Janine Jansen

"This was the very best of Jansen: her performance was a tour de force not only of technical prowess, but of a highly stimulated and fiery imagination. She, Vänskä and the players worked at fever pitch; she probing the darkest and deepest corners of every phrase, and they fired up by Vänskä to touch every nerve and respond to every step in her vividly choreographed performance." (The Times, November 2011)

"This was a stunning display of sustained intensity. What can seem a sprawling, indulgent work took on an uncommon tautness, and the seams where Tchaikovsky stitches his melodies together didn't show one bit. Jansen's playing was full of personality – and, under Osmo Vänskä's meticulous direction, the orchestra matched her at every step, from the soft-grained string opening, through the whispered slow-movement accompaniments, to the colourful wind solos in the finale. (The Guardian, November 2011)

"...But the orchestra’s neat colours faded away under the burning torrents of notes emanating from Janine Jansen’s violin. Looming above the orchestra like the Shard at London Bridge, Jansen made us her devoted slaves right from her curling opening phrases and her gorgeously hushed treatment of Tchaikovsky’s main theme. Is there any violinist extant with a more ravishing pianissimo, who lets the notes sing with such flowing magic and sunshine caress? Not on Wednesday night, anyway. (The Arts Desk, November 2011)

"Jansen’s commandingly beautiful tone dignifies everything she plays" (The Independent, April 2011)

Passionate but precise, always at the music’s service, Jansen showered us with her superlative art. Dark sorrowing sighs; cadenza virtuosity; mincing mockery: every effect and emotion required was hit in the bull’s eye. The audience sat spellbound. (The Times, April 2011)