Released on February 14, Sebastian Fagerlund’s new record "Autumn Equinox" is available from BIS records. The record features Fagerlund’s Octet of the same name as well as his concerto for double bass and chamber orchestra Arcantio and the revised version of Sky II all played by The Lapland Chamber Orchestra conducted by John Storgårds with soloist Niek de Groot (double bass).
“Fagerlund’s Octet “Autum Equinox” uses the same forces as the famous Schubert “Octet” but somehow feels like a bigger orchestral canvas […] The slow movement is mysteriously evocative with the solo viola singing a slow melody from the opera. […] Mysterious, resonance, radiance and such confident mixing of colors”
Andrew McGregor, BBC Radio 3, Record Review, 22.02.2025
“The other primary influence on the piece is Schubert’s Octet, whose scoring it shares. This is big music that belies its scoring, swaying in an almost orchestral manner from highly mobile, directional states to more introspective ones – operatic indeed, as is the music’s undertow and its rich and reverberant weave, imbued with a constant sense of the theatre of life in procedure even more than gesture. Fagerlund’s lyrical gift is apparent throughout but really takes flight in the central Lento misterioso, whose long lines are threaded in delectable counterpoint.”
Andrew Mellor, Grammophone, issue 03/2025
