BBC NOW 2025-26 Season Musical Painting, Impressions & Intrigue

Inspired by the playful Cadavre exquis game - where each person writes a line, folds the paper, and passes it on - Anders Hillborg creates a wild, energetic musical collage in Exquisite Corpse. He pulls in musical quotes from other composers and weaves them into something chaotic, surprising, and unexpectedly beautiful.

Next, star cellist Alban Gerhardt returns to BBC NOW by popular demand to perform Shostakovich’s Cello Concerto No. 2, a work packed with raw emotion, grit, and haunting intensity.

The concert closes with Sibelius’ Lemminkäinen Suite, music inspired by the ancient Finnish legends of the Kalevala. Originally imagined as a mythic opera, the piece unfolds like an epic adventure film score: mysterious, brooding landscapes, bursts of folk-dance energy, dramatic climaxes, and shimmering orchestral colors. One of its most unforgettable moments is The Swan of Tuonela, where a beautifully mournful cor anglais solo portrays a sacred swan gliding through the land of the dead.