In Wednesday’s (1/19) Dallas Morning News, Scott Cantrell writes, “Tall, lean, craggy and bearded, affable and humorous, Poul Ruders could pass as a gentleman farmer. In fact, he and his wife, Emma, live in an old farmhouse in rural Denmark … This week, he’s in Dallas for the world premiere of his Symphony No. 4, subtitled An Organ Symphony. The Dallas Symphony Orchestra, led by guest conductor Roberto Minczuk, with organist Mary Preston, gives the first performance on Thursday, with repeats Friday through Sunday. Also on the program are Mozart’s Haffner Symphony and Strass’ tone poem Also sprach Zarathustra, made famous by the 1968 Stanley Kubrick film 2001: A Space Odyssey. Both the Ruders and the Strauss will offer too-rare chances to hear the big C.B Fisk organ in the Meyerson Symphony Center, by general consent one of the finest concert-hall organs in the world. DSO music director Jaap van Zweden was keen to have a new work to show off the instrument, and the DSO teamed up with Denmark’s Odense Symphony and England’s City of Birmingham Symphony to commission it.” A subscription is required to view the full article at the link above.
Posted January 20, 2011
