Anders Hagberg | With Hope | October 3, 2025
With countless collaborations alongside some of the most celebrated names in jazz and global music – from Shakti and Avishai Cohen to Marilyn Mazur and Jon Hassell – Swedish flutist and saxophonist Anders Hagberg returns with With Hope, his second solo album with his Nordic ensemble.
Set for release on October 3rd via Prophone Records, With Hope is a poignant and timely response to a world in turmoil — a record that acknowledges the sadness of war, polarization, and climate change, while seeking resilience, wonder, and connection in the spaces between.
“For me, this music is a response to the challenges we face,” Hagberg reflects. “It’s filled with sadness, but also hope. Hope that I find in listening and creating together, in children’s play, in small acts of resistance and resilience. Music allows us to see the beauty that still exists in these uncertain times.”
Rooted in an improvisational flow across two recording sessions in 2023 and 2024, Hagberg’s writing blends original compositions with reimagined folk melodies. Three pieces – “Ruins,” “Evening Hymn,” and “With Hope” – are inspired by chorales from Gammelsvenskby in Ukraine, while “Arctic Call” draws on an Inuit drum song, and “Woods in Blue” reflects a traditional Swedish polska from Härjedalen. The final piece is a reworking of Francis Poulenc’s choral masterwork “O Magnum Mysterium,” gently reframed for the ensemble’s distinctive voice.
Rooted in buoyant melody and intuitive interplay, the record features Hagberg’s distinctive voice on alto, bass, and concert flutes alongside soprano saxophone. The quartet – featuring percussionist Helge Andreas Norbakken, pianist Joona Toivanen, and bassist Johannes Lundberg – brings a textured sonic palette to these soundscapes. Their interplay is enriched by Oberheim synths, prepared piano, singing bowls, and other subtle textures, creating a nuanced, cinematic backdrop that holds the balance between sorrow, joy, and hope.
With Hope is Hagberg’s second album with his Nordic ensemble, following the acclaimed North (2020), which garnered glowing reviews across Europe. With his new release, Anders Hagberg continues to shape a musical world all his own – one that invites listeners to acknowledge the present, honor the past, and look to the future with openness, creativity, and empathy.
Line up
Anders Hagberg | Flutes (Concert/Alto/Bass/Contrabass), Soprano Saxophone, Matusi, Singing Bowl
Johannes Lundberg | Double Bass, Vocals, Oberheim, FX
Joona Toivanen | Piano, Prepared Piano, Synthesizer, Key Bird, FX
Helge Andreas Norbakken | Percussion, Drums
Track Listing
lasticity of Trees
Elegy
Ruins
Welcome – For Allie
Circle No. 2
With Hope
Arctic Call
Evening Hymn – Gammelsvenskby
Sisters – For Lo & Ebba
Woods in Blue
O magnum mysterium
Cuttings
Jazzwise (UK)
“a meditatively luminous set of Scandi folk-infused jazz“
Paris-move (FR)
“a timeless soundscape of lucid poetics and hope”
Jazz Journal (UK)
“If these light, beautifully crafted performances of original compositions and restructured folk melodies say anything about our cosmic plight, it’s that we have to stay sane.”
Era Jazzu (PL)
“the band continues to shape their own musical world, encouraging listeners to acknowledge the present, respect the past, and look to the future with openness, creativity, and empathy”
Esensja (PL)
“surprisingly subdued, delicate, and—simply—beautiful”
Wilderness Viking (NO)
“material showcase that beauty can easily be explored in a more soft and subtle setting without ever being stagnant, as there is always some manner of movement and development ongoing”
Musik an sich (DE)
“One has the feeling that this music breathes, and in harmony with it, one can experience a magnificent listening sensation—meditative, perhaps occasionally a little sad or melancholic, but ultimately very, very beautiful!”
Donos (PL)
“With hope for the better… I recommend it, a beautiful album!”
Making a Scene (USA)
“This is a lovely album of meditative music that transcends genres.”
JazzMania (BE)
“hope is indeed present in this music, if only through its soothing splendor, which reflects, in a world plagued by excess, the best that humanity holds within.”
Jazzthetik (DE)
“Hagberg’s jazz is gentle, its therapeutic effect profound”
Salt-peanuts (DK)
“takes music to new heights”
Jazzflits (NL)
“Music that offers comfort rather than unrest—music that gives hope.”
Presto Music (UK)
“strives to communicate resilience and the inextinguishable idea of hope in our modern world”
Jazz Views (UK)
“a response to the turbulence of our times—an attempt to offer listeners a kind of buffer, a place where beauty and calm still exist”
Textura (CA)
“his compositions exude a folk-jazz character that’s generally lyrical and evocative also makes With Hope an appealing propositiony”
Jazz-fun (DE)
“a thoughtful, cohesive work best experienced as a whole. A journey into soundscapes full of depth, beauty, and hope – music that lets us breathe.”
Jazz Weekly (US)
“misty jazz ideas mixing originals with some interpretations“
La Habitacion del Jazz (ES)
“music has a cinematic undertone, rich in nuance, maintaining a balance between sadness, joy, and hope”
Hilary Seabrook (UK)
“There is a mesmeric quality to the album and I hope you can get lost in it, too.”
Jazzism (NL)
“poetic, empathetic music that allows silence and melody to speak in troubled times.”
SK Jazz (SK)
“Anders Hagberg continues to shape his own musical world – a world that invites listeners to be aware of the present, appreciate the past, and look to the future with openness, creativity, and empathy.”
Cuttings
