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
Boom Boom : for harmony orchestra / Chiel Meijering
Genre:
Orchestra
Subgenre:
Band
Scoring:
picc 2fl 2ob 3cl 2fg 4sax 3h 3tr 2trm btrm t-tb tb t-h perc cb(b-g)
Triptyque III : pour orchestre d'harmonie, 1994 / Luctor Ponse
Genre:
Orchestra
Subgenre:
Band
Scoring:
3353 sax-a sax-t 4332 perc cb
Diptych : for symphonic wind ensemble / Danijel Legin
Genre:
Orchestra
Subgenre:
Band
Scoring:
picc 2fl ob 4cl cl-b sax-a sat sax-bar fg 3f 3tpt 3trb 2euph tb timp 2perc pf
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