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
Vuurdoop : for orchestra, 1998 / Micha Hamel
Genre:
Orchestra
Subgenre:
Orchestra
Scoring:
3333 6331 5perc cel hp str
Eerste suite Baron Hop / Alexander Voormolen
Genre:
Orchestra
Subgenre:
Orchestra
Scoring:
pic 2fl 2ob 2cl 2fg cfg 4h 3trp 3trb timp perc cel str
Orkestsuite : (de zeven planeten), opus 6, 1983 / Marc van Delft
Genre:
Orchestra
Subgenre:
Orchestra
Scoring:
3333 4331 5perc 2hp pf(cel) 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…