When this recording appeared in 2020, Vasily Petrenko was perhaps the most prolific conductor in classical music; the album was released in June and was already his third of the year. It's not, for the most part, that he's gifted with unusual insights. Instead, he has gained his lofty position the old-fashioned way: by honing orchestras, first the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic and here, the Oslo Philharmonic, into an instrument that he can play with utmost reliability. Consider this collection of Rimsky-Korsakov favorites. ...
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When this recording appeared in 2020, Vasily Petrenko was perhaps the most prolific conductor in classical music; the album was released in June and was already his third of the year. It's not, for the most part, that he's gifted with unusual insights. Instead, he has gained his lofty position the old-fashioned way: by honing orchestras, first the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic and here, the Oslo Philharmonic, into an instrument that he can play with utmost reliability. Consider this collection of Rimsky-Korsakov favorites. There are more Spanish readings of the Capriccio Espagnol, Op. 34, more colorful stories in Scheherazade, Op. 35. Yet one can search in vain for a single hiccup from the Norwegians. Petrenko seems on his firmest ground in the Russian Easter Festival Overture, Op. 36, with delicate and intricate filigree rather than brilliant instrumental writing. He elicits wonderfully graceful work from Oslo Philharmonic leader Elise Båtnes, taking the music at a clip just at the edge of what the...
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