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Vivaldi: The Four Seasons - Janine Jansen
Janine Jansen, Antonio Vivaldi (Composer)
Vivaldi: The Four Seasons - Janine Jansen
Genre: Classical
 
  •  Track Listings (12) - Disc #1

Janine Jansen Follows her First Decca Album of Violin Favorites with this High-energy Account of Vivaldi's Four Violin Concertos, Known and Loved as 'the Four Seasons'. The Dutch Violinist Leads her Specially Selected Grou...  more »

     
   
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CD Details

All Artists: Janine Jansen, Antonio Vivaldi (Composer)
Title: Vivaldi: The Four Seasons - Janine Jansen
Members Wishing: 0
Total Copies: 1
Label: Decca
Original Release Date: 1/1/2005
Re-Release Date: 10/11/2005
Genre: Classical
Styles: Chamber Music, Forms & Genres, Concertos, Historical Periods, Baroque (c.1600-1750), Classical (c.1770-1830), Instruments, Strings
Number of Discs: 1
SwapaCD Credits: 1
UPC: 028947562931

Synopsis

Album Details
Janine Jansen Follows her First Decca Album of Violin Favorites with this High-energy Account of Vivaldi's Four Violin Concertos, Known and Loved as 'the Four Seasons'. The Dutch Violinist Leads her Specially Selected Group of Soloists in a Fresh Look at the Most Loved of all Classical Works. What Gives this Recording Its Tremendous Freshness and Sparkle is Janine's Use of Just One Player Per Part. Gone is the Heavy Orchestral Sound which is So Familiar, this is a Four Seasons which Sparkles with New Life and Energy, Like a Freshly Cleaned Old Painting Revealed in Its True Colors.

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CD Reviews

Youthfull energy and passion aplenty
Steven J. Denfeld | Oregon | 10/28/2005
(5 out of 5 stars)

"As is quoted in the liner notes, "A wrong note played with the right intention is much to be preferred to the right note played with no soul" pretty much sums up what this album is all about. The intent, obvious from the first note, is Passion and great quantities of it.



If the listener is one who, above all prefers precision and accuracy, look elsewhere. If, however one craves soul and passion in a spirited performance, this recording will bring much pleasure, with many repeated listenings being inevitable.



Jansen's account is easily the most exciting performance I've yet heard of these much loved favorites.



Any moment wasted trying to decide whether to buy this album or not is another moment not basking in it's wonderful wash of sound."
OOOO-WEEEEE!
Billy the Yak | Clemson, SC | 06/02/2006
(5 out of 5 stars)

"The Janine Jansen recording of that old Vivaldi standard "The Four Seasons" (which itself is bordering on being hackneyed through over-use) just arrived. As one review I read somewhere noted, it is indeed probably not for most folks. Only eight instruments are used: 2 violins (Jansen plays a Strad.), viola, cello, double bass, box organ, theorbo(!!), and harpsichord.

This one DEMANDS that you pay attention to it; it is absolutely chock-full of subtlety and nuance that the casual listener would probably fail to appreciate, if not find downright grating in places. If you seek background music for your garden party, there are dozens of excellent recordings of this work that fit that bill.



I've heard things in the score I've never heard in other recordings, even discounting a bit of improvisational embellishment. The excessive voluptuousness of full string orchestra often mooshes everything out into an easily digestible pablum for public consumption.



She handles both serene and frenetic passages with the ability one would expect from the temporary custodian of a Stradivarius. Her tempi (and transitions) are often surprising, as are the dynamics. There are times when one feels the instruments are being pushed right to their limits, (occasionally sounding like it verges on instrument abuse) thus generating tonal qualities seldom heard in this piece. I am mightily impressed."
Exciting, Quite Original, Vivaldi's "The Four Seasons" From
John Kwok | New York, NY USA | 07/08/2008
(5 out of 5 stars)

"Startling, exciting, and quite original, are the very words to describe Janine Jansen's unique, quite insightful, interpretation of Vivaldi's "The Four Seasons". While there are many fine recordings of this work, with the best of the relatively recent crop include Mutter's and Chang's, Jansen's recording deserves ample praise simply for its bold, daring performance of Vivaldi's concerti cycle. Why? Hers is quite literally a stripped-down interpretation, consisting of herself, five other strings (two violins, viola, cello and double bass), theorbo and box organ/harpsichord. It is a tightly knit ensemble that includes American violinist Julian Rachlin, her brother Maarten (cello) and her father Jan (box organ/harpsichord). This allows for a "wonderfully transparent sound" that allowed "the musicians to be very flexible in colouring, dynamics and timing", as she notes in the CD liner notes. An ensemble that has yielded a very brisk, and very spirited, interpretation of these Vivaldi pieces. Needless to say, Decca's sound engineers have done a superlative job in this recording, which was made back in the Spring of 2004 in a Dutch concert hall. If there is only one false note that might be seized upon by detractors of Ms. Jansen's exceptional talents as a fine young classical musician, then it is the existence of appealing, quite alluring, photographs of her in rather revealing gowns on virtually every page of the CD liner notes; however, do not use these as a guide to determine whether or not you should acquire what is truly an exciting, rather invigorating, interpretation of Vivaldi's "The Four Seasons".

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