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
24 capriccio's voor viool solo
Genre:
Chamber music
Subgenre:
Violin
Scoring:
vl
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
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
Quartetto per archi IV : = Strijkkwartet no. IV, (1965) / Guillaume Landré
Genre:
Chamber music
Subgenre:
String Quartet (2 violins, viola, cello)
Scoring:
2vl vla vc
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.