Poul Ruders' newest symphony will receive its World Premiere November 21, 2024.
In their signature time travel concert, Odense Symphony Orchestra will premiere Ruders' Symphony No. 6 under the direction of Christopher Lichtenstein. A musical travel across four centuries, from Händel to Ruders, through Mendelssohn and Richard Strauss, all works from a year 24 of their respective century.
A new symphony is always a big event. Eleven years ago, his Symphony No. 5 was filled with breathless suspense and high-strung drama, so today we wait, on the edge of our seat, for No. 6.
Ruders warns that this new symphony, significantly differs from its predecessors and deliberately so. "The world isn’t exactly wanting for symphonies, so the least I can do is to make sure that there’s something quite different in the offing, from piece to piece"
When asked to tell us more about his symphony, Poul Ruders says:
There is this thing about writing a piece today – and then calling it a Symphony, which is guaranteed to raise hackles in certain quarters. Not within the general public (in so far as there is a general public for that sort of thing), but with composers of self-proclaimed modernist (whatever that means) leanings, mostly because the mere name symphony (rooted in ancient Greek, meaning concordant in sound) just oozes tradition… and that a composer in this day age has the nerve to call a piece a symphony, is a sure sign, that he - or she - think they are somebody, besides it's “old hat”, is it not, that symphony thing?
I don't find that to be the case, and furthermore, I certainly think I'm somebody and I relish in seeing myself as belonging to the Germanic/Nordic tradition of composing numbered symphonies. So here we are, yet a symphony from my hand, number 6 in the series. The piece is not about anything but itself, which a more detailed program note explains.Will there be a number 7? Probably not, but as the saying goes, “Nobody knows the day until after the pub has closed”, I can´t promise anything (and don't even think of the number…Nine).
Enjoy!
In the meantime, here is a listen to Poul Ruders' first five symphonies:
