^{Picture: Ryan Buchanan}

After what was by all accounts a stunning concert performance of Strauss’ opera, Salome, the Bergen Philharmonic and their chief conductor Edward Gardner were back at the Usher Hall for a purely orchestral programme. Rachmaninov’s Symphonic Dances have endless variety to show off what this impressively accomplished orchestra can do.

Inspired by dance, but more of a symphony in its impact, the score’s core rhythms were given accented emphasis in Gardner’s exacting direction. Carefully crafted wind solos, especially the expressive duetting of saxophone and oboe, alternated with gleaming yet yearning strings in the opening movement. Waltz rhythm was even more to the fore in Ravel’s La Valse, showing its darker side with Gardner in command, the swirling reminiscences of Viennese balls developing into something more edgy and menacing than the carefree dances of Johann Strauss which were the composer’s original inspiration.

If at times this orchestra sounds almost too perfect, Schumann’s Piano Concerto In A Minor brought a more human tenderness, with bright, clear playing from Icelandic soloist Víkingur Ólafsson. With instrumental forces pared down from the full-on sound of the Rachmaninov and Ravel, soloist and orchestra were an ideally matched combination.

Reviewed at Usher Hall as part of the Edinburgh International Festival.