Hanne Ørvad (1945-2013) was a Danish composer and singer. Words often function as a driving force in her music. The words, both their content and expression, gave her the inspiration for the music. Texts often supply the meanings that Hanne Ørvad uses to articulate the musical context, and this means both the thoughts and utterances that are inherent in the words, and the particular expression of the actual spoken sounds. The clash of consonants, the colours of vowels, the rhythms of words to a great extent provide the material for the works. In this way Ørvad's music becomes entirely her own, because one feels one can directly sense the many listenings, interpretations and decisions that were necessary to get the music to sound.