Marek Janowski has been Artistic Director of the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin since 2002 and in 2005 he was also appointed Musical Director of the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande in Geneva.
He is in demand as a guest conductor throughout the world, working on a regular basis in the USA with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra (where he holds the Otto Klemperer Guest Conducting Chair), the Boston and San Francisco Symphony Orchestras, the Philadelphia Orchestra, and in Europe with the Orchestre de Paris, the Orchester der Tonhalle Zürich, the Danish National Symphony Orchestra in Copenhagen and the NDR-Sinfonieorchester Hamburg.
Born in 1939 in Warsaw and educated in Germany, Marek Janowski’s artistic path led him from Assistant positions in Aachen, Cologne, Düsseldorf and Hamburg to his appointment as General Music Director in Freiburg im Breisgau (1973-75) and Dortmund (1975-79). Whilst in Dortmund, his reputation grew rapidly and he became greatly involved in the international opera scene. There is not one world-renowned opera house where he has not been a regular guest since the late ‘70s, from the Metropolitan Opera New York to the Bayerischer Staatsoper Munich; from Chicago and San Francisco to Hamburg; from Vienna and Berlin to Paris.
Marek Janowski stepped back from the opera scene in the 1990’s in order to concentrate on orchestral work and was thus able to continue the great German conducting tradition in the symphonic repertoire. He now enjoys an outstanding reputation amongst the great orchestras of Europe and North America. He is recognised for his ability to create orchestras of international standing as well as for his innovative programmes and for bringing a fresh and individual interpretation to familiar repertoire.
Between 1984 and 2000, as Musical Director of the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Marek Janowski led the orchestra to international fame as the leading orchestra in France. From 1986 to 1990, in addition to his work in France, Janowski held the position of Chief Conductor of the Gürzenich-Orchester in Cologne, and between1997 and 1999 he was also First Guest Conductor of the Deutsche Symphonie-Orchester Berlin. From 2000 to 2005 Janowski served as Music Director of the Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo, and from 2001 to 2003 he also held the position of Chief Conductor with the Dresdner Philharmonie.
Marek Janowski has made many recordings over the past 30 years, including many complete operas and symphonic cycles, many of which have been awarded international prizes. To this day, his recording of Richard Wagner’s complete tetralogy The Ring Cycle with the Staatskapelle Dresden (1980-83) remains one of the most distinguished and musically interesting recordings that has been made of this work.
Marek Janowski is represented by Jessica Ford at Intermusica, jford@intermusica.co.uk.
February 2010 / 433 words. Not to be altered without permission. Please destroy all previous biographical material.
MAREK JANOWSKI, CONDUCTOR
Guest Conducting reviews
San Francisco Symphony / Beethoven & Schumann
“Let's face it, the San Francisco Symphony plays awfully well under just about any circumstances. But something special seems to happen when Marek Janowski comes to town. It happened again on Thursday afternoon, when the Polish German conductor led the orchestra in a phenomenally exciting program of music by Beethoven and Schumann. Even listeners accustomed to near-weekly feats of musical prowess from the local band had to sit up and take notice.
[Janowski’s] effect on the Symphony players was galvanizing. The orchestral sound they offered up was simply huge - muscular, richly colored and impeccably blended - but at the same time it boasted a striking fleetness and rhythmic cohesion.
It would have to, because Janowski doesn't waste time. His MO is to get in, make his points and get out again, sometimes leaving a listener gasping a little. You keep up or you get left behind.
A preference for brisk tempos is part of his formula, but it's not the whole story. Just as important is the specificity of his long-term vision, and the extraordinary clarity with which he lays it out.
The opening performance of Beethoven's "Egmont" Overture was a case in point. … Janowski showed the way to make it both rhetorically direct and thrillingly dramatic.
The dark opening chords drew attention not only for their gleaming intensity, but for their rhythmic buoyancy - you could tell at once that they could serve as a springboard for the rest of the piece. And once the main section of the piece got under way, the forward momentum that Janowski mustered was simply riveting.
He worked similar magic at greater length in Schumann's Second Symphony, which occupied the latter half of the program. This is a score whose combination of oracular rhetoric and lyrical expressivity can sometimes be tricky to balance, but Janowski made it seem simple.
As in "Egmont," the opening horn calls - a nod to the similar opening in Haydn's final symphony - presented an introductory gesture that can all too easily become ponderous. Instead, they sounded crisp and entirely forward-looking, giving way to a spacious but cohesive account of the entire movement.
The busy scherzo is often played with a light tread, like so much Mendelssohn fairy music, but Janowski took a different and more daring tack. He kept the blisteringly fast tempo but reinforced the sinewy string textures, counting on the players to hang on tight for the ride. They rose to the challenge, and the results were magnificent.
So too was the tender slow movement, graced by superb playing from the woodwinds, and the finale, in which Janowski worked on a big canvas while making sure that inner voices and contrapuntal balances were observed. I can't remember when I've heard this symphony played so beautifully.”
San Francisco Chronicle, October 2008
Orchestre de la Suisse Romande
Artistic and Musical Director
Messiaen Et expecto resurrectionem mortuorum at the Lucerne Easter Festival
“This great monument to the fallen of both world wars brought suffering powerfully into the present. There are no strings in the score; but the percussion of the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande – mighty cymbal clashes, huge gongs and tam-tams – caused the wind and brass players to put their fingers in their ears, and all but blew the audience out of their seats in the excitingly resonant acoustic of the Konzertsaal. But Marek Janowski, conducting, also drew perfectly paced breaths from the underworld of woodwind and brass – and deeply eloquent silences too. ... "
The Times, March 2008
UK tour / Mozart Piano Concerto No.21 (with Nikolai Lugansky), Bruckner Symphony No.5
“Marek Janowski proved himself a master at moulding Bruckner's immense paragraphs... At certain moments when the music reached a wall-shaking grandeur, Janowski's tiny gestures told us that no, this wasn't the goal, the real high point was still around the corner.”
The Telegraph, January 2008
“Marek Janowski, conducting from memory, is thrillingly responsive to the morbid drama. His reading darkens as it develops towards the climactic witches' Sabbath scene, where the harmonic elements boil together in a diabolic stew.”
The Guardian, January 2008
Recordings with the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande
Pentatone / Bruckner Symphony No.9
“Following their recent Bruckner 5 at the Barbican comes this impressive recording of the Ninth, and with it an inevitable challenge to the Austro-German heartlands that have served the composer so well on CD.
The fact that it stands up well is attributable to the quality of the playing as much as to Janowski's interpretation, which is responsive to the symphony's long drawn-out paragraphs as well as the need for weight in the climaxes.
It is a performance that breathes in terms of movement and in the airiness of its sound. PentaTone's recording aims for clarity, and brings out much detail that more often gets lost in Brucknerian mud.”
The Telegraph, March 2008
“The German conductor leads a remarkable body, and unfolds with great clarity Bruckner’s tormented lyricism, pounding out with power and amplitude the scherzo, whose jostled harmonies bring the piece firmly into the 20th century. A worthy recording of an inexhaustible masterpiece.”
Le Quotidien Jurassien, April 2008
Pentatone / Franck & Chausson
“Marek Janowski draws on his operatic experience to make the melodic lines live and sing. Everything has shape and colour (I have never before heard so vividly the debt the opening of the slow central movement of the Chausson owes to the last act of Tristan), but these frequent dark undertows are never allowed to wallow in sentimentally. Best of all for me is the way Janowski responds to the variety of harmonic tension in both works: the more chromatic a chord, the more space he tends to give it without obstructing the flow ... I have no doubt that the power and refinement of this splendid recording should bring it a wide audience.”
BBC Music Magazine, January 2007
Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra
Otto Klemperer Guest Conductor Chair
European Tour / Brahms Violin Concerto with Leonidas Kavakos & Symphony No.4
At the Concertgebouw, Amsterdam
“We hadn’t heard such Brahms in ages, and maybe never. What [Marek] Janowski and the Americans demonstrated bordered on the unbelievable… That something like that still exists in these modern times is something to be ecstatic about.”
De Telegraaf, February 2008
“… the PSO gave an inspired performance of Brahms' Fourth Symphony that was the equal of any I've heard it give. Janowski's tempos were faster, if only slightly so, than he commanded in Heinz Hall and his phrasing aggressive from the downbeat. The result was a capturing of the large-scale plan of the piece, the tonal continental shifts that contain monumental energy in potent climaxes and great profundity in quieter moments.”
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, January 2008
Brahms Symphony No.4
“Janowski’s Brahm’s Fourth was consistent with his approach in presenting scrupulously clear voicing of the composer’s remarkable textures and in strong rhythmic profile … the confidence and normalcy of the musicians’ assertion of Brahms’ counterpoint brought fresh perspectives to the ears in every movement.
Janowski’s strengths as a conductor are a reminder of Wolfgang Sawallisch, whose tenure as music director of the Philadelphia Orchestra was a golden age for that great ensemble. Neither German conductor sells himself to the audience, both are true servants of the music.”
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, November 2007
Recordings with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra
Strauss Alpine Symphony and Macbeth
"This is a spectacular performance by a first-rate world-class orchestra recorded in glorious high-definition sound"
American Record Guide, February 2010
PentaTone Classics / Brahms Symphonies No.4, Brahms Hungarian Dances (selection)
“This is an often romantic, even lush rendering of the Fourth Symphony. Menace and despair loom, but Janowski’s brahms seems determined to keep them at bay. Which adds a brooding tension to the work, a sense of struggling idealism. The Pittsburgh forces play their hearts out, rewarding their conductor with character and feeling. An endlessly absorbing disc.”
Marek Janowski really has his players leaning into the harmonic radiance of the writing. All those wondrous transfigurations evolve so naturally and so dreamily that the brawny exuberance of the Scherzo – tough and resilient in Janowski’s hands – really does come as an unexpected blast.
In the first movement … it’s as if Janowski is delaying the inevitable right through to the high anxiety of the final pages. … The slow movement then restores some sense of prior well-being and inner calm, as does the still centre of the finale with its tranquil flute and trombone-led chorale variation. The refulgence of the playing is a constant source of pleasure and any conductor who is as mindful of Brahms’s ingenuity, invention and sheer vision as Janowski demands to be heard.
The Hungarian Dances … are earthy and sinewy with plenty of surge factor in the lower strings and the requisite cheekiness in the phrasing exemplified by those traditionally tantalising hesitations and stomping downbeats.”
Editor’s Choice, Gramophone Magazine, March 2009
“Marek Janowski captures the forward surge [of the first movement of Brahms Symphony No. 4] to captivating effect … It’s a reading of absorbing physical presence, affectionately though never cloyingly phrased.
The Andante moderato encompasses a wider emotional range, from the calm restraint of its subdued opening to a miraculous transformation as the strings move almost imperceptibly from pizzicato to bowing, releasing an emotionally charged passage of the utmost poignancy …
Janowski has the full measure of the energetically propulsive third movement …
As the perfect filler Janowski conducts those Hungarian Dances orchestrated by Brahms and Dvorak in performances that brim over with affectionate vitality. They round out a richly enjoyable disc that sounds especially resplendent in surround sound.”
International Record Review, February 2009
“The Pittsburgh Symphony didn’t receive a mention, let alone a place in Gramophone, magazine’s recent assessment of the world’s greatest orchestras; but, on the evidence of this recording, it certainly should have done … Marek Janowski secures some ravishing pianissimos … The Hungarian Dances provide pleasant relaxation after the grandeur of the symphony."
Classic FM Magazine, March 2009
PentaTone Classics / Brahms Symphonies Nos. 2 & 3
“The Polish-born conductor Marek Janowski, recorded live, fully captures the seductive, warm glow of this glorious score while keeping a firm hand on the structural tiller, ensuring that the inner detail emerges radiantly out of the music’s opulent textures …
The Third Symphony (1882) overlays the burning intensity of the First with the Second’s mellow lyricism to captivating effect. This is music that refuse to bow to convention and play to the gallery – even to the extent of having all four movements end quietly! It’s notoriously difficult to bring off this work convincingly, yet by negotiating the music’s dramatic contours with complete naturalness, Janowski and his fabulous Pittsburghers create the impression of profound ease and inevitability. With playing and recording both of luxury class, Janowski’s insightful recordings will appeal even to those normally resistant to Brahms’s music.”
Classic FM, Orchestral Disc of the Month, 5 stars, March 2008
“These two symphonies – the second instalment in Janowski’s second Brahms cycle – exemplify his work at its most compelling … Both works are delivered with a combination of warmth, precision and drama that makes this over-familiar music seem remarkably fresh …
In Janowski’s hands, however, the details – the shaping of accompanying string figurations, for instance, or the spit of the brass commentaries – consistently serve to push the music ahead. This is far from hyperkinetic Brahms, but it never ignores the agitation that churns beneath the music’s surface.
Add to this Janowski’s exceptional care with dynamics, his well-judged rhythmic flexibility, his scrupulous attention to Brahms’s syncopations, his sure sense of large-scale harmonic motion and his ability to weave together the various voices in the conversations, and you have performances of exceptional vitality.”
International Record Review, March 2008
Rundfunk-Symphonieorchester Berlin - Chief Conductor and Artistic Director
Brahms Piano Concerto No.2 with Peter Rösel & Beethoven Symphony No.8
“Even a concert with a conventional programme can be a most impressive occasion, especially with conductor Marek Janowski and pianist Peter Rösel guaranteeing the highest standard of performance. The collaboration between the two musicians in Johannes Brahms’ 2nd piano concerto in B major… could only be described as perfect.
… in Beethoven’s 8th Symphony in A major … Janowski increased the intensity from movement to movement, left just one short break after the allegro movement, and allowed the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra - whose Chief Conductor he has been since 2002 - to play with such verve, that it was if we were hearing the piece for the very first time.”
Sächsische Zeitung, May 2008
Beethoven Symphony No.7
“[Janowski] acted as helmsman, giving the direction and regulating the relationships between the travellers. This resulted in a highly original and absolutely thrilling performance, seemingly inspired by the Olympian ideal (faster – higher – further)."
Dresdner Neueste Nachrichten, May 2008
Beethoven Symphony No.9
“Janowski conducts a fantastic ninth: powerful, hard-edged, merciless; this is Beethoven at the highest level, with wild mane and furious features, a marble Titan, cold and majestic.
In the four years under Janowski’s direction, the former East Berlin orchestra’s sound has become razor-sharp. Janowski leads the RSB as a surgeon uses a scalpel: as an instrument of precision.”
Der Tagesspiegel, January 2007
Recordings with the Rundfunk-Symphonieorchester Berlin
Hans Werner Henze Symphonies Nos. 7 & 8
“Janowski and his Berlin players audibly relish Puck’s putting a girdle around the earth (though in under eight minutes, not Shakespeare’s 40!), traversing from middle C to the polar extremes of the orchestra’s register. There’s fun in the Ballabille scherzo where Janowski catches the Stravinskian rhythmic undertow.”
Gramophone Magazine, December 2008
“This performance under Marek Janowski makes its ripe language very potent, with the finale in particular an epilogue of almost Mahlerian destructive intensity. The Eighth …is a slighter, lighter work, but balances the Seventh perfectly in this rewarding coupling.”
The Guardian, October 2008
“Janowski brings these big, notey, dramatic scores brilliantly to life”
The Sunday Times, October 2008