composer
Kris Oelbrandt was born in Sint-Gillis-Waas, Belgium, on November 13, 1972. He studied violin, viola, and piano before focusing on music theory with professors Willem Kersters and Wim Henderickx at ...
related works
Psalm 119 : for mixed choir / Kris Oelbrandt; translation Kees Waaijman
Genre:
Vocal music
Subgenre:
Mixed choir
Scoring:
GK4
Quintetto I : for oboe quintet, 1994 / Jos van Amelsvoort
Genre:
Chamber music
Subgenre:
Oboe
Scoring:
2ob ob-am eh heck/eh
From between the cracks : for oboe / Wilma Pistorius
Genre:
Chamber music
Subgenre:
Oboe
Scoring:
ob
Sonate voor hobo / Karel Mengelberg
Genre:
Chamber music
Subgenre:
Oboe
Scoring:
ob
composition
Micrologica 10-12 (It's Pointless!) : for oboe / Kris Oelbrandt
Description:
A solo oboe whose sounds float intangibly, elusively in thin air. When the Dominican Church Zwolle commissioned me to compose this piece, I thought immediately of Ecclesiastes 1:2: "All is vain and pointless." And yet that is exactly what makes life so beautiful: we have no control over it. That's good. Once we accept this fact, we feel the core of our existence anew. It is the paradox of our life: everything is indeed intangible, and it is precisely in this intangibility that we find the anchor point, the core of our life. That is why these oboe pieces are very consistently composed around a fixed point: every musical cell either departs from this point, or returns to it. That fixed point gives space and direction for the oboe to float seemingly elusively in space.
These pieces are part of my Micrologica cycle. A "Micrologica" is a miniature in which a logical music-theoretic principle is implemented very tightly and consistently. It is an exercise in compositional asceticism, for no creative digression is allowed. Precisely this asceticism proves to be formative and fruitful for my composing technique. It is precisely through this exercise in
compositional abstinence that I find new freedoms.
Kris Oelbrandt