On 22 February Osmo Vänskä conducted the US premiere of Anders Hillborg’s Through Lost Landscapes with the Minnesota Orchestra - the same day as the New Philharmonic gave the East Coast debut of the Piano Concerto No.2 – the MAX concerto – with Emanuel Ax and Eun Sun Kim.
Through Lost Landscapes evokes a natural world whose existence is increasingly under threat from climate change – the ‘lost’ landscapes of the 13-minute piece have an epic, mythical quality but are threatened with disappearance too. It opens with three huge chords – the last marked ‘Ecstatic’, from which is unleashed a hectic chase with jazzy piano part. After another series of chords, a forest-like landscape comes into view, with thick canopies of vegetation and vast tree trunks, teeming with life – a moment of repose comes from a solo soprano saxophone. Another chase-like sequence initiates an endless downwards glissando – a hallmark Hillborg gesture – succeeded by host of haunting, exotic woodwind bird calls. Shimmering waves of piano and celesta return, as the orchestra builds towards an enormous enveloping chord. At last, the music sinks gently to rest.
Through Lost Landscapes was a joint commission from the Orquesta Sinfónica de Castilla y León, the BBC Symphony, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, Minnesota and Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestras. It premiered in February 2020 Valladolid with the Orquesta Sinfónica de Castilla y León, conducted by Andrew Gourlay; it received its UK premiere as part of the BBC’s Total Immersion focus on Hillborg at London’s Barbican the same month. Sakari Oramo conducted its Swedish and Finnish premieres with the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic and Helsinki Philharmonic in October 2021 and May 2023 respectively.
The Minnesota Symphony and Vänskä previously played host to the US premieres of Hillborg’s Violin Concerto No.2, with James Ehnes as soloist, in September 2017, and the highly theatrical Peacock Tales (Millenium Version) with the inimitable clarinettist Martin Fröst in 2011.
April sees further national premieres for Hillborg. On 11 April Noord Nederlands Orkest and Elvind Gullberg Jensen give the Dutch premiere of Mantra-Elegy (2018) in at Amsterdam’s Muziekgebouw. The 6½-minute work, premiered by Vladimir Jurowski and the London Philharmonic Orchestra, is a homage to Stravinsky, expanding on two emblematic chords from Le Sacre du printemps. On 26 April Amalie Stalheim returns to Hillborg’s 2020 Cello Concerto for its Finnish premiere with Emily Hoving and the Turku Philharmonic Orchestra; Stalheim has previously given the Norwegian and Icelandic premieres of the 27-minute work, which is characterised by a pared-back score and the expressive simplicity of its glacial soundscape.