related works
mais le corps taché d'ombres : for harp and string orchestra / Rick van Veldhuizen
Genre:
Orchestra
Subgenre:
Harp and string orchestra
Scoring:
hp-solo str
Ballade : for wind orchestra, 1986 / Jos van Amelsvoort
Genre:
Orchestra
Subgenre:
Band
Scoring:
2372 3sax 4432 2bombar timp perc cel hp cb
Wals : harmonie orkest, 1981, (rev. 1983) / Geert van Keulen
Genre:
Orchestra
Subgenre:
Band
Scoring:
I: 1171 3sax 2322 euph perc II: 1181 2sax 2322 euph perc cb/g-b
Eleni (Act I) : Arrangement for wind orchestra / Nestor Taylor
Genre:
Orchestra
Subgenre:
Band
Scoring:
2fl 2ob 4cl cl0b 2fg h 2flugelh 4tpt h-ten trb-b bar 2tb timp 2perc hp db
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