Pianist Rudolf Jansen has passed away. Jansen became particularly known as a song accompanist at top international level. “A song accompanist is a conductor without a baton,” he thought and taught. “Sound color, choice of tempo, text comprehension – these are all facets for which the piano sets the tone.” Jansen died on Monday February 12 in his hometown of Laren. He was 84 years old.
Jansen was born in Arnhem and studied piano, organ (with his father Simon C. Jansen) and harpsichord at the Amsterdam Conservatory. In 1964 he received the Prix d'Excellence for organ, in 1966 the Prix d'Excellence for piano. He later became a piano teacher at that conservatory.
Jansen played together with great lieder singers such as Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Elly Ameling, Peter Schreier and Barbara Bonney. He formed a duo with bass-baritone Robert Holl for many years. Together they have given Schubert master classes in Amsterdam for many years since 1995. He was also respected worldwide as a master class teacher.
“Pianists who have no soloistic ambitions, and prefer to collaborate with singers, are all too often forced into the role of piano butler, entirely subservient to great soloists,” wrote the NRCreviewer in 1988. “Not so Rudolf Jansen: with a clear insight and a flexible mind, he always knows how to find the right balance with his partner, whether this is a singer or an instrumentalist. His contribution is active and rich in initiatives, but at the same time always attuned to the other, sometimes coloring and supporting, sometimes driving and, where necessary, being virtuoso.”
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A review from 1989: 'Pianist Rudolf Jansen amazing accompanist'
No personal choice
Jansen did not choose a career as a song accompanist himself. “It just grew so much,” he said in an interview in this newspaper in 2001: “Song art is not something that you immediately appreciate from an early age. You first have to have some life experience before poetry, and therefore the song, comes to life for you. But then the combination of words and tone, passing the ball to each other – for me there is no more satisfying way of making music.”
In that interview he characterized the song supervisor: “I understand that people often perceive song supervisors as docile, amiable people, but it is the kind of amiability of a general practitioner: based on an extremely strong personality, because you always work with different people, and with the flexibility that this requires, but you still have to stick to your own ideas.”
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An interview with Rudolf Jansen: 'Nothing is more beautiful than guiding'
Of the more than 120 album recordings with song and chamber music, two received an Edison: one with oboist Han de Vries (1973) and one with soprano Dorothy Dorow (1987). He received a ribbon twice for his work: he was appointed Knight in the Order of Orange-Nassau in 1998 and Knight in the Order of the Netherlands Lion in 2017. That year he played out his career festively in the Amsterdam Concertgebouw.
Video: Rudolf Jansen accompanies Robert Holl in 1995
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