Mahler, Lalo and Hillborg

Anders Hillborg’s Beast Sampler was premiered by the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra during the 2014 Composer Festival, which was dedicated to Hillborg. Chief Conductor Ryan Bancroft has conducted several of Hillborg’s works, but this is the first time he takes on Beast Sampler.

In this piece, Hillborg focuses more on sound itself than on traditionally structured tones. “I often refer to the orchestra as a sound beast” he has said. The title Beast Sampler plays on the word “beast” and the idea of sampling – borrowing elements from earlier works to create something entirely new.

German-born violinist Clara-Jumi Kang made her debut with the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra in 2021. She has won numerous prestigious awards and performs with orchestras all over the world. This season, she appears with the orchestra on three occasions – in Shostakovich’s First Violin Concerto, here in Édouard Lalo’s virtuosic Violin Concerto, and later in Leonard Bernstein’s Serenade. Lalo’s work is titled Symphonie espagnole due to its strong Spanish influence and melodic flair.

In his First Symphony, Gustav Mahler takes the listener both out into the natural world and deep into the painful recesses of the human experience. With remarkable brilliance, he portrays human complexity and restlessness. His inspirations included the German Romantic author Jean Paul’s novel Titan, which gave the symphony its original subtitle, and above all the folk poetry collection Des Knaben Wunderhorn (The Youth’s Magic Horn), which deeply moved Mahler.

Read more about chief conductor Ryan Bancroft