In recent years Svend Hvidtfelt Nielsen (b. 1958) has been making his mark ever more convincingly as one of the most significant Danish composers of his generation. Over the 15 years or so he has been composing, his oeuvre has grown to some fifty works in most genres - in the past few years, however, with a clear emphasis on chamber music. Svend Hvidtfelt Nielsen's training and background were unusually varied. He studied composition with teachers of very different persuasions, starting privately with Leif Kayser, later at the Royal Danish Academy of Music with Yngve Jan Trede, lb Nørholm and Hans Abrahamsen, and finally with Per Nørgard and Karl Aage Rasmussen at the Jutland Academy of Music in Arhus, where his debut concert as a composer was played in 1991. He also took a diploma in sacred music in 1985 and has a degree in music and philosophy from the University of Copenhagen. To round off the picture, it can also be mentioned that he has a background as a rock musician in the seventies.
Today he is active as a composer, organist, academy teacher of music theory and composition, and as a music researcher he has written a number of articles and not least an impressive book about Per Nørgård's music and worldview, Virkeligheden fortæller mig altid flere historier (Reality always tells me more stories, 1995). He has heen awarded several grants and scholarships and holds several official posts in the musical world.
His earliest works, from the beginning of the eighties, were mainly for organ and piano, his 'own' instruments. Later came a number of orchestral works such as Lovesong (1987-88), a concerto for guitar, cello and orchestra, Eksistenser I-II (1990), two movements for orchestra, as well as the chamher opera Uld (Wool, 1989-90). The bulk of his output from the end of the eighties on consists however of instrumental works for small ensembles - besides the works on this CD for example the string quartet Passenger (1987-89), Nachtspiel (1990), Fabel (1990-91), Syngende Drømmene ... (Singing The Dreams ...) (1991), Divertimento (1993), Sulamith Dances (1993-94) and Through the Darklands (1996) for mixed ensemhles - the last two with vocal participation.