BBC Symphony Orchestra - Anders Hillborg: Swedish Maverick (recorded live, 22 Feb 2020)

There's a few particularly interesting broadcasts on BBC Radio 3 In Concert this spring (I'm still enjoying the Bang On show), so here's another one.  Anders Hillborg, born 1954 in Sollentuna Kommun near Stockholm, was the subject of a "Total Immersion" day on Sat 22 February, with three concerts given over to his chamber, choral and orchestral music.  Today's post is the latter; the other two will be broadcast (and feature here) in due course.

Hillborg, who I wasn't aware of until this broadcast, started in pop music and moved through electronic composition to become an eclectic and unique composer.  This concert covers six of his orchestral works, from the 95-second Fanfare that opens the show to the 25-minute Violin Concerto No. 1 that was one of his earliest compositions.  There's also a brand new work that had only received its world premiere a few weeks earlier, Through Lost Landscapes.  With Messiaen-esque bird calls, it closes the concert evoking the birds' disappearing natural habitats.

In between are two of Hillborg's most striking orchestral works: the multi-section Eleven Gates full of aquatic, impressionistic drift, and Beast Sampler, which showcases his skill for conjuring alien-sounding effects from the orchestra to its fullest extent.  Completing a remarkable concert is Hillborg's clarinet concerto Peacock Tales, which is what the image above relates to.  The clarinettist Martin Fröst is tasked not only with the fiendish lead part, but also playing it masked whilst performing the extensive choreography.  This makes it a piece that has to be seen - so here's a different performance for that element - but even just hearing it as part of the concert is spectacular.  Hillborg is definitely a composer I'll be taking a closer look into.

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