ACOUSTICAL CANVASES: THE MUSIC OF POUL RUDERS.-UP TO AND INCLUDING THE HANDMAID'S TALE.

First Edition. Paperback. Quarto. 439pp. Original black and orange paperback. Slight wear and rubbing otherwise near very good indeed. Danish Composer born 1949. Born in Ringsted, Poul Ruders trained as an organist, and studied orchestration with Karl Aage Rasmussen. Ruders's first compositions date from the mid-1960s. Ruders regards his own compositional development as a gradual one, with his true voice emerging with the chamber concerto, Four Compositions, of 1980. His notable students include Marc Mellits. Writing about Ruders, the English critic Stephen Johnson states: "He can be gloriously, explosively extrovert one minute Ð withdrawn, haunted, intently inward-looking the next. Super-abundant high spirits alternate with pained, almost expressionistic lyricism; simplicity and directness with astringent irony.".