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.

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.

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!

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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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.

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.

New Album of Lucas & Arthur Jussen

On Friday 23 September 2011, the second album of the young, talented piano brothers of Hilversum, the Netherlands, will be released. Last year, Arthur (14) and Lucas (18) Jussen were the first Dutch artists to sign a contract with Deutsche Grammophon. Arthur also was the youngest artist ever to be contracted by the yellow label. On the very day it was released their debut album with Beethoven piano sonatas got gold. It entered the pop album charts on the second place and quickly achieved the platinum status: a unique event within the world of classical music.

The new album is entirely dedicated to the composer Franz Schubert (1797-1828). Like on their debut album, Arthur and Lucas can be heard playing both together and apart. Arthur plays the four Impromptus Op. 90, while Lucas plays the four Impromptus Op. 142. Schubert wrote these eight lyrical piano works by the end of his life. A special bonus CD features works Schubert wrote for piano four-handed: the consummate Fantasy in F minor and the relatively unknown four Polonaises, Op. 75.

Lucas Jussen “Schubert is a composer we grew up with. To be able to record the Impromptus for this fantastic label is like a dream come true.”

Arthur Jussen “We are thrilled to have made an album with works by Schubert. I think we really have made people hear something personal, a part of ourselves.”

On 4 October the Jussen brothers will give a concert in the Amsterdam Concertgebouw in which they will play a part of the repertoire of their new Schubert album. The concert has already been sold out.

This summer Lucas and Arthur are working on their new album. Preparations are being made – including fotoshoot – for release this autumn.

In Harpa – Reykjavik Concert Hall – there will finally be a venue in Iceland that gives audiences the opportunity to enjoy the best there is in the music world both within Iceland as well as outstanding international artists.

In this first concert in the series we will enjoy the performance of the gifted Jussen brothers; Arthur and Lucas Jussen.

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Hilversum, 15 April 2011 – The Edison Foundation has announced its nominations for the ‘Edison Classical Music Award 2011’.

The winners in the jury categories will be revealed by the end of May. However, the public will decide on one of the prizes. As of today the Dutch public will be able to choose which album will be awarded the ‘Edison Klassiek Luister Publieksprijs’. You can cast your vote on Publieksprijs Edison Klassiek

The Beethoven album of Arthur and Lucas Jussen has been nominated for the prize awarded by the public, so do cast your vote through the above link!