related works
Genre:
Chamber music
Subgenre:
Cello and keyboard instrument
Scoring:
vc pf
Prelude I : voor harmonieorkest, 1970 / Jos Amelsvoort
Genre:
Orchestra
Subgenre:
Band
Scoring:
2252 3sax 4441 barh 2bombar perc cb
Circus Knieval : for wind orchestra / Willem Breuker
Genre:
Orchestra
Subgenre:
Band
Scoring:
picc fl 2ob 3cl cl-a cl-b fg sax-a sax-t sax-bar 2tpt 4h 3trb bar euph tb perc
Arnhem - Rhapsody Phoenix : per orchestra d'armonia - e di fanfara, 1987 / Wim van Ligtenberg
Genre:
Orchestra
Subgenre:
Band; Fanfare
Scoring:
I: 2(1)5(1) 3sax 3332 barh euph timp perc (cb ad lib.) II: 0000 4sax 3332 4bug barh euph timp perc
composition
(un)mensch : for symphonic wind orchestra / Rick van Veldhuizen
Other authors:
Veldhuizen, Rick van
(Composer)
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