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
24 capriccio's voor viool solo
Genre:
Chamber music
Subgenre:
Violin
Scoring:
vl
Horizons hollandais : pour orchestre, version 1959 / Max Vredenburg
Genre:
Orchestra
Subgenre:
Orchestra
Scoring:
2222 22(1)0 timp perc pf/hp str
Symphony Nº 2 : for orchestra / Christian Blaha
Genre:
Orchestra
Subgenre:
Orchestra
Scoring:
3fl(fl-a) 3ob(eh) 2cl cl-b 2fg cfg 4h 3tpt 3trb tb timp 2perc str
City Imprints : for orchestra / Klas Torstensson
Genre:
Orchestra
Subgenre:
Orchestra
Scoring:
picc 2fl 2ob eh 2cl cl-b cl-cb 2fg cfg 4h 3tpt 3trb(trb-tb/trb-b) 2tb-cb 4perc timp synth hp str
composition
Out of control : for orchestra / Joey Roukens, 2010
Description:
Out of Control is an orchestral work in which the material takes the most unforeseen directions, seemingly uncontrolled (or 'out of control'). Usually, when writing a piece, a composer tries to keep full control of his material. Notes often want to go in a certain direction by themselves, but sometimes as a composer you disagree with that direction (“no, this is too kitschy”) and then you exercise control to prevent the music from going in that direction. In this piece I wanted to see to what extent I could relinquish control and let the material take its own course.
The result is a piece that has something unbridled and spontaneous, but at the same time it is based on a carefully constructed ABABA structure (to avoid formlessness): the A sections consist of slow, reveling music - which may have both associations and evokes ambient-like music like Gustav Mahler's adagios -, while both B-sections consist of very energetic and rhythmic passages culminating in a climactic moment. In these B-sections, the unforeseen turns of the material are also most clearly audible: in the first B-section, for example, a grotesque fairground waltz suddenly appears, while in the second B-section the music gradually moves towards wild, pounding pop rhythms…