composer
Joey Roukens (b. 1982) is an Amsterdam-based composer of contemporary classical music. He studied classical composition at Codarts University of the Arts and psychology at Leiden University. Since graduating in ...
related works
Zwei Heine Lieder : for alto or mezzo-soprano and piano / Gustav Mahler; realised by Joey Roukens
Genre:
Vocal music
Subgenre:
Voice and piano
Scoring:
zang pf
Genre:
Unknown
Subgenre:
Orchestra
Scoring:
2fl ob sax-a sax-t sax-b h 4tpt 2trb tamb timp dr keyb 2g-e g-b str
Prelude and Ballad : for orchestra / Michael Fine
Genre:
Unknown
Subgenre:
Orchestra
Scoring:
2fl 2ob 2cl 2fg 2h 2tpt 2trb trb-b tb timp perc hp pf str
The Ultimate Girl Power Hero : Version for recorder and string orchestra / Chiel Meijering
Genre:
Orchestra
Subgenre:
Recorder and string orchestra
Scoring:
rec-solo str
composition
Symphony No. 1 (Kaleidoscopic) : for orchestra / Joey Roukens
Contains:
Always with forward motion
Ayre
Scherzo: Night Flight
Landscape
Description:
My first symphony was written for the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra. It is four-movement work of about 42 minutes, my longest purely orchestral work to date. The symphony is a kind of summary or 'kaleidoscope' of all those musical interests and techniques that have occupied me over the past decade or so. So we hear my take on post-minimalism in the first movement, echoes of early music in the second movement, my fascination with speed and motoric, additive rhythmics in the scherzo and my love of slow-moving adagios (in the vein of Sibelius or Mahler) in the final movement. Like many of my orchestral works, this symphony is characterized by great contrasts and a motley array of color and expression. Although the four movements seem very different, they nevertheless spring from the same seed. Thus, each movement begins with exactly the same harmonic state: the same initial chord, the same chord progression, in short, the same musical DNA from which a different organism emerges in each of the four movements.
The first movement (‘Always with forward motion’) begins mysteriously and quietly pulsating. A tapestry of overlapping layers of pulses unfolds. Initially, a long thin melody line in the violins seems to lead the music to a more melodic side, but soon the rhythmic, pulsating aspect takes over the music and the rhythmic drive gradually becomes stronger and more exhilarating. Towards the end of the movement, a processional-like passage with timpani pulse and blaring horns builds to a climax.
The second movement (‘Ayre’), takes the listener into very different, much calmer waters. After a dreamy introduction, a lyrical, song-like melody sounds in the oboe against a harmonic background in the strings. While writing it, I had associations with old Elizabethan ayres (airs), like the ones John Dowland wrote. The melody constantly shifts color and gradually becomes more erratic, intense and energetic to a point where the music briefly threatens to derail.
The third movement (‘Scherzo: Night Flight’) is a highly energetic and rhythmically profiled movement, where I imagine a kind of 'rollercoaster ride' through the night over a bustling city, with music that is dark in tone but colourful and full of irregular time signatures and grotesque, carnival-like elements.
The final movement ‘Landscape’ is a very slow movement (tempo designation lentissimo) that begins very delicately and small, with a thin orchestral texture dominated by percussion (xylophone, marimba), piccolo, harp, piano and pizzicato violins. Gradually, the music becomes larger, more swelling and expansive to eventually evoke a very vast and majestic landscape, before thinning out again and returning to the small, fragile sound with which the movement also began. The symphony ends as it also began: with a single rarefied, high note D.