composer
Bram Kortekaas was born in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, in 1989. He studied composition with Willem Jeths and Wim Henderickx at the Conservatory of Amsterdam, and political science at the University ...
related works
Made in Holland 17 New Dutch Blues : for piano / Elizabeth Gaskill
Genre:
Chamber music
Subgenre:
Piano
Scoring:
pf
Circo : voor klein orkest, (1952-) febr. mrt. '61 / Wim Franken
Genre:
Orchestra
Subgenre:
Orchestra
Scoring:
1121 2110 perc (hp ad lib.) pf str
Passage : for orchestra / Frédéric Devreese
Genre:
Orchestra
Subgenre:
Orchestra
Scoring:
picc 2fl 2ob 2cl 2fg cfg 4h 3tpt 3trb tb timp perc hp pf(cel) str
Ballet-Suite : voor orkest / Hendrik Andriessen, 1947
Genre:
Orchestra
Subgenre:
Orchestra
Scoring:
pic 2fl 2ob 2cl 2fg 4h 3trp 3trb tb timp perc cel hp str
composition
Cosmic Cliffs : for chamber orchestra / Bram Kortekaas
Description:
In 2015 I wrote a composition inspired by an image from the Hubble Space Telescope: The Pillars of Creation. Recently, NASA published the first images that are made with their new James Webb Space Telescope. It includes a picture of the Cosmic Cliffs: a cosmic landscape of “mountains” and “valleys” at the edge of the Carina Nebula, the birthplace of new stars.
The new image captivated me and seemed to deserve a composition of its own. While composing, I envisioned a visit by the Voyager 1 spacecraft to the Cosmic Cliffs. In my imagination it performs its cosmic concert by playing the Voyager Golden Record, which includes amongst others a recording of the Georgian choral song “Chakrulo”. This choir has infinite space as its concert hall, but, perhaps, no-one to listen to it.
The composition mixes a number of feelings and impressions, like the awe for the beauty of the cosmos and the incomprehensible size of the Cosmic Cliffs with its peaks of seven lightyears tall, the desolateness of space and the lonesome trajectory of the Voyager Spacecraft and its music.
Bram Kortekaas