Musical discoveries in Oslo

Last week I finally had the opportunity to visit Oslo with M. Amongst all the sightseeing and visiting friends, we managed a couple of musical activities. By way of an odd prologue, Thursday evening (autumn equinox) there was a torchlit riverside walk along the Akerselva river into downtown Oslo, complete with random but interesting sound, light and music installations along the way, including a few singer-songwriters, choirs and fire-eaters!

light installation on Akerselva

Friday evening we went to the Oslo Konserthus to see the excellent Oslo Philharmonic featuring Janine Jansen performing Britten's Violin Concerto Op. 15. From our cheap seats behind the orchestra, we enjoyed the Concerto - including the odd macabre bits - and the opening work, No 1 from Leó Weiner's Hungarian Folk Dances Op 18. For our ears the concluding work, Dvořák's Symphony No 8 was something of a let-down - too formulaic and predictable after Britten.

No negatives from Saturday afternoon's chamber concert at the Ridehuset in Akershus fortress. Musicians from the Oslo Philharmonic - Alison Rayner, Povilas Syrrist-Gelgota, Audun Sandvik, Gonzalo Moreno joined by actor Pia Borgli - performed an afternoon's music based on 'Shostakovich and Lithuanian Dreamers - Tunes and Thoughts' (approx translation from the Norwegian programme!).

Pia Borgli read various poems before most pieces; only in Norwegian so whilst I could understand some of the introduction to Shostakovich the rest was beyond me, but seemed to be very interesting to the rest of the audience. The programme opened with Shostakovich's String Quartet No 4 Op 83 - very immersive, especially the cello parts! The other 3 works were all by Lithuanian composers and completely new to me, but they were so good that the Shostakovich was almost the weakest piece! Zita Bružaitė's Sonnet VI for violin, viola and piano and Faustas Latenas' Passadoble for viola and piano were emotive, intense, fiery, passionate pieces, with a refreshing lead role for the viola. I think the Passadoble was for me the highlight of the show. Bringing everyone back to a calmer sphere, Juozas Naujalis' beautiful Svajone (The Dream) concluded a riveting afternoon concert.

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