BBC National Orchestra of Wales programmes Hillborg, Shostakovich and Sibelius

The BBC National Orchestra of Wales, conducted by Ryan Bancroft, presented a programme that paired Anders Hillborg’s Exquisite Corpse with Shostakovich’s Cello Concerto No 2 and Sibelius’s Lemminkäinen Suite, with Alban Gerhardt as soloist in the Shostakovich. Hillborg’s Exquisite Corpse took its inspiration from the cadavre exquis game of the surrealists and, while bearing Hillborg’s own imprint, incorporated references to Stravinsky, Ligeti and Sibelius.

The performance unfolded in brilliantly alive layers of sound, exploiting a wide range of instrumental colour — delicate tendrils of harmony, monstrously growling bass registers, insistent conga drumming and shrill piccolos — before finally fading into a gentle haze. The Sibelius Lemminkäinen Suite made for a darkly fitting accompaniment: the Swan of Tuonela, the second of four tone poems based on episodes from the Kalevala, tells of the demigod Lemminkäinen’s death and dismemberment and his mother’s restoration of him.

Bancroft elicited very fine string playing and an evocative cor anglais solo from Amy McKean, finding a balance between narrative drama and the score’s elemental quality while creating a positively symphonic trajectory.

Key Topics

Culture, Ryan Bancroft, Anders Hillborg, Alban Gerhardt, Shostakovich, Sibelius