A Puzzling Experience at Oslo Festival

By Aksel Tollåli, 21 August 2014

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“musicians were seen scribbling furiously in the music...in favour of the wishes of some higher being”

Reviewed at JAKOB Church of Culture, Oslo on 18 August 2014

Beste, Sandrose

Martin Smørdal, Less-Sense

Skaarud, Phorisms, book II

Smárason, _a_at_na

Strauss R., Till Eulenspiegels lustige Streiche (Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks), Op.28

Strauss R., Don Juan, Op.20

Oslo Sinfonietta

Kai Grinde Myrann, Conductor

Degenerate music at Villa Grande

Aksel Tollåli, 22nd August

Friday’s concert served as an interesting showcase of music that, undeservedly, isn’t performed too often. Even though the performances were somewhat lacking, the quality of the music shone through.

***11

Saariaho’s Notes on Light receives its Berlin premiere

Elena Luporini, 29th April

Sakari Oramo and Annsi Karttunen bring Northern lights and folklore to the Philharmonie, closing on a touch of Czech optimism with Dvořák’s Eighth Symphony.

***11

Steve Reich at 90 celebrated in Liverpool

Pwyll ap Sion, 29th April

A compelling concert at Liverpool’s Tung Auditorium offers a striking Josephine Stephenson’s UK premiere, dazzling John Adams and Steve Reich’s mesmerising Reich/Richter.

*****

Requiem to a troubled genius at the Southbank’s Multitudes

Chris Garlick, 29th April

As part of the Southbank Centre's Multitudes festival, Unnatural Harmony: Sounds of Lee Alexander McQueen offers a multimedia tribute to the life and creative vision of the iconic British fashion designer.

****1

Dazzling Prokofiev from Alim Beisembayev and the RLPO

Peter Connors, 26th April

In an all-Russian programme in Liverpool, Alim Beisembayev gives a breathtaking performance of Prokofiev's fiendishly difficult Second Piano Concerto.

****1

A Evgeny Kissin tour de force in Boston

Kevin Wells, 25th April

Andrey Boreyko makes an impressive debut with the Boston Symphony, where Evgeny Kissin performs in not one, but two piano concertos.

****1

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Aksel Tollåli

Aksel is currently studying towards a degree in musicology at the University of Oslo. At the moment he is an exchange student at Goldsmiths College in London. He is also a choral singer and a trombonist. His musical interests include 20th-cenury French music, Baroque opera and the music of Richard Strauss.

A Contemporary Music Collision at the Oslo Chamber Music Festival