A cold wind is blowing from the Baltic when I meet clarinettist and conductor Martin Fröst in Stockholm. The sky is the same icy blue as the city’s Art Deco concert hall, which an orderly group of protestors pass with banners that read ‘No to NATO, yes to peace!’ Sweden has applied to join the military alliance a few days earlier – like the rest of Europe, it is searching for its place in a new, more frightening world.
‘What do I know? Not much, but I do know there’s a way out,’ Fröst says on stage as he introduces Xodus, his hour-long concoction of music, lighting and live visuals with the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra (RSPO). Notwithstanding its title, he tells me the programme’s theme isn’t an escape from anything in particular – it’s more a challenge to convention. As he tells the audience: ‘Straight paths only work on even ground’.
Watching Fröst
