gerelateerde werken
Eauman : for baritone and string quartet / Text and music by Rick and Veldhuizen
Genre:
Vocaal
Subgenre:
Zangstem en instrument(en)
Bezetting:
zang 2vn vla vc
Soundscape I : for wind orchestra / Bernard van Beurden
Genre:
Orkest
Subgenre:
Harmonieorkest
Prelude II : voor harmonieorkest, 1975 / Jos van Amelsvoort
Genre:
Orkest
Subgenre:
Harmonieorkest
Bezetting:
2372 3sax 4232 2crt 2 barh 2 bombar perc cel hp cb
Genre:
Orkest
Subgenre:
Harmonieorkest
Bezetting:
1050 3sax 4232 2crt 2barh 3perc
compositie
(un)mensch : for symphonic wind orchestra / Rick van Veldhuizen
Auteur(s):
Veldhuizen, Rick van
(Componist)
Toelichting:
(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