En direct, Vidéo: Rechercher des critiques de musique classique, opéra et ballet | Henning Kraggerud

British cellist Laura van der Heijden proved herself to be the sister of soul on the cello for the second night in succession.

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

Kings Place's "Cello Unwrapped" series is a major, year-long celebration of the instrument. It consists of a no fewer than 51 events spread throughout the year, with everything from films to sessions on buying – and even making – instruments.

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. 

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

There was a consistent sense of fun in the solo part, matched by the ebullient conducting of Bellincampi.

How to compare Nielsen and Ives? Possible similarities aside, however, the impact of their work is, on the whole, wildly contrasting.

Thomas Dausgaard conducted energetic performances of Bruch’s First Violin Concerto and Mahler’s Fifth Symphony with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, producing a great deal of fine playing though occasionally at the expense of long structure.Norwegian violinist Henning Kraggerud was soloist for the Bruch.

When I heard one of the main concerts of the Nordland Music Festival was going to be the Tromsø Chamber Orchestra playing Vivaldi’s violin concerto cycle The Four Seasons with Henning Kraggerud as soloist, I must admit I was rather disappointed.

The concert opened with BBC newsreader Julia Somerville, summarising news from the year 1915 at an old-fashioned broadcasting desk complete with microphone. It was informative, and set the scene for this recital, one in a series of ‘time capsule’ concerts, solely featuring music composed in 1915 – including two of Debussy’s last chamber pieces.

This weekend, the popular Sunday matinee concert by the Philharmonia Orchestra featured the dynamic Russian conductor Vasily Petrenko.

The evening’s music commenced with Ligeti’s Night; Morning, one of the composer’s last works before his emigration to the West. Although only a very short piece, it exhibits some of the compositional approaches that are now synonymous with Ligeti’s style.