Lucas & Arthur Jussen

NRC Handelsblad by Floris Don
Oosterpoort, Groningen 11/2
Concertgebouw Amsterdam 13/2
NNO

(…) Two days later, in the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Jussen accurately played a duet with the Russian cellist Pavel Gomziakov. The pianist revealed himself as an ideal chamber music partner. Jussen raised Gomziakov’s warm but sometimes searching tone, thus giving the cello sonatas of Mjaskovski and Prokofjev a generous character.

Friesch Dagblad 11 February 2011

by S. van Ek
Technically, Jussen did not have any trouble with this concert. He had the advantage that he had already studied it before he was asked to play. Because he liked it so much and because he thought it was appropriate for his age. He clearly had no difficulty playing these notes.
(…) The concert was played very well; actually it even was a beautifully played concert by someone with a very sophisticated (and sometimes a little too soft) touché, who definitively knew his Rachmaninov.

Dagblad van het Noorden – 11 February 2011
By Paul Herruer
NNO/Michel Tabachnik/Lucas Jussen – heared 10/2 De Lawei, Drachten
photo Marco Borggreve

*****

Today, there has grown some kind of atmosphere around the brothers Arthur and Lucas Jussen in which, apart from musicality, things like looks and age play a role, which hardly was the case with the first of the six performances Lucas Jussen – the oldest – gives of Rachmaninov’s Second Piano Concerto with the Noord Nederlands Orkest. Here and there a little more power of tone may have come from the piano, but that will come within a couple of years. Lucas Jussen played the piece virtually in the spirit of Rachmaninov himself: with a lot of clarity and refinement of timbres and articulations, a feeling for melodic lines, and a clear grip on form and tempo. Just an honest Rachmaninov in which lyric and fireworks both have their weight, and without any kind of vanity – reinforced by the excellent cooperation with the orchestra (…)

Leeuwarder Courant 12 February 2011
by Rudolf Nammensma
De Lawei, Drachten – Concert Noord-Nederlands Orkest / Michel Tabachnik / Lucas Jussen

(…) it was a proof of courage that seventeen-year-old Lucas, the eldest of the two brothers Jussen, put his teeth in Rachmaninov’s Second Piano Concerto. And that technically he managed to do it. From the dark bell accords, right at the beginning, to the lively finale in which he occasionally expressed a Mozartian lightness, his share was amazing.
(…)

Volkskrant Magazine – 24 December 2010
text: Berend Jan Bockting – photography: Lukas Gobel

What did you do for the first time this year?
Lucas: ‘I shaved.’
Arthur: ‘Dined with Camilla, the wife of Charles, Prince of Wales.’
Both: ‘Recorded our CD.
Best book of the year?
Arthur: ‘Didn’t read it.’
Lucas: ‘The Lost Symbol, by Dan Brown.’
Best music?
Both: ‘Classic and soul.’
And the worst?
Lucas: ‘Heavy metal.’
Arthur: ‘Metal, yeah.’
Most important meeting?
Both: ‘The Portuguese pianist Maria João Pires. She comes over to teach us now and then. And meeting and working with Jaap van Zweden.’
Do you use Twitter?
Lucas: ‘I follow the news and sports on Twitter.’
Arthur: ‘I don’t.’

This year, the pianists Lucas and Arthur Jussen signed a contract with Deutsche Grammophon, the authoritative German classical record label. This month their album with performances of Beethoven achieved the platinum status, with 20,000 copies sold.

Baarn, 16 december 2010
Debut album of young piano brothers reaches platinum status

The debut album ‘Beethoven Piano Sonatas’ of the young Dutch pianists Arthur (14) and Lucas (17) Jussen has reached the platinum status. Yesterday night the piano brothers were handed a platinum award by presenter Matthijs van Nieuwkerk and author Adriaan van Dis, in the Dutch television show ‘De Wereld Draait Door’. In April 2010, the debut album, dedicated to piano sonatas by Beethoven, was released by the renowned Deutsche Grammophon label.

In the autumn of 2011, Deutsche Grammophon will release another album of the Jussens.

Download shop iTunes called the debut album of Lucas and Arthur Jussen, the “Album of the Year” in the Classical category.

On November 18th Lucas and Arthur had the honour to play for Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Cornwall at Clarence House, together with the London Chamber Orchestra conducted by Christopher Warren-Green.

De Stentor Sunday 21 November 2010 Elly van Plateringen

‘Festival Chopin’ to celebrate Chopin’s 200th birth year. Odeon Theatre, Zwolle – 21 November.

(…) Arthur, the youngest, was very convincing in Two Polonaises, which he played both with a good sense of feeling and structure. With his skilful performance of two Nocturnes, his older brother Lucas appeared to have a fabulous octaves technique. The ‘Scherzo no. 3’ had everything to make him a mature master pianist. The fact that both gentlemen let themselves be persuaded to a quatre mains encore (parts from ‘Jeux d’Enfants’ of Bizet) was a pleasant dessert for the audience, which was highly appreciated.

Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
05. November 2010 GUIDO HOLZE

Die Brüder Jussen bei den Kulturtagen der EZB

“Gemessen an der Ausdruckstiefe in Beethovens Klaviersonate Nr. 5 hätte man es vermutlich kaum für möglich gehalten, dass Arthur erst 13 Jahre alt ist.”

“Gleiches galt für die Interpretation der Beethoven-Sonate Nr. 8 durch den drei Jahre älteren Lucas.”