Poul Ruders

Tundra - A Hommage To Jean Sibelius was commissioned by the Helsinki Philharmonics to celebrate the 125th anniversary of the birth of Jean Sibelius. The work was world premiered in Helsingfors 7th December 1990 and repeated the next day on Sibelius’ date of birth in his native town.

POD-Poul Ruders' Dezettino - A Movable Fanfare for Ten Players. Commissioned by and dedicated to the Esbjerg Chamber Ensemble in celebration of their 50th Anniversary in 2017.  

Songs and Rhapsodies for Accordion and Wind Quintet (2011). Commissioned by and written for Frode Andersen and Athelas Sinfonietta Copenhagen. Dedicated to Frode Andersen. With support from Statens Kunstfond - The Danish Arts Foundation. Ensemble:AccordionFlute dbl. Alto Flute in G and PiccoloOboe dbl. Cor Anglais in FClarinet in A dbl/ Bass Cl. in BbHorn in FBassoonParts available: WH31278A

Poul Ruders: Occam’s Razor contains 8 short pieces for Oboe and Guitar expertly composed by Poul Ruders. The title Occam’s Razor dose not pay any direct correlation to the music itself but to the term used by many physicists that describes the use of the simple solution over a more complex alternative. The Danish composer Poul Ruders has created a large body of music ranging from opera and orchestral works through chamber vocal and solo music.

Poul Ruders' Alone for Soprano Voice and Clarinet.This piece was composed in 1992 and incorporates text by Edgar Allan Poe.

Offred Suite by Poul Ruders - for Mezzo-Soprano and Orchestra (2001). Arias Interludes and Postlude from the opera The Handmaid's Tale. Based on the novel by Margaret Atwood. Based on the novel by Margaret Atwood.

Men Der Skyder En Kvist was expertly composed in 2013 by Poul Ruders for SATB choir and Organ.  

Group Portrait With Smetana by Poul Ruders is a short symphonic entertainment commissioned and written for Bamberger Symphoniker - Bayerische Staatsphilharmonie in 2014.

This short orchestral piece is a tone poem based on a passage from one of Hans Christian Andersen’s lesser known fairytales THE WIND TELLS ABOUT WALDEMAR DAAE AND HIS DAUGHTERS a mighty allegory about the transitoriness of Life about Vanity and Pride and the inevitable victory of Death (alias the wind) whose scything ravaging is sublimely depicted by Andersen in these few truly breathtaking lines: 'And Winter rushed Winter and Summer they rushed and they rush like I rush like the howling snow the flurrying apple blossom the scurrying foliage; rush! rush! The people too!'

Piano solo part for Paganini Variations - Piano Concerto No.3 by Poul Ruders (2014). Score available: WH32201 Programme note: In 1999 my friend American guitar virtuoso David Starobin wanted me to write a concerto for guitar and orchestra. It quickly dawned on me that this commission presented a golden opportunity to contribute to the time-honoured tradition of composing a series of variations on Nicolo Paganini´s famous 24th Caprice for violin solo a work which itself is a set of variations. The 16 bar (with the first 4 bars repeated) theme is not particularly sophisticated orintricate but its inherent simplicity and logic just grow on you almost to the point of distraction - and the secret behind it being hauled through 'the wringer' by composers as disparate as Liszt Brahms Rachmaninoff and Lutoslawski is perhaps found in its - what I´ll call with a quick nervous look over my shoulder: brilliant banality. You can do anything with that tune it´ll always be recognizable and just there however much you maul it. The piece (subtitled Guitar Concerto no 2) was written pretty quickly premiered and subsequently recorded for Bridge Records with David and the Odense Symphony Orchestra conducted by Jan Wagner and everybody was happy. But the story didn´t end there and it must be the ultimate proof of the durability of the theme not to mention the flexibility and far-sightedness of David Starobin when he 14 years latersuggested 'why not transcribe the solo part for piano?'. The idea appealed to me immediately. One thing was clear from the beginning: the new version could in no way sound like a transcription. My aim was to end up with a solo-part sounding like were it 'the one-and-only' the 'real thing' if you like.The orchestral score remains exactly the same in both cases. Both versions the two Paganini Variations are comparable to a

Poul Ruders MONODRAMAMONODRAMA dedicated to percussion virtuoso Gert Sørensen and commissioned by The Danish Radio was written in New York in the early winter 1988 and makes the centre as well as the middle of the tri-part opus called The Drama Trilogy. All three works employ the word Drama in their title Drama in the original meaning of the word: event. No specified event but a premonition or omen rather that something is afoot a free Drama-offer from which anyone may populate the stage of his private inner theatre.The first piece of the series DRAMAPHONIA for piano and chamber ensemble was premiered in London in the spring of 1988 by Lontano and Poul Rosenbaum. Thispiece is emotionally and rhythmically unstable as opposed to MONODRAMA (single-event) which is modelled from the archetypal idea of obtaining accomplishment from nothingness. The 31 instruments of the orchestra (no flutes and no violins or violas) are more or less wrapped around the solo-part to become one with that and thus emerge as one gigantic percussion instrument. The rhythmical patterns of the orchestral part more or less follow those of the percussionpart a single-event also on the rhythmical level.After 20 minutes climbing toward the peak of rage the composition casts its slough and is reborn into a chorale-like march and the struggle between totally depopulated sound-scapes and ferociously roaring sub-oceanic storms begin and the piece paces toward the abyss; rage becomes despondency New Rage as opposed to New Age the spineless worshipper of beauty without pain.The third instalment of the DRAMA TRILOGY the cello concerto POLYDRAMA will be premiered in Stockholm May 1990.MONODRAMA lasts aprox. 32 minutes.Poul Ruders

Paganini Variations - Piano Concerto No.3 by Poul Ruders. The original guitar-part (for Guitar Concerto No. 2) arranged for Piano and pianist Anne-Marie McDermott by the composer 2014.Piano solo part: WH32201CParts are available for hire: hire@ewh.dk Programme note: In 1999 my friend American guitar virtuoso David Starobin wanted me to write a concerto for guitar and orchestra. It quickly dawned on me that this commission presented a golden opportunity to contribute to the time-honoured tradition of composing a series of variations on NicoloPaganini´s famous 24th Caprice for violin solo a work which itself is a set of variations. The 16 bar (with the first 4 bars repeated) theme is not particularly sophisticated or intricate but its inherent simplicity and logic just grow on you almost to the point of distraction - and the secret behind it being hauled through 'the wringer' by composers as disparate as Liszt Brahms Rachmaninoff and Lutoslawski is perhaps found in its - what I´ll call with a quick nervous look over my shoulder: brilliant banality. You can do anything with that tune it´ll always be recognizable and just there however much you maul it. The piece (subtitled Guitar Concerto no 2) was written pretty quickly premiered and subsequently recorded for Bridge Records with David and the Odense Symphony Orchestra conducted by Jan Wagner and everybody was happy. But the story didn´t end there and it must be the ultimate proof of the durability of the theme not to mention the flexibility and far-sightedness of David Starobin when he 14 years latersuggested 'why not transcribe the solo part for piano''. The idea appealed to me immediately. One thing was clear from the beginning: the new version could in no way sound like a transcription. My aim was to end up with a solo-part sounding like were it 'the