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
Instruments:
hp-solo str
6 concert-etudes : voor harmonie-orkest, 1941 / Koos van de Griend
Genre:
Orchestra
Subgenre:
Band
Instruments:
2262 3sax 4444 2bug 2crt 2barh timp perc
Pavane e capriccio : for wind orchestra, 1987 / Jos van Amelsvoort
Genre:
Orchestra
Subgenre:
Band
Instruments:
2272 3sax 4432 2bombar timp perc cb
Movements : opus 63, for symphonic band, 1987 / Jo van den Booren
Genre:
Orchestra
Subgenre:
Band
Instruments:
3262 5sax 4332 barh timp 3perc cb
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