Poul Ruders

In Latin Anima means soul but it is also a Jungian expression for the female element of the male. Anima forms the first part of a nameless trilogy of solo concertos which emphasizes reflective moods. In this cello concerto it is mainly the melodic aspect that is in the foreground a bitter-sweet but always gentle song for cello.

Tjenerindens Fortaelling-This is the Vocal Score for The Handmaid's Tale an Opera based on the novel by Margaret Atwood.

Poul Ruders' Handel Variations for Orchestra (2009) -Ninety Symphonic Reflections on Eight Bars by Georg Friedrich Handel.Commissioned by and dedicated to the Aarhus Symphony Orchestra in celebration of their 75th anniversary 2010. Premiered by The Aarhus Symphony Orchestra conducted by Giancarlo Andretta at the Aarhus Concert Hall 14 January 2010. Programme noteThe short feisty Bourrée from Handel´s famous Water Music (First Suite in F major) has for some years been hovering at the back of my mind as possessing the perfectpotential for a series of variations. Not unlike the short 'morsel' by Henry Purcell (the witches Ho-ho-ho-chorus from the opera Dido and Aeneas) which kicks off the ten variations of my orchestral work Concerto in Pieces the music per se is not particularly interesting but it nevertheless grows on you and is difficult to get rid of. It is merely a handful of sequences (a technique much used in the Baroque era - a method in which the same motif is being shifted up and down in a specified order). Actually it is only the first eight bars of the Bourrée which I haul through the wringer.It would be obvious to assume that Handel Variations make up a sequel to Concerto in Pieces but in spite of the similarity in character between the two chosen themes the Handel Variations are far more symphonically coherent. There are no less than ninety (!) variations and each variation (they are relatively short ranging from four up to forty-something bars) runs seamlessly into the next creating a huge symphonic body of constantly changing colours. I set out with the original theme without interfering but the 'erosion' begins to gnaw away at the theme already from the first variation. Imagine a vast gallery of Handel portraits in which Georg Friedrich appears at first fully recognizable but then the 'disfiguration' sets in and

Light Overture - A Symphonic Entertainment was composed by Poul Ruders in 2006. Commissioned by the Alabama Symphony Orchestra and Music Director and Principal Conductor Justin Brown for Alabama Power Company’s 100 Year Anniversary Concert. Light Overture subtitled A Symphonic Entertainment is a short piece for symphony orchestra lasting approximately eight minutes. Light Overture is focusing on two interpretations of the word light: ”light” as in the absence of darkness and “light” as in easily comprehensible; in other words a piece with few or no metaphysicalconnotations. It is just a piece setting a festive mood as is often the case with this sort of short “concert opener”. However the journey through Light Overture is not entirely happy-go-lucky. Once in a while slightly darker colours are introduced for the sake of variety and contrast. And formally the composition is quite strict: an outright Prelude and Fugue the former sliding seamlessly into the latter. The Fugue juggles not only its own tune but also picks up stuff from the Prelude. Poul Ruders May 2006

Part For Viola-Concerto For Viola And Orchestra by the Danish composer Poul Ruders. Part for Viola.This 28 minute piece was written for Yuri Bashmet commissioned by Léonie Sonnings Music Foundation and first performed by Danmarks Radio in 1994.

Corona - The Solar Trilogy No. 3 for Orchestra was composed by Poul Ruders in 1995.Programme note:CORONA makes the final part of the SOLAR-TRILOGY a huge symphonic triptych about the life and behavior of the Sun. The first'panel' GONG depicts the birth life and final collapse of our nearest star the second ZENITH describes in its ultra-slow tempo the patient rise of the Sun toward midday ferocity and its subsequent setting. CORONA then is a symphonic 'portrait' of the phenomenally hot whispy brim encircling and radiating from the Sun a sizzling halo of electrons and photons visible only during a total eclipse. Formally CORONAfollows the process of such totality in progress:the gradual eclipsing by the Moon - total darkness with thefierce sparkling outer corona - the gradual 'rebirth' of the light toward the full gl.ory and warmth of the Sun.Besides the obvious astronomical narrative of the SOLAR-TRILOGY there's a metaphysical angle too underlying each of the three compositions: GONG in spite of its apparent energy may be the most pessimistic of them all epitomizing the death and ultimate annihilation of the prime source of Life itself. ZENITH is a hommage to human aspiration and spiritual endurance and CORONA ends with Hope and Glory after a journey from depression throughtotal despair. Super-structurally the zenith of ZENITH makes the zenith of the entire trilogy i.e. when the E- flat of the unisone horns in ZENITH is heard we are exactly halfway through the collected work.Poul Ruders

Rattus Rattus is a solo Guitar piece by the Danish composer Poul Ruders composed in 2015 for Petri Kumela.

Poul Ruders' Kafka In Love (2001) is a piece for klezmer ensemble ad lib. Manuscript copy.

Full score for this work for Guitar and Small Ensemble. Ruders writes: The word has its origin in ancient Greek: Psalmoidia i.e. ?singing to the harp? and we find the word again in Psalter derived from Psallein ?playing the strings with the fingers?. 'Psalmodies' written for and dedicated to David Starobin has no specific religious content or aim; the collection of eleven pieces forms a concert-suite displaying a wide range of emotions; from the jubilant to the dismal the guitar playing the natural leading part ?inside? a chorus of woodwinds and strings. The title and each movement mirrors the variety of moods from the secular feast of A Fanfare for All to the sacredintroversion of A Prayer with Halo. 'Psalmodies' opens with a guitar-solo and closes down with one: the rejoicing Entrance for One and the hushed melancholy Exit for One thus exemplifying the emotional compass which I in an essay on my first symphony; ?Himmelhoch Jauchsend-zum Tode betrübt? entitle: Of Joy and Grief. Of Worship and Oblivion.

Poul Ruders' opera Tycho in 3 Acts was premiered May 15 1987 by Aarhus Symphony Orchestra and Kaare Hansen (conductor) at Helsingør Theater in Aarhus Denmark. Libretto in Danish by Henrik Bjelke. Vocal score: WH31457C Synopsis: In 1597 the famous Danish astronomer and astrologist the nobleman Tycho Brahe flees his castle cum observatory Uraniburg on one of the small islands off the Danish coast. The newly coronated King Christian the Fourth has a grudge against Tycho who in 1572 discovered a new star Stella Nova by using his naked eye only; the telescopewasn’t invented yet. This discovery gained Tycho tremendous fame among his contemporaries within the European scientific circles. The now weakened and embittered old man moves together with his wife Christina whom he raped when she was an adolescent and Jeppe the Dwarf his fool-servant whose life Tycho once saved to the plague-infested city of Prague. There at the Benatky Castle Tycho encounters the main reason for his departure from Denmark: the young German mathematician Johannes Kepler the only scientist among his contemporaries Tycho acknowledges - Tycho is in severe need of intelligent challenge. Which he gets and with a disastrous result for himself. The encouraging encounter with Kepler turns into Tycho's scientific and earthly death verdict. Slowly Tycho realizes that his own conception of the Earth as the indisputable axes of the Universe is shattered by Kepler s theory about Earth encircling the stationary Sun. The ancient picture of the Universe collapses Tycho feels deceived by Kepler who leaves the castle shaken by Tycho's wrath. But they meet again and reunite in a Romanza a Due at Tycho’s death bed. The opera hovers above immense sadness and extreme ridicule - the cast is most peculiar indeed - so in many ways 'TYCHO' may be described at the best as a'Tragic Operetta'

Autumn Collection for Viola solo by Poul Ruders (2014). Written for Rafael Altino.

Dramaphonia for Piano solo and Chamber Ensemble was composed by Poul Ruders in 1987. First part of 'Drama Trilogy'. Commissioned by and dedicated to Poul Rosenbaum and Lontano. Programme note: 'Dramaphonia' for Piano solo and 11 instruments forms the first part of a trilogy of solo-concertos the remaining two being one for percussion and smaller symphony orchestra ('Monodrama') and the last ('Polydrama') for violoncello and full orchestra. All three pieces are in one movement each and may be performed together thus presenting a vast 'concerto grosso' of the duration of ninety minutes. Each concerto however standsby itself offering its own story: having employed the word 'drama' in all three pieces I naturally want to imply that something is 'going on' a series of hidden events created by each listener’s own 'inner theatre' which enables him to stage his own personal associations and in the case of 'Dramaphonia' the compositorical tension alters between action and frozen panoramas. In the percussion concerto the rhythmical progression is being constantly intensified whereas the metric proportions of Dramaphonia tighten and loosen like a magnifying glass being wielded in and out of focus. Poul Ruders

Cello Concerto No. 1-Poul Ruders Polydrama (Manyfold Event) for cello and orchestra is the last part of a drama trilogy otherwise consisting of Dramaphonia' for piano and 11 instruments and Monodrama for percussion and 32 instruments. In this abstract drama the individual listener is left entirely to his own associations. The composer has compared polydrama with the gradual defoliation of a big tree: the vigorously growing organism is attacked by a swarm of locusts until finally nothing remains but bare branches in a landscape of long shadows; a solitary singing bird remains however like a streak of hope in an increasingly dark and pessimistic universe.

Poul Ruders' Star Prelude And Love Fugue is a work for Piano solo dating from 1990. Programme note Star Prelude and Love Fugue is the fruit of “a wonderful stay in Tokyo in March 1988” (the composer’s words). The two pieces were composed in February 1990 and they are dedicated to Japanese pianist Aki Takahashi who gave the premiere performance at the Lerchenborg Musikdage on 3 August 1990. The prelude is a fantasia on the prelude of Act Two of Poul Ruders’ opera Tycho (1986) about Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe (which should explain the title). The theme of the  Love Fugueistaken from the opening bars of another earlier Ruders’ work namely the a cappella motet Charitas Nunquam Excidit (which is Latin for “love never ceases”). The following fugue is purged of the genre’s traditional gravitas as is already signalled by the expression mark 'Swinging'. Its initial eleven bars quote the motet but there after everything is newly composed. Per Erland Rasmussen 2001