related works
unde imber et ignes : for soprano and orchestra / Rick van Veldhuizen
Genre:
Vocal music
Subgenre:
Voice and orchestra
Scoring:
sopr-solo 2fl(picc) fl-a(picc) ob ob(obdam) eh 2cl cl-b 2fg cfg 4h 3tpt 2trb-ten trb-b tb timp 3perc hp str
Michaelssymphonie : voor groot harmonie orkest, opus 45, 1994 / Marc van Delft
Genre:
Orchestra
Subgenre:
Band
Scoring:
6.3.12.3 6sax 4446 timp 7perc hp pf (vc ad lib.) 2cb
Symfonie Nº 3 : 'de 4 elementen' voor groot harmonie-orkest; opus 149 / Marc van Delft
Genre:
Orchestra
Subgenre:
Band
Scoring:
2pc 3fl 2ob ca 2 bsn 4clar 2bcl 1dbcl asax tsax barsax 4hn 4trp 4trb 2euph 2btub timp 5perc hrp pno/cel 8vlc 4 db
Cirkels II : voor harmonie- en strijkorkest, opus 90, nr. 2, 1993 / Jo van den Booren
Genre:
Orchestra
Subgenre:
Band; String orchestra; Orchestra
Scoring:
2232 3sax 4331 2bug euph timp 2perc mar(xyl) str
composition
(un)mensch : for symphonic wind orchestra / Rick van Veldhuizen
Author(s):
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