Anders Nordentoft (b. 1957) must first and foremost be described as a lyrical and narrative composer. Behind his fine feeling for the immediate and the physical in music lies a delicate world of poetry and childlike innocence. 

On 20 October a digital album is released, presenting three sinfonietta works written over a span of more than 30 years: Balcony (2019), Stream (2017) and the breakthrough work Entgegen (1985), recorded by Athelas Sinfonietta. Pre-save the album via this link.

En fremstrakt hånd

‘I hear myself as a not better but more considered composer today,’ says Anders Nordentoft about the upcoming release. ‘Both Balcony and Stream were written for Athelas relatively recently, while Entgegen dates back more than 30 years.’

It has been said that Nordentoft’s music offers its listeners ‘an outstretched hand.’ His works are refreshingly free of dogma and take direct communication as
their starting point, whether through clear narrative, sensual lyricism or an almost physical impulse. The composer once claimed he set out to create music both ordinary and fantastic at the same time, like a normal day of the week.

Tusmørkefornemmelser

Balcony emanates from Nordentoft's collaboration with Athelas Sinfonietta, where he was composer-in-residence from 2020-2022. The four movement work for large ensemble is described by the composer as ‘a complete, small symphony.’ The work title originates from his love for balconies: ‘When I compose, I
feel like a “passenger” on a fictional balcony, where I can receive and process what comes to me.’

Stream is in the composer's own words ‘like magic from the light summer nights’ – a conversation for chamber ensemble whose velocity is determined by its own undercurrents of unease. The inspiration from the light of summer nights can be heard when the music, like a stream of water, moves through
different landscapes and moods with a particular sense of dusk.

In Entgegen from 1985, a large ensemble thrutches, fights and dances its way through a forest of rhythmic vitality and temperamental changeability. Anders Nordentoft says that this character is ‘shaped by the almost physical sense I had when composing, that the music could reach for something.’

Single out now

Today a single is released from the opening work Balcony, that is the delicate second movement with a consistent rhythcmig theme. Listen via this link.