God in Disguise

Since the world premiere by the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra on the radio, at the height of the war in 1940, Lars-Erik Larsson’s God in Disguise has become a Swedish concert classic. It is a work that tells the story of humanity and instils hope, which is as urgent now as it was then. 

The text is from Hjalmar Gullberg’s poetry collection, Love in the Twentieth Century. Gullberg was inspired by ancient mythology: as punishment, the god Apollo was forced to walk in disguise among the people of Earth. Through this story, Gullberg commented on his own era: he was deeply impacted by the persecution of Jews in Germany. Actor Marika Lagercrantz recites and Matilda Sterby and Karl-Magnus Fredriksson are vocal soloists.

Conducted by Emil Eliasson, the programme begins with two Swedish works from around the same period: Erland von Koch’s folk-music-inspired Nordic Capriccio and Ingvar Lidholm’s tender Toccata e Canto. We also hear Swedish-American Molly Kien’s Pyramid from 2013 – music inspired by a Hilma af Klint painting.