TIDENES KJÆRLIGHETSHISTORIE

Endelig kommer Oslo-Filharmoniens oppfølger til orkestrets suksessrike utgivelse av Scriabins 3. og 4. symfoni, som ble hyllet av The Sunday Times som «brilliantly played».Oslo Filharmoniske Orkester, under ledelse av  sjefdirigent Vasily Petrenko, slipper sin andre utgivelse på LAWO Classics i august 2016.  Dobbel-CD-en inneholder den verdenskjente ballettmusikken til Prokofjevs  «Romeo og Julie», og utgivelsen er både orkesterets og sjefsdirigentens første komplette innspilling av denne musikken. Oslo-Filharmonien ga i 1989 ut Suite nr. 1 og 2 under ledelse av Mariss Jansons, men ikke den komplette ballett-musikken som her foreligger.

Prokofjevs fantastiske orkestrering har gjort denne musikken kjent og elsket over hele verden. Den inkluderer bl.a. tenorsaksofon, fire mandoliner, kornett, celesta, orgel, viola d’amore, piano og en mengde slagverks-intrumenter.

Oslo Filharmoniske Orkester ble stiftet i 1919 og er i dag nasjonalorkester. I Oslo spiller det årlig 60-70 symfoniske konserter, i tillegg til julekonserter, skolekonserter, kammerkonserter og gratis friluftskonserter med titusener av lyttere.

Vasily Petrenko ble sjefdirigent for Oslo Filharmoniske Orkester høsten 2013, og har kontrakt ut jubileumssesongen 2019-20. Petrenko markerte seg tidlig på verdensbasis som en av sin generasjons sterkeste nykommere. Etter sjefsstillinger med topporkestre i hjemlandet ble han i 2006 førstedirigent for Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, der han siden 2009 har vært sjefdirigent.

THE LOVE STORY OF ALL TIME

At last — the Oslo Philharmonic’s follow-up to its recordings of Scriabin’s Symphonies 3 and 4 (LWC1088), lauded as “brilliantly played” by The Sunday Times. Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, under the baton of Chief Conductor Vasily Petrenko, is releasing its second recording on the LAWO Classics label. The double-CD features the celebrated ballet music of Prokofiev’s “Romeo and Juliet”, and the production is the first complete recording of this music for both the orchestra and the conductor. The orchestra recorded Suites No. 1 and 2 with Mariss Jansons in 1989, but not the complete ballet music presented here.

Prokofiev’s magnificent orchestration has made this music known and loved throughout the world. It includes, among others, tenor saxophone, four mandolins, cornet, celesta, organ, viola d’amore, piano, and a large number of percussion instruments.Petrenko and the Oslo Philharmonic’s release of Scriabin’s Symphonies 3 and 4 reaped glowing reviews, and the recording of “Romeo and Juliet” has absolutely everything to achieve the same heights. Here are two and a half hours of musical pleasure!

Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra was founded in 1919 and is an internationally renowned symphony orchestra with over 100 musicians and an almost 100-year-long history. Russian music has played an important role in the Oslo Philharmonic’s repertoire ever since the orchestra’s recordings and concerts with legendary conductor Mariss Jansons in the 1980s and 1990s. Now it is led by Chief Conductor Vasily Petrenko, who has impressed the musical world with his stirring interpretations of the Russian repertoire from Shostakovich to Scriabin, and who has received, among others, two Gramophone Awards.

Vasily Petrenko became Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra’s Principal Conductor in 2013. Born in St. Petersburg in 1976, he rapidly distinguished himself as a rising star of a new generation of conductors. He is also Chief Conductor of Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Mikhailovsky Theatre in St. Petersburg, and the European Union Youth Orchestra. His concerts with the Oslo Philharmonic attract large audiences, and the orchestra under his baton is popular abroad. Concert venues to date have included Vienna, Berlin, Paris, Japan (Toshiba Grand Concert),  Spain, England (BBC Proms) and the Edinburgh Festival. The 2016-17 season will take them to Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Hong Kong and Taiwan.

ANMELDELSER/REVIEWS

Intenst drama
«Sergej Prokofievs «Romeo og Juliet» inneholder så mye god musikk, at Oslo-filharmoniens meget fine innspilling er vel verd å låne øret til. […] Orkesterets dynamikk er eksepsjonell og de kammermusikalske delene fungerer optimalt. Vasily Petrenko gjør dette til en opplevelse sammen med sine medspillere.»
Trond Erikson – Den klassiske CD-bloggen http://klassiskcd.blogspot.no/2016/08/intenst-drama.html#more

Spenstig og herlig musikk
«For å si det rett fram: denne innspillingen er en gullgruve som kan stå som uttrykk for noe av det aller beste som Petrenko har fått til med sitt Oslo-orkester. […] Dette er stor musikk og den er framført på en stor måte. Blomster til Oslo-filharmonien og Petrenko!»
Kjell Moe – Kulturspeilet  http://www.kulturspeilet.no/spenstig-og-herlig-musikk/

«Nå er koblingen mellom Oslo-Filharmonien og sjefdirigent Vasily Petrenko en aldeles utmerket kobling. Fra han kom hit har Petrenkos grep om Prokofjevs partiturer vært aldeles utsøkt. Han forener et robust grep om musikken med de aller fineste nyanser, når komponisten vender den siden til. Så også på denne utgivelsen, dirigent og orkester står løpet helt ut.»
Ståle Wikshåland – Dagbladet  anmeldelse_LWC1105_dagbladet.pdf

Kjærleiksballett
«Tolkinga hans av landsmannen Sergej Prokofjevs lengste og mest kjente ballettmusikk Romeo og Julie (1938), er forfriskande usentimental, stundom jamvel humoristisk. Dei mange overgangane i tempo og uttrykk – balletten har heile 52 satsar – fungerer lytefritt. Særleg imponerande er den klanglege klåren i orkesteret, der lyden av strykarar og treblåsarar blandar seg perfekt.»
Sjur Haga Bringeland – Dag og tid, 26.05.17  anmeldelse_LWC1105_dagogtid.pdf

«Petrenko’s Norwegian band yield nothing in virtuosity — the strings are staggering in the fight — to Russian peers. The dramatic episodes sizzle, but there is poignancy in the balcony scene and Juliet’s death. One listens with refreshed ears.»
HC – The Sunday Times  review_LWC1105_sundaytimes.pdf

«The delicate numbers, for example the «Dance of the Girls with Lilies», are genuinely touching, and the virtuoso ones prove that the Oslo Philharmonic has what it takes to play this hugely taxing score.»
Ivan Hewett – The Daily Telegraph  review_LWC1105_The_Daily_Telegraph.pdf

«He has a light touch with both the orchestra and the piece, and makes it sound really balletic throughout [...]»
David Mellor – Classic FM  review_LWC1105_Classics_FM.pdf

«Vasily Petrenko’s recording represents a very fine achievement. [...] The Oslo Philharmonic plays extremely well for him and both the conductor and players have got right under the skin of Prokofiev’s music. The Lawo recording is very successful. The sound is natural and clear with good left-to-right and front-to-back perspectives. [...] I enjoyed this new version of Romeo and Juliet very much. I wonder if Petrenko might consider setting down the Cinderella ballet as well.»
John Quinn – MusicWeb International  http://musicweb-international.com/classrev/2016/Nov/Prokofiev_Romeo_LWC1105.htm

«The playing is precise and sharp-edged, exactly right for this vivid, exuberant score. When tenderness is required, as in Act 3 Scene 10 (Romeo Bids Juliet Farewell), the Oslo players are full of heart and warmth. Lovely playing all round, with beautiful solos (woodwind particularly) and clean ensemble.»
Fiona Maddocks – The Guardian  https://www.theguardian.com/music/2016/nov/13/prokofiev-romeo-and-juliet-op-64-review-oslo-philharmonic-petrenko

«Vasily Petrenko’s new studio version is a stunner, tidier than Gergiev’s entertaining LSO Live recording and as taut as Lorin Maazel’s famous 1970s Cleveland account. [...] There are details in this performance I’ve never heard before, Petrenko reminding us that Prokofiev hadn’t forgotten his early years as an enfant terrible. [...] Prokofiev’s big romantic numbers are spectacular, the Oslo string playing lacking nothing in terms of weight and security [...] Magnificent, in other words, brilliantly recorded and easily among the best versions of this miraculous score yet recorded. Can we have a Cinderella from the same forces, please?»
Graham Rickson – the artsdesk.com  review_LWC1105_The_Arts_desk.pdf

«[...] kollegaerne fra Oslo har klasse, og deres russiske chefdirigent fraserer den både barske og udtryksstærke musik med en tjirpende insisteren på lethed i fraseafslutningerne.»
Thomas Michelsen - Politiken  anmeldelse_LWC1105_politiken.pdf

«The first impression is very positive: the Introduction – warmly expressive, flexible and exuding interpretative confidence – promises and outstanding performance. [...] the first and final acts as great as any available.»
Daniel Jaffé – Gramophone, des. 2016  review_LWC1105_Gramophone2.pdf

«[...] the harmony between conductor and orchestra seems to be perfect: and this recording of the complete Romeo and Juliet is a proof [after Janson] the orchestra gets back to Prokofiev in seventh heaven with a conductor who is full of energy and artistically clear-minded, perfectly able to move in the most different emotional atmospheres created by the Russian composer. And in order to fully appreciate this recording [...] this set offers an exciting sound projection and richness.»
Edoardo Tomaselli – Amadeus, 2017 review_LWC1105_amadeus.pdf

«[...] which would seem to make this the most completely satisfying Romeo and Juliet on the market today. [...] What it offers is playing of such point and character that the music leaps off the page: from the droll humor of Masks, the brutality of the Dance of the Knights, to the chaste ardor of the Balcony Scene and Love Dance. [...] If under Mariss Jansons the Oslo Philharmonic began its transformation into one of Europe’s finest orchestras, then that transformation is now unmistakably complete, while the recorded sound is warm, detailed, and perfectly natural. No matter how many R& Js you might have crowding the shelves, make room for this one.»
Jim Svejda – Fanfare Magazine, april 2017  review_LWC1105_Fanfare_2.pdf

«Petrenko clearly relishes every bar of this rich score, in an exciting reading full of both energy and detail.»
Guy Weatherall – Classical Music, 25.11.2016  review_LWC1105_classical_music.pdf

«Some readers might remember the series of very exciting recordings this orchestra made
with Mariss Jansons in the late 1980s and early 90s for Chandos and EMI. Those records were notable for superb sound, excellent playing,
and thrilling, if not always particularly deep, interpretations. The good news is that all those virtues are on display here under Petrenko, the Oslo Philharmonic’s current chief conductor.
[...] Petrenko ticks all the boxes in the big dramatic moments, so there’s plenty of bite to the
death of Tybalt and a lot of unrepressed youthful energy to the scene leading up to it.»
Hansen – American Record Guide, juli 2017  review_LWC1105_americanrecordguide.pdf 

"Cette intégrale de Roméo et Juliette de Prokofiev, la première parution disponible, confirme la vivacité, l’ardeur et l’éloquence de la baguette de Petrenko."
Christophe Huss - Ledevoir 09.12.2016 review_LWC1105_ledevoir.pdf

"Petrenko és un director que creu en els músics de la Oslo-Filharmonien, se li nota; està per ells i els acompanya per totes les estances sonores que Prokofjev va crear per a Romeo i Julieta: dramatisme, riquesa tímbrica, equilibri sonor i una contundent expressivitat. Alguns diuen que la relació entre Vasily Petrenko i la Oslo-Filharmonien va ser un amor a primera vista…"
Marçal Borotau - Sonograma magazine 29.10.2016 review_LWC1105_sonograma.pdf

"Eine grandiose CD mit der kompletten Ballettmusik, bei der man ausnahmsweise einmal den Tanz überhaupt nicht vermisst, weil die Musik über alle Maßen ausdrucksstark und spannungsgeladen vermittelt wird. Eine CD, die man unbedingt gehört haben sollte."
Sven Godenrath - Svensopernparadies 01.11.2016 review_LWC1105_svensopernparadies.pdf

 review_LWC1105_Gramophone.pdf

review_LWC1105_pizzicato.pdf

article_LWC1005_classicalsource.pdf