Sakari Oramo took over the Royal Swedish Philharmonic three years ago, immediately after leaving Birmingham. On this evidence of their first London visit together, Oramo has inherited an orchestra that's responsive and technically assured, even if the sound lacks real character and edge in some departments. The all-Nordic programme certainly showcased Oramo's particular strengths, if not always the orchestra's, with the least-often heard of Sibelius's numbered symphonies and the most popular of Nielsen's framing one of the most celebrated of all piano concertos.

Amazingly, it had been 10 years since Sibelius's Sixth Symphony was last played at the Proms. Oramo didn't linger over its serenely beautiful writing, or attempt to unwrap all the mysteries of what remains one of the most enigmatic works in the symphonic repertoire – even the rapt opening had a trace of urgency behind it, and that pervading sense of unease cut through everything in the scherzo, and cast its spell over the finale, too.

By comparison, Nielsen's Fourth Symphony seemed entirely straightforward. It has long been one of Oramo's party pieces, and even if the Stockholm strings didn't have quite the tonal resilience to support the expressive weight he applied to them at the opening of the slow movement, the surge, and sheer exuberance of the performance were irresistible.

The piano concerto that came between the symphonies was Grieg's, with the young German-Japanese Alice Sara Ott as soloist, making her Proms debut. While it was good to hear live the qualities that shine through on Ott's recordings – the crystalline tone and prodigious range of colour, the perfectly even, crisp technique – the Grieg gives the soloist less interpretative latitude than many concertos, and it was a dazzling encore, Liszt's La Campanella, that displayed Ott's remarkable talent most convincingly.

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