Saturday's concert from the excellent Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra came in as far less than the sum of its constituent parts, with a seemingly interminable programme which could have done with some judicious pruning.

We really didn't need the curtain-raiser in the form of three of Grieg's Lyric Pieces, certainly deft in their orchestration (partly by the composer himself), and neatly, idiomatically delivered under Vasily Petrenko, a conductor who simply exudes musicality.

Then there was the long wait while the orchestral seating was tidied out of the way for the piano to be trundled on, and then reset. Why the piano couldn't have been onstage from the start I really don't know.

The concerto was Rachmaninov Two, the soloist the much-loved Simon Trpceski (apparently making his first visit to the hall), playing with a confident rubato and empathy with his collaborators. This was a joint triumph for pianist and orchestra (full-throated strings, eloquent woodwind), Trpceski bringing warmth as well as glitter to rippling passage-work, and always a freshly-minted response to this well-worn work.

Applause from a packed auditorium came in huge waves, rewarded with a lovely encore, Trpceski modestly accompanying cello principal Louisa Tuck in Rachmaninov's poignant little Vocalise.

Petrenko drew a tight, compact sound from the OPO for Mahler's mighty Fifth Symphony. Strings dug deep, and the brass soloists (horn, trumpet, trombone), so important throughout this work laden with symbolic imagery, were a constantly commanding presence.

While never losing grip over the overall span, Petrenko gave us plenty of delicacy and detail along the way, including a naturally expressive adagietto, finding exactly the right tempo, and securing a telling harp presence.

But for some reason the central scherzo remained earthbound and dogged, for all the heroics of the solo horn. Perhaps the fault lies with Mahler himself, but I've never been more aware of this movement's being overlong.

We didn't need the encore, a trite little movement from Schubert's Rosamunde. To have gone out into a a very late night with the triumph of Mahler's finale ringing in our ears would have been enough.