composer
Rick van Veldhuizen (*1994, Tilburg) although reared on pop and folk, discovered classical music at the age of 11. He started composing pretty much at that point.
Education: Starting in 2008, ...
related works
mais le corps taché d'ombres : for harp and string orchestra / Rick van Veldhuizen
Genre:
Orchestra
Subgenre:
Harp en strijkorkest
Scoring:
hp-solo str
Musica reservata : for symphonic band and symphony orchestra, 1986, (revision 1987) / Hans Kox
Genre:
Orchestra
Subgenre:
Band; Orchestra
Scoring:
I: 2271 3sax 4331 crt bug barh 2perc cb II: 2222 4331 timp 1-2perc hp str
Prelude I : voor harmonieorkest, 1970 / Jos Amelsvoort
Genre:
Orchestra
Subgenre:
Band
Scoring:
2252 3sax 4441 barh 2bombar perc cb
Game Hunting : for harmony orchestra and audio track / Chiel Meijering
Genre:
Orchestra
Subgenre:
Band
Scoring:
picc 4fl ob 9cl bsn 4sax-a 3sax-t sax-b-solo sax-b 3h 8trp 2tmb euph 4tb perc
composition
(un)mensch : for symphonic wind orchestra / Rick van Veldhuizen
Description:
(un)mensch is a piece about radicalisation, and the tendency of humans to seek extremes. In current times, as in times past, people have dismissed radical or extreme behaviours as ‘inhuman’ or ‘evil’ behaviour, in the process distancing our humanity from it. This refusal to accept extremes as naturally human leads us astray, ‘Othering’ people we perceive to be different, and losing our concept of a shared humanity.
This piece takes the biggest villain in history, Adolf Hitler, as its starting point. Often considered ‘inhuman’ so one doesn’t have to associate oneself with him, portrayals of this historical figure paradoxically also paint him as a madman, plagued by amphetamine addiction, tinnitus and mental disorder. In short, his evil is often portrayed as both inhuman and quintessentially human.
(un)mensch, in turn, seeks to radicalize existing musical styles and ideas. From Ligeti-like micropolyphonies to Glass’s arpeggios and the unofficial anthem of the Third Reich, everything gets turned into a blurred, topsy-turvy version of itself. At the centre of this is an extensive quote from Richard Wagners Das Rheingold: the emerging and explosion of an idyllic, nationalistic dream, the fair copy of which perished with Hitler in his bunker in 1945.
Rick van Veldhuizen
26 March 2015