Sunday, April 19, 2026
Orchestra Hall, Max M. & Marjorie S. Fisher Music Center, Woodward Avenue, Detroit, Michigan
Excelsior! opens with a burst of energy and intense lyricism that makes a fine introduction to Wilhelm Stenhammar’s music, as would his Second Symphony – a Swedish surprise, maybe, although I’d be surprised if Neeme Järvi didn’t include some during his DSO tenure – in this polished performance from the Detroiters and Tabita Berglund, ebbing and flowing the music to expressive advantage, without losing direction and tension and saving something for the returns of the flying-high beginning, becoming irrepressible and momentous.
The Violin Concerto No.2 (2016) by Anders Hillborg turns the orchestra into an aviary sound-wise, the solo violin tangy in timbre and leaning to folk-music, developing – slow-burn and through a tense atmosphere – into something of a sci-fi soundtrack with greater activity while retaining a dreamscape character Maybe twenty-five minutes is a tad too long, if ending on a high; it was nevertheless played with spectacular virtuosity and inch-perfect intonation by Eldbjørg Hemsing who went on to give a snippet (the tune) from Grieg’s The Last Spring, as transcribed, a little piece of her native Norway.
To Denmark and Carl Nielsen’s Fifth Symphony, given a rather subdued if punctilious outing with little that was initially ominous let lone threatening or disorientating, the build-up to the climax perfectly calibrated but the side-drummer was rather tame, and collegiate, with no sign of this would-be adversary going bonkers in trying to stop the orchestra’s progress, although the solo clarinet’s consolatory response was sublime. (This being Detroit, the ruinous clapping by a hardcore element of between-movement clappers – thoughtless/tactless – was no surprise.) Greater purpose was found for the second movement if remaining at arm’s length from the blaze that this work can be – no-one in the hall was going to get burnt – although the fugue galumphed nicely and the reflective section was certainly heartfelt, and if the coda, which can be victorious, was less than uplifting, it signified that not much conflict had been evident earlier. Here, on this Sunday afternoon, was music-making scrupulously put-together, the score’s strategy wholesome but its spirit supressed.
“The Northern Lights Festival continues with music of striking contrast from Sweden and Denmark. Stenhammar’s Excelsior! opens with radiant energy, followed by Norwegian violinist Eldbjørg Hemsing in her DSO debut performing Hillborg’s Violin Concerto No. 2, a work that moves between fiery virtuosity and suspended, meditative stillness. [Principal Guest Conductor Tabita] Berglund leads Nielsen’s Symphony No. 5, a gripping and elemental work where order and chaos collide, driven by bold, sweeping gestures and a relentless sense of motion.”
WILHELM STENHAMMAR Excelsior!
ANDERS HILLBORG Violin Concerto No. 2
CARL NIELSEN Symphony No. 5