Anders Nordentoft studied composition with Hans Abrahamsen and Ib Nørholm at the Royal Danish Academy Music in Copenhagen. Early works, such as Entgegen (1985) for chamber orchestra were concerned with juxtaposing opposing elements. However by the 1990s he had developed a more lyrical, melodic style, through which he sought out a more harmonious middle-ground that, in the composer’s own words, ‘explores the moderate but also expressive and infinitely faceted universe of friendship’. This aesthetic is evident in works such as The City of Threads (1994), Hymne (1996) and the cello concerto Sweet Kindness (1996).