Poul Ruders was born in 1949 and trained as an organist. As a composer, he is mainly self-taught. He has written works for choir, chamber ensemble, and solo instruments, which are performed more than those of any other living Danish composer in and outside of Denmark. And yet, it is his works for orchestra that have secured Ruders his greatest fame.
Terms like dazzling orchestration, musical colours, emotional depths, psychological timing and flawless dramas cover some of the important aspects of Ruders’ music. He expresses himself as a composer and as a human being—in Ruders’ music, one feels a characteristic fusion of art and life. Perhaps that is the underlying idea of the artist’s words: “Composing is my life, it is the only thing that allows me to fill up the room completely. It is so vital for me that I am constantly haunted by themes, harmonics, orchestration and form problems.”
[ii-07]