Instrumentation

2(=picc).2.2(II=bcl).0 – 2200 –perc(1): crot, t.bells, tam-t, 1 timp – strings (min 8.8.6.6.4)

Availability

Score and parts in preparation

Programme Notes

Composed in 2020 for Nicolas Altstaedt, Anders Hillborg’s first Cello Concerto is characterised by the intimacy of its scoring, and a direct and paired-back simplicity of expression. Much of the work’s 27-minute span is scored for strings alone, with dazzling virtuosity eschewed in favour of long, soaring cantabile lines – the soloist’s rich and resonant low C string is only utilised at a few key moments. This ravishingly beautiful, glacial, soundscape occasionally ruptures – we hear a fragment of renaissance polyphony as if through gauze, and later a frenzied, surreal outburst for full orchestra leads to a moment of crisis – but the prevailing mood is one of vast space, loneliness and longing.
 
Faber Music
 

Cello Concerto

Stadt-Casino (Basel, Switzerland)

Nicolas Altstaedt, Sinfonieorchester Basel, Krzysztof Urbański

Cello Concerto

Stadt-Casino (Basel, Switzerland)

Nicolas Altstaedt, Sinfonieorchester Basel, Krzysztof Urbański

Cello Concerto

10 minute extract at Birgit Nilsson Award ceremony

Konserthuset (Stockholm, Sweden)

Amalie Stalheim, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, Tobias Ringborg

Cello Concerto

Orchestra Hall (Detroit, MI, USA)

Nicolas Altstaedt, Fabien Gabel, Detroit Symphony Orchestra

Cello Concerto

Orchestra Hall (Detroit, MI, USA)

Nicolas Altstaedt, Fabien Gabel, Detroit Symphony Orchestra