composer
Joey Roukens (b. 1982) is an Amsterdam-based composer of contemporary classical music. He studied classical composition at Codarts University of the Arts and psychology at Leiden University. Since graduating in ...
related works
Zwei Heine Lieder : for alto or mezzo-soprano and piano / Gustav Mahler; realised by Joey Roukens
Genre:
Vocal music
Subgenre:
Voice and piano
Scoring:
zang pf
Canto : for orchestra, 2000 / Bart de Kemp
Genre:
Orchestra
Subgenre:
Orchestra
Scoring:
3333 4221 vibr hp str
Metamorphosis 4-6-2-1 : for orchestra / Benjamin Ashkenazy
Genre:
Orchestra
Subgenre:
Orchestra
Scoring:
3fl 3ob 3cl cl-b 3fg 4h 4tpt 4trb hp pf 4perc str
Symphonie no. II : 1947 / Jan van Dijk
Genre:
Orchestra
Subgenre:
Orchestra
Scoring:
3233 4331 perc str
composition
Fast movement and Epilogue : for chamber orchestra / Joey Roukens, 2009
Description:
‘Fast Movement and Epilogue’ is a piece about ‘fastness’ and virtuosity. We live in a time in which everything seems to go fast, everything seems to change fast and many people seem to be in a constant state of rush and hurry. However, I feel that this fast pace and hectic nature of contemporary life is something which is only rarely reflected in contemporary (classical) music, in which truly fast-paced pieces seem to be scarce. Even though in earlier eras, composers like Scarlatti, Haydn, Mozart, Rossini, Liszt, and so on, were all masters of the kind of fast and virtuoso music that is seldom being written today.
So when I got the commission to write a piece for Tokyo Sinfonietta, I set out to write a highly virtuoso piece that is among the fastest music I have written. Consequently, it turned out to be fiendishly difficult to play. The first ten or so minutes of this 14-minute piece should sound like a high-speed roller-coaster ride, requiring the musicians to maintain high energy playing and very fast tempi throughout. The music is characterized by driving, syncopated rhythms (that sometimes clearly refer to certain pop genres), insistent ostinati, moments of playfulness, lightness, humor and at times a Stravinskian bite. A contrasting slow, quiet and dreamy epilogue concludes the piece, putting the fast music in a slightly different light.