The research on the musical cultures of faraway countries left its mark on Poul Rovsing Olsen's (1922-82) oeuvre. He aimed at clarity and substance, and by fusing elements from the Occidental and Oriental traditions he developed a personal musical idiom that was unusual in Danish music. Poul Rovsing Olsen himself said that it was his dream “to make music as direct as possible, to bring it closer to the listener”. This CD features his last composition A Dream in Violet and four world premiere recordings of his music for voice and instruments, including The Planets, based on a block book from the 15th century.

Composer Poul Rovsing Olsen was educated at the Royal Danish Academy of Music and subsequently in Paris, where he studied under the highly regarded teacher Nadia Boulanger and the renowned composer Olivier Messiaen.

Alongside his studies of classical music, Rovsing Olsen cultivated his passion for Oriental music and a great part of his life he dedicated to his professional work on ethnomusicology. His work on the music of distant countries also left its mark on Rovsing Olsen’s own music

The occasion which led to the composition of the title work of the album The Planets (1978) was the 50th anniversary of the finding of a block book from the second half of the 15th century with texts on the planets. Parts of the coloured drawings from the book, which is now owned by the National Gallery of Denmark, can be seen on the CD cover and booklet.