremolo, but here it conveys stillness rather than unease. Jansen is lyrical and exploratory. Later in the movement, that stark timbral contrast between registers enhances the more trenchant passages. She intones the scurrying phrases of the perky central Scherzo as if she has all the time in the world and rises to the buildup, at once ominous and boisterous, as the movement proceeds. Jansen’s calmly vibrant high trills settle the movement as it finally emerges into daylight.
As the foregoing descriptions suggest, Klaus Mäkelä offers more consistent control than he does in the recent Stravinsky/Debussy program. He has a knack for eliciting the quiet ostinatos Sibelius buries under the tremolos, and he draws out a strong horn and bassoon presence. In the Prokofiev, the first movement’s 6/8 buoyancy is unusually pronounced. The tuttis of both scores, some quite ominous, are firmly controlled and shaped. The opening of Prokofiev’s finale could have been softer and more mysterious; still, this is first-rate conducting by any measure.
Decca’s almost-analog sonics are also first-rate, deep and present.
—Stephen Francis Vasta