Janine Jansen and Friends
Part of: Perspectives: Janine Jansen
Performers
Janine Jansen, Violin
Alexander Gavrylyuk, Piano
Torleif Thedéen, Cello
Program
SHOSTAKOVICH Piano Trio No. 1
PROKOFIEV Violin Sonata No. 2 in D Major
RACHMANINOFF Trio élégiaque No. 2 in D Minor
Event Duration
The printed program will last approximately two hours, including one 20-minute intermission.Perspectives: Janine Jansen
At a Glance
DMITRI SHOSTAKOVICH Piano Trio No. 1 in C Minor, Op. 8
Composed while Shostakovich was a student at the Leningrad Conservatory, this short, single-movement work has none of the darkness or angst that characterizes his grimly sardonic Piano Trio No. 2 of 1944. The First Piano Trio’s ebullient, sweet-tempered lyricism is reflected in its original title, Poème. One of the conservatory’s star pianists, Shostakovich tailored the challenging keyboard part for himself.
SERGEI PROKOFIEV Violin Sonata No. 2 in
D Major, Op. 94bis
Like much of the music Prokofiev wrote after his return to the Soviet Union in 1936, the D-Major Sonata represents an earnest attempt to mediate between his distinctively modernist style and the music for the masses that all Soviet artists were expected to produce under the banner of socialist realism. Originally written for flute, the lighthearted and perennially popular sonata was transcribed for violin at the behest of the great Ukrainian virtuoso David Oistrakh.
SERGEI
RACHMANINOFF Trio élégiaque No. 2 in D Minor, Op. 9
This heartfelt musical memorial to Tchaikovsky, who died in 1893, is the second of two “elegiac” trios that Rachmaninoff wrote around the time of his graduation from the Moscow Conservatory. Rachmaninoff looked upon the older composer as both a mentor and an ally: “Of all the people and artists whom I have had occasion to meet,” he recalled in later years, “Tchaikovsky was the most enchanting. His delicacy of spirit was unique. He was modest like all truly great men and simple as only very few are.”
Bios
Janine Jansen, Violin
Further highlights of Ms. Jansen’s 2017–2018 season include engagements with the Berliner Philharmoniker (also under Paavo Järvi), Munich Philharmonic under Zubin Mehta, Staatskapelle Dresden under Sir Antonio Pappano, The Philadelphia Orchestra and Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra under Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Czech Philharmonic under Jakub Hrůša, Oslo Philharmonic and Vienna Symphony under David Afkham, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra under Karina Canellakis, and Iceland Symphony Orchestra under Daniel Blendulf. She also travels to Asia and Australasia to perform with the Singapore, Sydney, and New Zealand symphony orchestras.
A devoted chamber musician, Ms. Jansen joins Mischa Maisky, Lily Maisky, Martha Argerich, and Itamar Golan for a major European chamber music tour this season. She also performs recitals throughout Europe with pianists Alexander Gavrylyuk, Elisabeth Leonskaja, and Kathryn Stott. Ms. Jansen is founder of the hugely successful International Chamber Music Festival Utrecht; in June 2016, after 13 years, she stepped down from her position as artistic director and named cellist Harriet Krijgh her successor.
As an exclusive recording artist for Decca Classics, Ms. Jansen has achieved great success on the digital music charts, particularly since the 2003 release of her acclaimed recording of Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons. Her latest release, conducted by Sir Antonio Pappano, features Bartók’s Violin Concerto No. 1 with the London Symphony Orchestra and Brahms’s Violin Concerto with the Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia.
Ms. Jansen has won numerous prizes, including four Edison Klassiek awards, four ECHO Klassik awards, the Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik, the NDR Musikpreis for outstanding artistic achievement, and the Concertgebouw Prize. She has also been awarded the VSCD Klassieke Muziekprijs for individual achievement and the Royal Philharmonic Society Instrumentalist Award for performances in the United Kingdom. She studied with Coosje Wijzenbeek, Philippe Hirschhorn, and Boris Belkin.
Ms. Jansen plays the 1707 Stradivarius “Rivaz, Baron Gutmann” violin, kindly on loan from Dextra Musica.
Alexander Gavrylyuk, Piano
A stunningly virtuosic pianist, Alexander Gavrylyuk has received international acclaim for his electrifying and poetic performances. Increasingly in demand for his compelling interpretations, he has appeared with the New York and Los Angeles philharmonics; Israel, Moscow, and Rotterdam philharmonic orchestras; Cincinnati, Bournemouth, and NHK symphony orchestras; Stuttgarter Philharmoniker; Royal Scottish National Orchestra; and others. He has collaborated with such conductors as Herbert Blomstedt, Andrey Boreyko, Vladimir Fedoseyev, Valery Gergiev, Neeme Järvi, Sebastian Lang-Lessing, Gianandrea Noseda, Vasily Petrenko, Rafael Payare, Alexander Shelley, Yuri Simonov, Vladimir Spivakov, Markus Stenz, and Osmo Vänskä.
This season, Mr. Gavrylyuk makes his BBC Proms debut with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra under Thomas Dausgaard, performing Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 3. He also debuts with the Czech Philharmonic, Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg, Philharmonisches Staatsorchester Mainz, and Orchestre National de Lille. He returns to the Hallé Orchestra and Sydney Symphony Orchestra, among others.
Recent and upcoming recital highlights include his debut at London’s International Piano Series in addition to his return to the Royal Concertgebouw Master Pianists Series, and performances at Wigmore Hall, the Moscow Conservatory, Kölner Philharmonie, National Philharmonic Hall in Warsaw, Tokyo Opera City Concert Hall, and Melbourne Recital Centre.
In 2009, Mr. Gavrylyuk made an acclaimed recording of the complete Prokofiev concertos with Vladimir Ashkenazy and the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, recorded live at the Sydney Opera House. In addition to the Prokofiev cycle, he has recorded works by Rachmaninoff, Schumann, Scriabin, and Mussorgsky. His most recent recording, a recital disc featuring Brahms’s Paganini Variations and works by Liszt, has been widely praised.
Born in 1984, Mr. Gavrylyuk gave his first concerto performance at the age of nine. He went on to win first prize and the gold medal at Ukraine’s International Competition for Young Pianists in Memory of Vladimir Horowitz in 1999, and first prize at Japan’s Hamamatsu International Piano Competition in 2000. In 2005, he took both the coveted gold medal and the award for best performance of a classical concerto at the renowned Arthur Rubinstein International Piano Master Competition.
Torleif Thedéen, Cello
Since then, he has performed around the world, regularly touring Europe, Australasia, and the US. He has performed with major orchestras, including the Czech Philharmonic, Oslo Philharmonic, Gothenburg Symphony, Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Vienna Symphony, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Staatskapelle Dresden, BBC Philharmonic, and Hallé Orchestra, as well as the Rotterdam, Helsinki, London, and Royal Stockholm philharmonic orchestras. He has appeared under such conductors as Esa-Pekka Salonen, Paavo Berglund, Neeme Järvi, Franz Welser-Möst, Gennady Rozhdestvensky, Leif Segerstam, and Eri Klas.
Mr. Thedéen is an active chamber musician and has performed in prestigious concert venues worldwide, such as London’s Wigmore Hall and Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw. He often participates in international music festivals, including the Verbier Festival and Prague Spring International Music Festival, as well as the festivals at Schleswig-Holstein, Oslo, Bath, Stavanger, and Kuhmo. Frequent collaborators include Janine Jansen, Julian Rachlin, and Roland Pöntinen, among others.
Since 1986, Mr. Thedéen has recorded numerous albums for the BIS label, featuring standard repertoire as well as contemporary music. His recording of Shostakovich’s cello concertos won the 1995 Cannes Classical Award, and his recording of Bach’s suites for cello was acclaimed upon its release in 2000 and named editor’s choice in
BBC Music Magazine. In 2002, his recording of Dvořák’s Cello Concerto was released.
Mr. Thedéen served as professor at the Royal Danish Academy of Music in Copenhagen from 1992 to 1996; since 1996, he has held the same position at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm.
Mr. Thedéen plays the 1711 ex–Lynn Harrell cello by David Tecchler.