gerelateerde werken
Genre:
Vocaal
Subgenre:
Zangstem en orkest
Bezetting:
sopr-m fl picc ob eh cl cl-b 2fg 2h tpt trb tb timp perc hp synth str
Soundscape I : for wind orchestra / Bernard van Beurden
Genre:
Orkest
Subgenre:
Harmonieorkest
Ruach : for concert band, 1990 / Hans Kox
Genre:
Orkest
Subgenre:
Harmonieorkest
Bezetting:
4262 4sax 4332 2barh timp 3perc cb
Suite voor harmonieorkest : (Hommage à Peter Iljitsj), 1964 / Jos van Amelsvoort
Genre:
Orkest
Subgenre:
Harmonieorkest
Bezetting:
2242 3sax 4222 2crt 2barh 2 bombar perc
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