The Music of Poul Ruders, Volume 4
Fairytale
(1999) for orchestra
Orkester Norden, Stefan Solyom, conductor
Piano Sonata No. 2
(1982)
Thomas Adès, piano
De Profundis
(1990) for two pianos and percussion
Quattro Mani, duo pianos
David Colson, percussion
Concerto in Pieces
(1995)
BBC Symphony Orchestra, Sir Andrew Davis, conductor
BRIDGE 9143
Cover painting by Alexis Napoliello
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This disc combines two spectacular concert performances and
two studio recordings of works by Danish composer Poul Ruders.
The disc opens with a performance from Copenhagen of Ruders's
brilliant tone poem, "Fairytale" for large orchestra,
performed by Orkester Norden, conducted by the then twenty year
old Swedish wunderkind, Stefan Solyom. "Fairytale" is
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, 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!' Next, the noted British composer/pianist, Thomas
Adès, plays Ruders's dramatic "Piano Sonata No. 2" in a
live performance from the Aldeburgh Festival. Duo piano team
Quattro Mani and percussionist David Colson essay Ruders's granitic
"De Profundis", and a newly re-mastered version of
Ruders's thrilling "Concerto in Pieces", with Sir Andrew
Davis leading the BBC Symphony Orchestra, brings this disc to a
blazing conclusion.
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