Lucas & Arthur Jussen

Lucas Jussen joins in the best piano tradition

14 03 2012

Lucas Jussen joins in the best piano tradition

De Stentor
by Maarten Mestrom – March 14th, 2012

When the Jussen brothers came on, the question was whether it would appear to be a media hype, these two fresh blond-haired, piano prodigies with a striking resemblance. Now they also perform individually – fortunate enough with the repertoire in which they (for the time being) are the best – a negative answer to this question is becoming clearer and clearer. For Mozart you need to have the soul of a child. They frankly and fearlessly just play what it says, without putting the ego in between. And playing Mozart that is what Lucas Jussen (1993, the elder one), who was the solo player with the Gelders Orkest in Apeldoorn last Tuesday evening, does really well. No pointless virtuosity, no power play, hardly any pedal and a bright crystallized pianissimo, with which he joins in the best piano tradition.
(…)

Nine master pianists at one single concert...

13 03 2012

Nine master pianists at one single concert…

Trouw – 13 maart 2012
by Christo Lelie
Photo: Dennis Sies. Arthur and Lucas Jussen, Alexander Gavrilyuk, Severin von Eckardstein

Nine master pianists together on stage at one single evening to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Master Pianists series in the Main Hall of the Amsterdam Concertgebouw last Sunday evening. In this quarter of a century, the organiser Marco Riaskoff has developed his piano series into the largest and qualitatively most interesting of the Netherlands. The international radiance of the series was reflected in the participation to the jubilee concert by world famous stars. The presence of her Majesty the Queen gave the evening even more splendour. (…)
After the first break a second grand piano appeared on the stage. Now it was the young Dutch piano brothers’ turn. Arthur and Lucas Jussen, who already debuted during the concert in celebration of the twentieth anniversary of Riaskoff’s series as substitutes for Martha Argerich in 2007. As duo pianists, they held their ground among their much more famous and older colleagues. They played an adaptation of Dukas’ Sorcerer’s Apprentice by heart and with understanding of the original orchestration.
(…)

Wise lessons of life from Lucas Jussen

12 03 2012

Wise lessons of life from Lucas Jussen

De Gelderlander – Saturday March 10th
by Maarten-Jan Dongelmans

In the overcrowded, Arnhem-based Musis Sacrum, Mozart with Lucas Jussen as a pianist and Mahler with Martin Sieghart directing, attract a massive audience this Friday evening. The regular, mostly elder public of the Gelders Orkest (HGO) is supported by groups of youths, and that looks promising. Even the introduction is now done in the main hall, as a delegation of a secondary school also wishes to attend the concert. Young and old are very enthusiastic and manage to have Lucas Jussen (1993) play an encore (a Song without Words by Mendelssohn) even before the break. There definitively is an explanation for this storm of applause and Lucas’ choice. The eldest of the two piano playing brothers gives a technically outstanding interpretation of Mozart’s Piano Concerto no.20, KV466. His approach is decisive, clean and not very emotional (while this, however, is one of Mozarts’ most dramatic concertos). Making the grand piano sing an intimate Song without Words is a remarkable move. I see it as a silent goodbye of a much older person wishing to share wise lessons of life with his audience, instead of bringing groupies into ecstasy. I find this very special: so introverted with such a young soloist.
(…)

Jussen brothers steal the show

14 02 2012

Jussen brothers steal the show

Haarlems Dagblad – 13/02/2012
by Ynske Gunning
Photo: Dennis van der Kruis

(…) the brothers are a crowd puller but most and for all because of their beautiful piano play. Both play with great respect for the composer. Beethoven’s music is interpreted so careful and yet so free. Both Lucas and Arthur take all the time they need for phrasing. They do not add any frills or exaggerated expression, but let the beauty of Beethoven’s piano music speak for itself. In the fourhanded pieces the balance is perfect and naturally enlightens the motives and themes. They play with an inescapable logic, with an entirely natural feeling for the music. Really fantastic. And the three encores as well. A majestic final of a successful ‘48 hours of Beethoven’.

Golden Award for Arthur & Lucas Jussen

25 10 2011

Golden Award for Arthur & Lucas Jussen

The second album of Arthur and Lucas Jussen has got gold. This was announced today in the radio programme ‘Giel’ on 3FM. The piano brothers were utterly surprised when they were handed the golden awards by radio DJ Giel Beelen. Lucas and Arthur were invited to the early morning show to promote their new album.

The young piano brothers Arthur (15) and Lucas (18) Jussen reached a vast public with their performance of classical music. Last month, the ‘Schubert’ album (released on 23 September) entered on #4 in the album top 100.

Jussen brothers play Mozart

21 10 2011

Jussen brothers play Mozart

De Stentor
By Maarten Mestrom Friday 21 October 2011

ZWOLLE – A ‘full house’, a sensation of tingling expectation in the hall and even quite many youths. After their performances on various Dutch TV shows, a documentary and articles in newspapers and magazines, the piano-playing brothers Arthur and Lucas Jussen have become a (little) hype.
But once the introductory tones of Mozart’s piano concerto no. 20 – with its D minor one of the most spiritual and intense of Mozart’s solo concertos – have sounded and Lucas’ – the oldest of the two brothers – fingers touch the keyboard, you do not hear any adornments, no circus act or tough acting, but on the contrary a bright and exact piano play, almost feminine like Clara Haskil. Not every hype is unjustified: this is just awfully good.
(…)
As the final number, the (early) concerto for two pianos Mozart wrote for himself and his sister Nannerl. One has to be family in the first grade to be able to play this together well; the piano parties seamlessly match one another in this wonderful concerto. But that is what they are. Only the different timbres of both grand pianos reveal who is playing what. Finally a quatre-mains in which they roguishly change places, and Zwolle too ‘goes down’. They are the perfect ambassadors for classical music.

Schubert album comes in on 4 in the Album Top 10!

03 10 2011

Schubert album comes in on 4 in the Album Top 10!

After 30 years De Dijk can still do it: entering on number one in the Album Top 10. Scherp de Zeis dethrones Superheavy, the occasional formation of, among others, Joss Stone and Mick Jagger. The piano brothers Arthur & Lucas Jussen are the second highest to come in. Selling figures of their Impromptus & Fantasy are excellent. The album comes in on 4!

Impromptu’s, Fantasie, Polonaises

27 09 2011

Impromptu’s, Fantasie, Polonaises

Klassieke Zaken – 23 September 2011
by Wenneke Savenije

The piano brothers Lucas and Arthur Jussen have dedicated their second CD to Franz Schubert. They have been playing his music since childhood. “Sometimes he goes beyond his boundaries, and those are the most beautiful pieces.”
Last year, your first CD with works by Beethoven got platinum in no time. Then you won the Edison Public Award. Have these successes improved your play?
Arthur (15) : “Of course we did not know in advance things would go this way. Actually, because I made the first CD without any expectations, it gave me so much pleasure. So, if it becomes such a success, well, that is very nice. But it did not make me work harder; I have always been working hard.”
Lucas (18): “We are much more known now, so we are asked for even more fantastic concerts, also abroad. But our aim is still the music itself.”

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Confusion really is the funniest thing there is

22 09 2011

Confusion really is the funniest thing there is

Het Parool – 21-09-2011
ERIK VOERMANS
Photographer: Alek

On their second CD for Deutsche Grammophon – to be released in two days’ time – Lucas and Arthur Jussen play piano works by Schubert. “Confusion really is the funniest thing there is”
Will it never stop, all these words of praise for Lucas and Arthur Jussen? Well, not for the time being probably. In June the young piano-playing brothers from Hilversum received the very first Concertgebouw Young Talent Award; at the 2011 Edison Classical Gala in the Kurhaus in Scheveningen they received the Edison Public Award, and of course there was the gold and platinum for their debut CD with Deutsche Grammophon.
“We definitively had not expected it,” Arthur (14) says. He and his brother Lucas (18) have again chosen their favourite restaurant for another afternoon of interviews and other press things. The day after tomorrow their second CD with DG will be released, this time with works by Schubert.
Lucas: “We really could not have imagined the way the CD has been received. Of course, gold and platinum are great, but that’s mainly a commercial thing. We were especially pleased that critics too appreciated the CD.”
This sincere modesty is to their credit. Their parents (both musicians) do keep the Jussens firmly down to earth. Lucas and Arthur obviously know that they are very talented, but they also know they still have an awful lot to learn – a characteristic of the really great.

Arthur en Lucas

20 09 2011

Arthur en Lucas

Algemeen Dagblad – Friday 17 September 2011

Last year, the brothers Arthur (18) and Lucas (14) Jussen amazed the (inter)national classical world with their mature interpretations of the Beethoven piano sonatas. The album got platinum the very same year. On their new CD the brothers have literally joined hands for playing Schubert’s Impromptus, a series of works for solo piano, as well as his Fantasy in F minor and Four Polonaises – both composed for quatre mains (four-handed). Again Arthur and Lucas Jussen have achieved absolute sublime performances. Technically gifted, but – even more important – music of flesh and blood with a soul entirely in the spirit of the Austrian composer. Stilled, melancholic, full of joy and passion – the emotions the works of Schubert evoke are coloured with the brothers’ splendid and personal authentic style. In one word: phenomenal.

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