Janoska Ensemble - The Four Seasons in Janoska Style
- Ensemble
Antonio Vivaldi's Four Seasons (Italian: "Le quattro Stagioni") is probably one of the most famous works of Western music. It consists of twelve musical paintings in which Vivaldi ingeniously uses the three-movement concerto form he himself invented for his “tone-painting” intentions. No composer has captured the typical scenery of each season in sound more inventively: from the soundscape of nature, the birdcalls and the rumbling of thunder, to the seasonal pleasures (wine festivals, ice skating, etc.) to the extreme temperatures of summer and winter, the effect of which on human beings Vivaldi described in drastic tones the fatigue in summer, the shivering and chattering of teeth in the winter cold). The Janoska Ensemble carefully chose this monumental and timelessly beautiful as well as important work for its fourth album: on the one hand, because - completely committed to its own "Janoska Style" and thus to the credo of improvisation - Baroque music is per se and time-tested ideally suited for virtuoso realization. On the other hand, the genre was just as decisive for the four virtuosos since these are four highly demanding violin concertos that have always been firmly anchored in the ensemble's own repertoire for the two violinists.
New directions in music are currently trending under imaginative names, fusion and crossover categories are constantly expanding. But the classically trained Janoska Ensemble crosses all boundaries with its polyglot musical language. Its debut CD, which climbed to gold within a few months, bears the apt title “JANOSKA STYLE” (Deutsche Grammophon 2016). Their 2019 album “REVOLUTION” also reached gold status. In 2022, album No. 3 entitled “THE BIG B’s” was released. The fourth Deutsche Grammophon album “THE FOUR SEASONS” is in preparation (release October 2024).
Summing up the special quality of the Janoska arrangements in a few words is no easy task: they are parallel incursions into classical territory and into far distant realms of musical repertoire, in which the musicians exercise their spontaneous creativity to fashion first-class, innovative, thrilling music that lives and breathes. These incomparably audience-friendly transformations are the work of three brothers from Bratislava – Ondrej and Roman Janoska playing violins and František Janoska at the piano – together with their Konstanz-born brother-in-law Julius Darvas on double-bass and Arpád Janoska as singer.
One thing the two families have in common is their active tradition of musicianship. The Janoskas have been making music for seven generations, Julius Darvas builds on three generations and more of double bass playing. Another quality shared by the ensemble’s members is a first-rate classical education and prize-winning solo achievement.
New directions in music are currently trending under imaginative names, fusion and crossover categories are constantly expanding. But the classically trained Janoska Ensemble crosses all boundaries with its polyglot musical language. Its debut CD, which climbed to gold within a few months, bears the apt title “JANOSKA STYLE” (Deutsche Grammophon 2016). Their 2019 album “REVOLUTION” also reached gold status. In 2022, album No. 3 entitled “THE BIG B’s” was released. The fourth Deutsche Grammophon album “THE FOUR SEASONS” is in preparation (release October 2024).
Summing up the special quality of the Janoska arrangements in a few words is no easy task: they are parallel incursions into classical territory and into far distant realms of musical repertoire, in which the musicians exercise their spontaneous creativity to fashion first-class, innovative, thrilling music that lives and breathes. These incomparably audience-friendly transformations are the work of three brothers from Bratislava – Ondrej and Roman Janoska playing violins and František Janoska at the piano – together with their Konstanz-born brother-in-law Julius Darvas on double-bass and Arpád Janoska as singer.
One thing the two families have in common is their active tradition of musicianship. The Janoskas have been making music for seven generations, Julius Darvas builds on three generations and more of double bass playing. Another quality shared by the ensemble’s members is a first-rate classical education and prize-winning solo achievement.