Reviews are in for the new all-Anders Hillborg album Lost Landscapes, released on Alpha in August 2026. The record features world premiere recordings of Through Lost Landscapes and Sound Atlas , with the Gothenburg Symphony conducted by Kuusisto and Brad Lubman, as well as a new recording of The Strand Settings with soprano Ida Falk Winland, captures their 70th birthday celebration concert from 2024. Listen here.
Debuting in the top ten of the Apple Music Classical chart, the album has also been awarded a Diapason D’Or by the French music magazine.
Anders Hillborg’s stylistically eclectic work resists easy categorisation…Kuusisto draws out [Through Lost Landscapes’] luminous colours and richly clustered harmonies… [in The Strand Settings] Gently pulsing strings with piquant woodwind and brass build atmospheric soundscapes over which Ida Falk Winland spins haunting vocal lines…[Sound Atlas] showcases Hillborg’s sonic imagination…A pair of gleaming slow movements pitch into the glittering Vaporised Toy Pianos followed by the roiling Vortex before concluding with Hymn, a noble finale in the manner of Sibelius.
The Guardian (Clive Paget) 16 August 2026 ****
Loss is the predominant theme of the works…in Hillborg’s radiant song-cycle – one of the finest recent additions to the repertoire – or the fantastical vistas in Through Lost Landscapes, vividly depicted yet somehow always just out of reach …[Sound Atlas] is a subtle masterclass in orchestration and sonority…lush, lyrical lines and opulent scoring…Superb.
Gramophone (Guy Rickards) October 2026
…[the] spiritual heir to Sibelius and Ligeti…ecstatic and ethereal works…captivating in its colours and vibrations, enhanced by an unparalleled mastery of orchestration…intensely sensual pieces unfold like long, dark, and poignant waves…Hillborg's orchestral artistry takes us to truly fascinating realms.
ResMusica (Jean-Marc Petit) 9 September 2026
Hillborg loves to blur the lines between tradition and inventive experimentation…this master of orchestration also manages to disorient and mislead the ear…[In Sound Atlas] ethereally floating tones intertwine…Hillborg once again distinguishes himself as a fascinatingly inventive contemporary composer.
Rondo (Guido Fischer) 15 August 2026 *****
…one of the most distinctive voices of his generation…you can feel how well the music fits with Strand's restrained, melancholic language. The orchestral accompaniment remains transparent and carries without pushing itself into the foreground…[Hillborg’s music] combines Nordic expansiveness with spectral and electronic influences and retains its own, recognizable signature. Anyone who gets involved in this world of sound will be rewarded – not with loud effects, but with music that breathes, surprises and has a lasting effect.
Online Merker (Dirk Schass) 16 August 2026
…Galactic music that stretches between the solar systems…
Musikrevyn (Sveriges Radio) September 2026
On 3 September the Gothenburg Symphony and Kuusisto were joined by Hillborg’s son Theo for the premiere of his Saxophone Concerto - a 21-minute piece commissioned by John Kongsgaard and the orchestra. (Theo also plays on the recent recording of Through Lost Landscapes). This autumn will see the UK premiere of Hillborg’s Cello Concerto from Amalie Stalheim, Andrew Manze and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, as well as the London debut of his Viola Concerto from the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Lawrence Power. In November and December Hillborg will be an artist in focus at the Ars Musica festival of new music in Brussels.