Festival Music
Oslo Philharmonic
Usher Hall
Keith Bruce
Five stars
A long distance from her prize-winning youngster days, violinist Nicola Benedetti now has a wonderfully multifaceted career as a respected chamber musician, a high profile advocate of music education and, as here, an in-demand international soloist. The repertoire she records sells well because she is such a persuasive player of melodious music, and the Glazunov concerto certainly ticks that box, but from its hugely demanding central cadenza onwards it is also a platform for technical virtuosity, and if she appeared to allow herself a smile after she sailed through that section it was more than allowable. The balance that conductor Vasily Petrenko achieved between the sections of the orchestra and soloist was also beyond improvement.
Glazunov and Sibelius were exact contemporaries, each hugely under the influence of Tchaikovsky, and while that is structurally evident in the latter’s Symphony No 1, under Petrenko the Oslo Phil also played the big string swells and brass flourishes of the opening movement and the lush theme of the finale as if it was Tchaikovsky ballet score, and it sounded superb. The ensemble precision of this band is unrivalled, and they do endings as well as any other orchestra the Usher Hall has heard.
The Oslo Philharmonic is a big, shiny orchestra, so the big, shiny music of Geirr Tviett was a good showpiece opener. His Pieces From A Hundred Hardanger Tunes selected seven from four different suites, music salvaged from a tarnished Second World War reputation. With big pulsing basslines alternating with delicate harp, celeste and wind pieces, it showed a strong affinity with our own traditional music and would be a good option for the repertoire of a Scottish orchestra.
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