The buzz preceding the return of Osmo Vanska to the podium at Davies Hall for another fortnight of guest appearances with the San Francisco Symphony was mild, but persistent. The Finnish conductor, current Music Director of the Minnesota Orchestra and Conductor Laureate of the Lahti Symphony Orchestra in Finland, made his debut here in 2002 with the beloved, recently deceased pianist Alicia de Laroccha.

Those first appearances introduced us to a musician proud to carry on the fine musical tradition of his native country, and one who takes a no-nonsense and workmanlike approach to the standard repertoire. Vanska (or SFS management) also continues to show great good sense by including more obviously virtuoso guest artists on his programs. Pairing with brilliant guest stars who make splashy statements ensures that every bill will be just that much more exciting.

The two-week play list was varied but safe. Having a work by John Adams, as one of two living composers scheduled (his typically alluring orchestral tour de force Slonimsky's Earbox was on concert one), seemed timid. After that, adding performances of Finnish composer Aulis Sallinen's Symphony No. 1 to the bill on only two of the second week's three concerts was just plain exasperating.

Granted, I missed the Sallinen only because I attended the Friday 6.5 concert (shorter programs for music-lovers in a hurry). Still, apparently Vanska is not out to frighten the horses of the subscription-holders. There is no harm in bringing back the regulars with core repertoire, or luring new listeners in with big-league piano and violin concerti, however. If the music-making is solid – and make no mistake, maestro Vanska is much more than merely competent – then let the good times roll.

Fellow Finn, pianist Antti Siirala (hey, don't laugh: his name is no stranger than Yundi) was called on to replace young Yundi Li, who was unable to appear for family reasons. The concerto was the Tchaikovsky First, and if a pianist intends to say a big, loud hello at his debut, this is certainly the one to go for. Siirala chose well.

Of course, tackling one of the most familiar pieces of music ever written also might require a, how do you say?, gimmick to pull off successfully. Siirala went with the plainest but possibly hardest tactic of all. He simply (underline simply) played the score as if no one had ever heard it before.

Vanska followed suit, framing his 30-year-old future star with careful and expertly modulated orchestral support. There was one brief but alarmingly wrong flute solo at the beginning of the exquisite second movement. That was rescued by a compensating and beautiful solo cello performance. Taking an unsentimental approach to a work that has gone gooey from years of virtuoso artistic abuse also proved bracing and wonderfully tonic. Tchaikovsky wrote some of the world's greatest melodies, he doesn't need an injection of steroids to impress.

Home turf

Last week, Vanska hedged his bets again with another dynamic soloist. Siberian violinist Vadim Repin appeared to play the glorious concerto of Jean Sibelius (unarguably, Finland's greatest composer). Being solidly on musical home turf might have helped to provide the biggest highlight of the conductor's stay. But Repin was not having the best of nights, and the performance offered mixed results.

There is no denying the soloist's strong and dark tone, but he also seemed disharmonious with the composer's beat, and his playing kept veering ever so slightly off-pitch. To say it was not exciting, especially in the fiery finale, would be inaccurate. It is just that one wants more of the searching; the Sibelius is questioningly dissonant in the opening pages, but Repin seemed vague and impatient to get to the showy stuff.

Surprisingly, the concert ended with the best example of maestro Vanska's abilities in both weeks. A full-blooded and brilliant charge through Beethoven's Eighth Symphony had me wondering whether I might not be investigating yet another Beethoven cycle on disc in the future.

Maybe the least loved of the Beethoven canon, the Symphony No. 8 is still one of the composer's most perfectly edited scores. Abounding with good tunes and lovely orchestrations, Beethoven's compact and energetic work brought the very best out in Osmo Vanska, and the full Davies Hall crowd sent him back to Minneapolis with a warm and affectionate San Francisco au revoir.