Janine Jansen's magnificent Mendelssohn Violin Concerto

An ideally crafted Romantic programme of Tchaikovsky's The Tempest Op 18, Mendelssohn's perennially evergreen Violin Concerto Op 64 and Sibelius's lush Second Symphony was the basis of a fine concert which brought the husband and wife team of Daniel Blendulf and Janine Jansen over to the DFP. The hall was at full capacity for Jansen's performance of the Mendelssohn.

Tchaikovsky's The Tempest Op 18 is rarely played in the concert hall or on CD. Therefore, it was an excellent programming move by Blendulf to educate the KL audience. For a rarely played piece, it was surprisingly well-played by the MPO musicians with few minor ensemble imprecisions. Blendulf managed to portray Tchaikovsky's various evocative moods like the opening seascape, the tempest as well as Ferdinand and Miranda's love theme into one coherent musical structure. The star of the evening was Janine Jansen, playing the very fine 1727 "Baron Deubroucq" Stradivarius. The interpretation of the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto was one of sweetness and light. The speeds adopted for the first two movements were quite fast. In the first movement, the speed worked against the molto appassionato marking. Jansen's bowing was immaculate at the swift speeds, even spiccato triplets and the "ricochet" bowing in the cadenza. What was missing from the performance of first movement was variety of tone and dramatic intensity - partially due to the 1727 Strad's lacking of carrying power, though the lyric beauty was never in doubt. The final coda was satisfying in its mounting excitement at the end of the movement.

The flowing speed for second movement was indeed welcome as some players now adopt a too sluggish pace for this Andante. I felt that the pacing adopted by Jansen and Blendulf was just right. Again, the development section lacked just an ounce of dramatic intensity. The final movement was a touch slower than usual, and missed Mendelssohn's elfin-like "Midsummer's Night Dream" characterisation. However, despite some tempo short comings, this was a very impressive Mendelssohn Violin Concerto by Jansen, which surpassed Josef Spacek's performance from last year. Following a long ovation, Jansen treated us to a movement from solo Bach, the Sarabande from his Second Partita in D minor BWV1004.

In the second half, Blendulf and the MPO gave a rather rushed performance of Sibelius's Second Symphony. This young conductor will improve with age and I believe he would re-think the swifter speeds that he adopted especially for the first and last movements. The final movement really sounded rushed, rather than lush.