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Vasily Petrenko and the Oslo Philharmonic's Mahler Nine seemed unaware of what it wanted to be, resulting in a frustratingly directionless, disjointed concert.

Grieg's Piano Concerto is the highlight of this closing concert of the Oslo Phil's centenary tour, with Leif Ove Andsnes' exceptional technical skill helping to cast the work in a new and flattering light.

Andnes’ rendition was a typical battle between Dionysian and Apollonian, won by the latter.

The Oslo Philharmonic and Vasily Petrenko with Nikolai Lugansky bring Delius, Grieg and a sublime Sibelius Fifth Symphony to Sage Gateshead.

After a shaky start with Metamorphosen, the Oslo Philharmonic embodies the evening's theme of transformation by ending on a stonker of a Petruskha, via the perenially fabulous Lise Davidsen.

Beautiful, yet uninspired playing resulted in an underwhelming start to the New Year from the Oslo Philharmonic.

Playing music by Copland, Hovland and Sibelius, the Oslo Philharmonic and Dalia Stasevska gave exciting performances, even though the quality of the music did not always match.

There could hardly be a noisier way to commemorate the centenary of the Russian Revolution than a performance of Dmitri Shostakovich's mighty Twelfth Symphony.

Despite some very creditable orchestral playing, conductor Joshua Weilerstein never quite got anywhere with his programme of Bach, Weill and Brahms.

Paired with some overly serious Mahler, Eivind Buene's melodrama Blue Mountain did not quite convince, its ironic self-awareness getting in the way of itself.

The Oslo Philharmonic was left to tell the story due to some rather emotionless singing.

Despite the home advantage, the orchestra played it safe, but there was wholesome folky fun to be had with Halvorsen and Tveitt.

The Oslo Philharmonic offers a spirited interpretation of fine nuance and a sense of grandeur and opulence in Rachmaninov's Second Symphony. 

The storm prevailed under Stefan Solyom – perhaps inevitable with Shostakovich – but quieter moments in the Strauss were beautifully handled by Lise Davidsen.

The Oslo Philharmonic played finely tuned Gabrieli and virtuosic Bach, finishing with a surprisingly sinister performance of Mahler's Fourth Symphony.

Conductor Han-Na Chang and the Oslo Philharmonic impressed with a fiercely fast overture to Ruslan and Lyudmila and an exciting new piece by Norwegian composer Jan Erik Mikalsen.

Strauss' great tone poem whirls around the auditorium in a short but sweet concert.

Music by the unhappy couple precedes a bombastic rendition of Janáček’s Glagolitic Mass by the Oslo Philharmonic orchestra and choir under Jukka-Pekka Saraste.

With disappointing Schumann followed by engrossing, but incomplete, excerpts from Wagner's Götterdämmerung, Marek Janowski and the Oslo Philharmonic fail to make a splash.

The Oslo Philharmonic's winds and brass are no match for Vasily Petrenko and a sea of strings in a cacophonous blast through Beethoven's Symphonies 5 and 6.

While Paul Lewis impressed in Beethoven's Fifth Piano Concerto, Vasily Petrenko and the Oslo Philharmonic struggled to keep pace. Luckily, they seemed more at home in Scriabin's Second Symphony.

Juanjo Mena and the Oslo Philharmonic presented a programme of Haydn, Mozart and Brahms, drawing historical parallels, but most importantly showcasing some very fine playing.

Herbert Blomstedt, Christian Ihle Hadland and the Oslo Philharmonic gave scintillating performances of Beethoven and Mahler.

An engrossing performance of Shostakovich's Fifth Symphony follows a slightly haywire interpretation of Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto in an evening of excitement and a few too many wrong notes. 

Vasily Petrenko conducted the Oslo Philharmonic in a magnificent evening of Grieg, Mahler and Rachmaninov with Simon Trpčeski

The combination of Grieg, Sibelius and Shostakovich proved a rather uninteresting one in Oslo.

The première of Bjørn Kruse's clarinet concerto proved disappointing, overshadowed by an energetic performance of Tchaikovsky's Fifth Symphony and conductor Han-Na Chang's fiery conducting.

Two sparkling performances by the Oslo Philharmonic and Harry Bicket of dance suites from Rameau's Platée and Les Boréades framed at times brilliant singing from countertenor David Hansen.

While a powerful and exciting experience, Thursday's performance of Messiaen's Turangalîla ultimately proved a somewhat disappointing and distracting performance.

The Oslo Philharmonic, Vasily Petrenko, and violinist James Ehnes give a dazzling performance of Nielsen's Violin Concerto, but fall flat in a strangely brutal performance of Sibelius' Symphony no. 1.

Vasily Petrenko and the Oslo Philharmonic give an at times searingly intense and ultimately triumphant performance of Mahler's Tenth Symphony. 

An impressively balanced, but somewhat bloodless Schicksalslied gave way to intoxicating and seductive performances of Scriabin’s Poeme de l’extase and Third Symphony.

Thursday's performance of Haydn's The Creation got out to something of a rough start, but proved a lovely concert by the end.

Jukka-Pekka Saraste and the Oslo Philharmonic give disappointingly cold performances of Brahms' Piano Concerto no. 1 and Tchaikovsky's Symphony no. 6.

In an impressive display of orchestral playing he Oslo Philharmonic and conductor Fabien Gabel gave wonderfully colourful performances of works by Hellstenius, Ravel and Debussy.

An exciting programme, although not without flaws, kicked off the Oslo Philharmonic's new season.

It is interesting that neither of the 200th anniversaries of Verdi and Wagner have received much attention in Oslo, especially when compared to the frenzy that has been dominating so many concert halls and opera houses all over the world. What is even more interesting is that it has only been the Oslo Philharmonic that has paid any kind of attention to the two composers.

There seemed to be an air of general disinterest surrounding the Oslo Philharmonic last Thursday. They were playing what on paper seemed like a fairly interesting programme, Grieg’s rarely heard orchestration of his Lyric Pieces, Mahler’s devastating Kindertotenlieder and Schumann’s triumphant Symphony no. 2, and yet it somehow didn’t seem like it was of much of interest to the orchestra.

Thursday’s concert with the Oslo Philharmonic might not have featured the most exciting programme, dominated by what one might call the less exciting (but no less beautiful) parts of Eastern European Romanticism, although it still provided ample opportunity for engaging music-making. The remainder, however, proved to be some of the most exciting music I’d heard in quite a while.

Starting the role of principal conductor of a new orchestra may be compared to trying out a new car. There is of course the initial thrill of the novelty of it all, testing the performance of the vehicle; how quickly it can accelerate, how smooth are the transitions from one speed to another.

There are (at least) two moments in Beethoven’s Piano Concerto no. 2 where the music extends the language taken from Haydn and Mozart and reaches out into new worlds. Both were handled to great effect by tonight’s soloist, Christian Ihle Hadland.

Although Vasily Petrenko only gave his first concert as chief conductor of the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra last week, Monday’s Prom heralded this as an exciting new partnership. In a programme built around dreams and fantasy, Petrenko led the orchestra through some fantastic performances, with their Tchaikovsky especially praiseworthy.

There are new forces at the helm at the Oslo Philharmonic. After last season’s final concert of Mahler’s Second Symphony, the farewell of the orchestra’s longtime chief conductor Jukka-Pekka Saraste, this season’s opener was the inaugural concert of the new chief conductor, Vasily Petrenko. Expectations have been high, especially after some very successful concerts this spring.

Thursday’s concert in the Oslo Concert House marked the end of an era. It was, along with the concert the following evening, the final concert of Jukka-Pekka Saraste, the orchestra’s principal conductor for the last seven years. Final, as in his final concert as principal conductor: the orchestra isn’t letting go of him that easily.

Pairing Mendelssohn’s Fifth Symphony, the so-called “Reformation Symphony”, and Bruckner’s Third Mass in F minor seemed to me at first a rather novel, but very interesting idea. It was perhaps not the most daring of programmes, but certainly a very interesting one, picking a symphony steeped in Protestant tradition and then a Catholic mass.

Sometimes an eagerly awaited performance starts out brilliantly, more or less how you thought it would, but then it kind of fizzles out towards the middle, only to return with a vengeance at the end. This was more or less the case with Vasily Petrenko and the Oslo Philharmonic this Thursday.

Last Thursday’s concert with the Oslo Philharmonic featured four pieces with little or no connection to each other, other than three of the pieces being either written by Spanish-speaking composers or actually being about Spain. Yet, apart from one piece, it all came together into a rather coherent whole.The concert began with Jacques Ibert’s Bacchanale.

Thursday’s concert with the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra started not with music, but with an award ceremony. It was the Norwegian Sibelius Society that gave away its annual award for the strengthening of cultural ties between Norway and Finland.

Francis Bacon’s painting Blood on the Floor shows a splash of blood on a wooden floor, surrounded by orange walls with a light bulb and switch above it. This painting originally inspired Mark-Anthony Turnage to write this one-movement piece of the same name, commissioned by the Frankfurt-based Ensemble Modern in 1993 and premièred in 1994.