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
Glass hymnody : for wind orchestra, 2002 / Ton de Kruyf
Genre:
Orchestra
Subgenre:
Band
Scoring:
3141 4sax 3321 euph timp 2perc pf cb
Inventions : for wind orchestra, 2000 / Ron Ford
Genre:
Orchestra
Subgenre:
Band
Scoring:
3325 4sax 4442 barh euph timp 2perc cb
Misericordia : for wind orchestra, (level 5), 2002 / Kees Olthuis
Genre:
Orchestra
Subgenre:
Band
Scoring:
3262 4sax 4332 euph timp 4perc cb
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