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'The sonic equivalent of one of Dali's paintings, in which familiar objects melt and buckle in glutinous, viscous landscapes. It formed a remarkable vehicle for the virtuosic Stockholm orchestra with its coolly sexual sound, and the audience loved it. '

The Guardian (Tim Ashley),  7 August 2004

 

'Hillborg has a beautiful, liquid way of moving the piece from one section to the next, mindful of a larger emotional arc. And he is extremely skilled at evoking not just stabs and jabs, but also the feeling of being smothered or caressed.‘

Philadelphia Inquirer (Peter Dobrin),  9 February 2008

 

'A work with multiple, often clashing layers and well-hidden references to composers as disparate as Stravinsky and Sibelius. But Gilbert's clean, crisp direction exposed the lyrical, expressive heart beneath the sometimes disjunct surface... It's easy to take the modern orchestra's astoundingly varied sonic palette for granted. We expect glittering, brassy climaxes in Beethoven symphonies and moments of transparent quiet in Debussy. But a new work like Exquisite Corpse can shine a fresh light on the orchestra, reminding us exactly how magical its reach really is... Never indulging in merely noisy or clever sound effects, it had numerous moments of transcendent beauty, from warmly sonorous trumpet calls to a hushed undercurrent of delicately shivering strings.‘

Chicago Sunday Times (Wynn Delacoma),  26 February 2005

 

'The title is a literary reference to the Dada movement's irrational, luck-of-the-draw word connections... Held notes build slowly into chords and then drift on to new situations: first to big, shuddering climaxes, later to shrill aviary masses of wind sound, later still to pounding drums reminiscent of a half-time marching band. At the end, sweetly tonal chords emerge.‘

The New York Times (Bernard Holland),  25 October 2005

 

'Hillborg never gets boring. A surprise is always waiting around the next corner, but the almost psychedelic soundworlds are always kept together by an elaborate structure.‘

Dagens Nyheter (Thomas Anderberg), 16 January 2007

 

'This confidently executed, solid piece, richly varied variations in colour, texture and pace, certainly felt like an organic unity‘

The Evening Standard (Stephen Pettitt),  6 August 2004