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

Shifts - Piano Study No. 3 was composed by Poul Ruders in 2014. Dedicated Bo Reipurth.

Poul Ruders' collection of short solo pieces entitled 13 Postludes For Piano was written in 1989 for the Danish pianist Amalie Malling right on the heels of the composer's first symphony 'Himmelhoch jauchzend - zum Tode betrübt' which was premiered in London during the 1990 Prom-season.

The 'Dante-Sonata' was composed in 1970 inspired by two quotations from Dante’s 'La Divina Comedia' Inferno each in its turn forming the program of the two movements. Movement 1: Wandering through Inferno Dante sees all those who during their life on earth were ill-tempered and discontented and who are now doomed for all eternity to stand in mud up to their necks fighting each other tearing and scratching each other’s flesh. Movement 2: Here the doomed wretches recollect life on earth - the blessed sun and the green meadows; but it is too late to repent. Apart from having this connection with 'La Divina Comedia' the title: 'Dante-Sonata' has a dialectical andmusic-historical reference a reference to Franz Liszt’s Dante Sonata without quoting from it in any way. An elusive 'air' of the music of bygone days can be percieved in the second movement which with its many types of graces is reminiscent of a slow movement of a Baroque dance. 'Dante-Sonata' is dedicated to Elisabeth Klein.