Sibelius: Violin Concerto; Prokofiev: Violin Concerto No. 1

Sibelius’ Violin Concerto, first completed in 1903, was the composer’s poignant farewell to his dream of becoming a concert violinist. There is a rapt quality in its opening, as the soloist floats a reflective yet poignant melody above a shimmering sound created by the orchestral violins. And yet, violinist Janine Jansen tells Apple Music Classical, there’s an “underlying tension” and even “friction” throughout the work. “I think there is something burning through the whole work,” says Jansen, “but at the beginning it’s about mood and the landscape. These tensions feel quite distant. You, as the soloist, don’t want to give everything at the beginning.” As Jansen points out, the soloist gives fuller expression as the movement progresses, most eloquently in an extensive cadenza that is effectively a soliloquy rather than just a moment to show off technique. Still, there are technical hurdles for the soloist—even though Sibelius toned down some of the Concerto’s more demanding virtuosity to create the now familiar 1905 version. “When I think back over the years I spent learning the piece,” says Jansen, “I definitely struggled over its technical challenges. But I think there’s something about that struggle which is an intrinsic part of the Sibelius. It’s not so much about the technique itself, but about the musical meaning of the piece. The struggle itself is important—nothing in this piece should sound easy.” This is particularly true of the finale, which follows the softly spoken, intimate “Adagio di molto” central movement. “The finale was the movement I struggled with most over the years. But it shouldn’t sound effortless. For me it has something relentless, but also something quite frantic about it.” Jansen’s idea to follow the Sibelius with Prokofiev’s Violin Concerto No. 1 is as inspired as her collaboration with the excellent Finnish conductor Klaus Mäkelä and the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra. Prokofiev the cheeky Russian iconoclast—as he was when he completed his concerto in 1917—might not immediately seem a natural companion to the moody Finnish nationalist composer. Yet, Jansen is pleased with her “intuitive decision” to pair the two: “For me, it’s a perfect fit. After the raw emotions of the Sibelius, and that intensity, you then go into this magical score of Prokofiev’s—into this dreaminess at its beginning.” It helps that Prokofiev’s Concerto happens to start in the same key as Sibelius’ finale, and also echoes the concept of hushed tremolo strings (this time divided violas) over which the soloist floats their melody (marked in the score “sognando”—“dreaming”). Jansen released her excellent recording of Prokofiev’s Second Violin Concerto, coupled with his violin sonatas, in 2012. So why has it taken more than 10 years since for her to turn to Concerto No. 1 which, she confesses, “was one of my favourite pieces from when I was young”? “I was very attracted to the First Concerto’s magical world,” says Jansen; “I’d practised it, but never performed it. I don’t know why I waited—maybe because I love it, and I wanted to find the right approach to it.” As with the Sibelius, Jansen wanted to avoid making it a mere virtuosic showpiece. “In the first movement, that opening melody has to be so flexible and lyrical. But after that there’s all these little character and tempo changes. I think sometimes there is a tendency to play those sections quite fast, but then the music loses its character. So I tried to look at the score with fresh eyes, to find what Prokofiev is actually asking for. He’s so precise in his notation of articulations and in the directions he gives.” Accuracy remains paramount in the following movement, which Prokofiev himself intended to be “the scherzo of all scherzos”. “You have to practise it so you can trust that your body knows what it’s doing,” says Jansen. “Your fingers have to move so fast, it’s impossible to get your brain consciously involved—the moment you try to actually control it, you’re lost.” Here, Jansen draws a difference between Prokofiev and Sibelius: “In Sibelius, if there is one note that is not completely in the right moment, but the gesture is there, one gets the necessary fire and the rawness. But with Prokofiev, your technique has to be so crystal clear because it says everything about the music’s character.”