related works
Eauman : for baritone and string quartet / Text and music by Rick and Veldhuizen
Genre:
Vocal music
Subgenre:
Voice and instrument(s)
Scoring:
zang 2vn vla vc
NightRunner : for harmony orchestra / Chiel Meijering
Genre:
Orchestra
Subgenre:
Band
Scoring:
picc 2fl 3ob 4cl b-cl fg 4sax 4fh 3tpt 3trb euph 3tub perc db
Cirkels II : voor harmonie- en strijkorkest, opus 90, nr. 2, 1993 / Jo van den Booren
Genre:
Orchestra
Subgenre:
Band; String orchestra; Orchestra
Scoring:
2232 3sax 4331 2bug euph timp 2perc mar(xyl) str
Ragtime : for wind orchestra / Willem Breuker
Genre:
Orchestra
Subgenre:
Band
Scoring:
picc fl 2ob 4cl cl-a cl-b 2fg 2sax-a sax-t sax-bar 3tpt 4h 3trb bar/euph bass perc
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