The Oslo Philharmonic started recording regularly already in the 1950s and in the decades which followed, produced a large amount of varied recordings under various labels. In the 1980s, however, the orchestra was to experience a recording success hardly anyone had dared dream of.
In 1983, Principal Conductor Mariss Jansons and the orchestra made the decision to embark on a project: they recorded Tchaikovsky’s fifth symphony as a demo, with the aim of securing a recording contract with an international label. Neither conductor nor orchestra received any payment for this.
Orchestra producer Terje Mikkelsen and orchestra chairman and viola player Oddvar Mordal travelled to London with the aim of presenting the fresh Tchaikovsky recording to different labels. And they succeeded − with the small but respected label, Chandos.
Chandos Records was founded by Brian Couzens as late as 1979, but had already achieved recognition for its recordings of high quality, not least the quality of its sound. The company entered into a contract with the Oslo Philharmonic to record all Tchaikovsky’s symphonies. Thus, Chandos became part of the orchestra’s success story − and vice-versa.
The meeting was summed up in Brian Couzens’ obituary in The Telegraph in 2015:
“When, in 1984, two Norwegian orchestra executives handed Couzens a cassette of Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No 5, he was so impressed by it that the next day he signed Mariss Jansons and the Oslo Philharmonic to the label, making household names of them both.”
The first CD, featuring the fifth symphony, was released in the autumn of 1984. The release was well-timed to coincide with an ambitious tour of the UK. The orchestra had sought to build up its reputation in England through a tour two years earlier, and it now returned to perform at a series of attractive concert venues.
That the Oslo Philharmonic had made its debut in the international recording market was news in itself, and interest from Norwegian press did not abate when positive reviews started appearing internationally. In the winter of 1985, Edward Greenfield wrote in leading British music magazine Gramophone:
“Mariss Jansons and the Oslo Philharmonic won glowing notices after their recent concert at the Royal Festival Hall in London, and now I can understand why. (…)
The Oslo string ensemble is fresh and bright and superbly disciplined, while the wind soloists are generally excellent with an attractively furry-toned but not at all wobbly or whiny horn solo in the slow movement.
The Chandos sound lives up to the extremely high reputation of that company, very specific and well-focused despite a warm reverberation, real-sounding and three-dimensional with more clarity in tuttis than the rivals provide.
This first issue in a projected Tchaikovsky series from Jansons and the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra could hardly be more promising. All round there is no current rival quite to match this: a warm recommendation …”
Greenfield was also enthusiastic about subsequent recordings, and he later described Jansons (also in Aftenposten) as one of the world’s best conductors. He was of the opinion that the Oslo Philharmonic was on the level of the world’s best orchestras − perhaps with the exception of the Vienna and Berlin Philharmonics at their best.
The orchestra was soon faced with a difficult choice when it received a unique offer from recording giant EMI. The ties with Chandos were strong, but the advantages EMI could offer when it came to distribution and marketing were convincing. The new contract was signed in the autumn of 1986, and in the next decade a string of new EMI releases was produced.
(Translation from Norwegian: Sarah Osa)
![](https://ofo.imgix.net/Jubileumsside/Tsjaikovksij-5-Chandos.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&crop=focalpoint&cs=srgb&fit=crop&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&h=751&q=90&w=750&s=8d260ded200b40366a03526affee6b3d 750w, https://ofo.imgix.net/Jubileumsside/Tsjaikovksij-5-Chandos.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&crop=focalpoint&cs=srgb&fit=crop&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&h=1001&q=90&w=1000&s=8392ae72c79cd4991bc5029a8d1e75df 1000w, https://ofo.imgix.net/Jubileumsside/Tsjaikovksij-5-Chandos.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&crop=focalpoint&cs=srgb&fit=crop&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&h=1252&q=90&w=1250&s=fbb0106e0ae35657145014c88d92453a 1250w, https://ofo.imgix.net/Jubileumsside/Tsjaikovksij-5-Chandos.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&crop=focalpoint&cs=srgb&fit=crop&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&h=1502&q=90&w=1500&s=5b9d21c5a8ac301dab50081bb20fba1c 1500w, https://ofo.imgix.net/Jubileumsside/Tsjaikovksij-5-Chandos.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&crop=focalpoint&cs=srgb&fit=crop&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&h=1752&q=90&w=1750&s=676c5c402f38fa8ef886663d91b23ca4 1750w, https://ofo.imgix.net/Jubileumsside/Tsjaikovksij-5-Chandos.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&crop=focalpoint&cs=srgb&fit=crop&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&h=2003&q=90&w=2000&s=8e09028cdda8ffa74cba1022e917d5ae 2000w, https://ofo.imgix.net/Jubileumsside/Tsjaikovksij-5-Chandos.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&crop=focalpoint&cs=srgb&fit=crop&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&h=2253&q=90&w=2250&s=a3ced3e7ba5a5289f10b2c0f23be4e10 2250w, https://ofo.imgix.net/Jubileumsside/Tsjaikovksij-5-Chandos.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&crop=focalpoint&cs=srgb&fit=crop&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&h=2403&q=90&w=2400&s=0ec86ed51751352181a4f6e5cb34c018 2400w)
The Oslo Philharmonic made a great number of recordings in the 1950s, mostly for American record labels. For the label RCA Victor alone the orchestra recorded around 100 works, and the orchestra also collaborated with His Master’s Voice and Mercury.
A part of the recordings included the standard classical repertoire, but the orchestra also recorded quite a bit of newer American music. While Odd Grüner-Hegge and Øivin Fjeldstad conducted the classics, various guest conductors took the reponsibility for the American repertoire.
A conductor who frequently guested in Oslo during this period, was the Italian-American conductor Alfredo Antonini. He was the Music Director for the television production company CBS, and is described as follows in Aftenposten in June 1957:
“Alfredo Antonini … has become a fiery advocate of the Philharmonic after his experiences in Oslo. It’s far from trivial that a man in his position makes use of every opportunity to mention the speed and ability of our musicians when facing unknown modern composition. He has repeatedly confided that he knows no orchestra in the United States who can work as fast and as expertly with new music as they can”.
At the time, working on the recordings was considered to be something of a private matter for the musicians, and the orchestra had no system for keeping track of what was being recorded. With recordings taking place “after working hours”, a working day for a musician could easily extend from the morning until midnight.
Arne Novang, a cellist in the orchestra from 1945, is quoted in one of the orchestra’s anniversary programmes, discussing the first decade of recordings. “You know, being a musician in Norway at that time was not a job associated with status or high pay. We simply couldn’t afford to say no”.
(Translation from Norwegian: Sarah Osa)
![](https://ofo.imgix.net/Jubileumsside/Brahms-Hegge-LP.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&crop=focalpoint&cs=srgb&fit=crop&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&h=743&q=90&w=750&s=a91b29af7e653e89602dc3ca378a7d31 750w, https://ofo.imgix.net/Jubileumsside/Brahms-Hegge-LP.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&crop=focalpoint&cs=srgb&fit=crop&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&h=991&q=90&w=1000&s=fc6e6a0c340f8816d621aa9b8ce6699d 1000w, https://ofo.imgix.net/Jubileumsside/Brahms-Hegge-LP.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&crop=focalpoint&cs=srgb&fit=crop&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&h=1239&q=90&w=1250&s=ba36bda73395b975be1162385a5da66c 1250w, https://ofo.imgix.net/Jubileumsside/Brahms-Hegge-LP.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&crop=focalpoint&cs=srgb&fit=crop&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&h=1486&q=90&w=1500&s=03be536efd1cfc7beb1d88ae198bfcbb 1500w, https://ofo.imgix.net/Jubileumsside/Brahms-Hegge-LP.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&crop=focalpoint&cs=srgb&fit=crop&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&h=1734&q=90&w=1750&s=a4b0037c46a6b5289c2ae08395a83c7b 1750w, https://ofo.imgix.net/Jubileumsside/Brahms-Hegge-LP.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&crop=focalpoint&cs=srgb&fit=crop&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&h=1982&q=90&w=2000&s=73acacaea361e42e0abb83df912ad58a 2000w, https://ofo.imgix.net/Jubileumsside/Brahms-Hegge-LP.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&crop=focalpoint&cs=srgb&fit=crop&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&h=2229&q=90&w=2250&s=7820a8d598ed8d5683231aeb03e0422f 2250w, https://ofo.imgix.net/Jubileumsside/Brahms-Hegge-LP.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat&crop=focalpoint&cs=srgb&fit=crop&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&h=2378&q=90&w=2400&s=bd7e3b9bcdc8eba02dfca2797cd6c21b 2400w)