related works
(un)mensch : for symphonic wind orchestra / Rick van Veldhuizen
Genre:
Orchestra
Subgenre:
Band
Scoring:
picc 2fl fl-a 2ob eh 2fg cfg 4cl cl-b cl-ca 5sax 2corn 3tpt 4h 2trb-t trb-b euph tb timp 5perc hp pf
The Rock We All Push : for harmony orchestra and audiotrack / Chiel Meijering
Genre:
Orchestra
Subgenre:
Band
Scoring:
picc fl ob cl1-2 bsn sax-a 3sax-t sax-b-solo sax-b h 2tpt euph 3tb perc tape
Cantilene : for wind orchestra, 1988 / Jos van Amelsvoort
Genre:
Orchestra
Subgenre:
Band
Scoring:
2372 3sax 4432 2bombar timp perc cel cb
Michael's Day Symphony : for large wind orchestra; opus 152 / Marc van Delft
Genre:
Orchestra
Subgenre:
Band
Scoring:
4picc 6fl 2ob ca 2bsn 4cl 2bcldbcl asax tsax barsax 4hn 5tpt 3tbn 1btrbn 2euph 2btb timp 10perc hrp pno/cel 8vlc 4db
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