A fusion of ambient, progressive world music with violin as lead instrument.
With stunning contributions by Jimmy Johnson (James Taylor, Allan Holdsworth, Flim & the BB's), Dave Bainbridge (Iona, Strawbs, Lifesigns) and Troy Donockley (Iona, Nightwish, AURI).

"Art such as this is so needed in our society today and this is so beautifully crafted, it literally arrests your attention, not just your ears. Frank injects such beauty in this recording that a sense of wonderment is recaptured even in those of us who may have lived a few too many years and let wonder escape unnoticed". - Donny Limbert

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S A N C T U M

These are all orchestrations and/or compositions I made for Berklee University. I took the Orchestration 1 and 2 classes in 2010/2011. Passed with flying colours :-)

Berklee assignments

Strings I arranged and recorded for a well known Dutch song "Ik Hou van Jou" - "I Love You". These are only the strings but they are worth a listen. Enjoy!

Ik Hou Van Jou Strijkers Mix

Wrote this piece for Berklee World Music composition, week 4. It is a Turkish Makam based on the Hümayun scale. Instruments used are viola, Kanun (zither), Ney flute, Dumbek (drum), Daire (tambourine) and Morin Khuur strings.

Hümayun Makam in 15/8

The journey goes to Mali this time, and I created some African sounding music based on the Panteke rhythm. The track starts with a Kalimba, a thumb piano mounted on a Calabash, a Talking drum and Djembe, all played live by me. The harp like sound is a Kora (used a sample)...

A Dutch fiddler lost in Timbuktu

Wrote this piece for my Berklee course on World music - Japan. It uses Koto, Shamisen, Taiko drums, a small gong and viola. Hope you enjoy it...

Dream of Japan

The assignment this week was to write a short piece with Brazilian influences. I chose to write a fusion-samba piece. Recoded drums & percussion live, the rest are samples. Would be great to do an extended live version one day!

My Brazilian Heart

This is an orchestration I did of a popular theme written by John Williams. I was given the melody and counterpoint, orchestrations are mine in two variations on the same theme.

Potter variations

Some examples of String Arrangements I did.

Betekenis 01

De Tijd 01

Genoeg 01

Het is over 01

Kleine Held 01

Your Love 01

Score I wrote for the TV Christmas show "Kerst met de Zandtovenaar".

Herodes En De Wijzen

Track I wrote for the TV Christmas show "Kerst met de Zandtovenaar". With a special rendition of "O come all ye Faithful".

Goud, Wierook en Mirre

Cue I wrote for the Christmas TV show "Kerst met de Zandtovenaar". This depicts the shepherds being overwhelmed by the angelic presence. :-)

Herders

My drumsession for SUCCES, a track by HardtMetDT. Work in progress!
Thanks for listening.
Drums: SONOR HILITE
Snares used: big snare: SONOR Designer series
Main snare: Ludwig Black Beauty anniversary edition

SUCCES DRUMS SC

This is our wish for you for 2017. I long wanted to set this well known poem to music. At the turn of 2016 I finally decided it was time. There is so much ugliness and hatred in the world today, so many people telling each other off, even on social media. I wanted to make something of hope, beauty, joy, comfort. And here it is, still in it's demo stage, but Marlou and I truly hope it will bless you as you enter another year.

May the road rise up to meet you
May the wind be always at your back
May the sun shine warm upon your face
The rain fall soft upon your fields.

And until we meet again
May God hold you in the palm of His hand,

Celtic Blessing DEMO

This is a romantic theme I wrote for a deleted scene of "Sense & Sensibility", an assignment of Berklee University - "Composing for Film & TV".

Sense and Sensibility theme

This is a suspense/adventure cue I wrote for Berklee Uni. Written to a deleted scene from the movie "Atlantis", where Vikings are seeking out the end of the world for the lost city of Atlantis...

Adventure Cue

This is a little Christmas gift for everyone who has contributed to my Indiegogo campaign or has shown an interest in my music. It´s an experimental improvisation to a well known Christmas song I love. Have a listen, with headphones on and drift away on the soundscape... Have a happy and blessed Christmas everyone.

O Come Immanuël Instrumental 2017

Lovely track written by Marlou based on a poem by the early 20th century Irish poet Joseph Mary Plunkett. The intro may sound familiar to some of you, it is my rendering of the intro of "Reel Around the Sun", from the great Riverdance show.

I SEE his blood upon the rose	
And in the stars the glory of his eyes,	
His body gleams amid eternal snows,	
His tears fall from the skies.	
 
I see his face in every flower;
The thunder and the singing of the birds	
Are but his voice—and carven by his power	
Rocks are his written words.	
 
All pathways by his feet are worn,	
His strong heart stirs the ever-beating sea,
His crown of thorns is twined with every thorn,	
His cross is every tree.

Reel Around INTRO into I See H

I see His Blood with Reel Around intro

Nice cue I wrote for Berklee Composition for Film. This time a mildly dramatic cue, scored to a scene from the movie "Atonement".

Antonement suspense cue

Love this cue... It has this magical fantasy feel that was very appropriate for the film fragment. I scored this to a scene from "Lady in the Water". I expanded the end a bit, but it ends a bit abruptly now because I simply ran out of time. Could have expanded it a lot more though! Such a great atmosphere... Hope you enjoy it too!

Written for Berklee Uni - Composing for Film & TV - winter 2012

Lady in the Water cue

This is a 3-minute demo of some of the film scores I have composed over the last 3 months for Berklee University. Hope you enjoy the listen!

Scoring demo

This is a dancetrack I wrote for my Berklee course Songwriting for Film & TV.
Not my thing, usually, but really enjoyed this one! And beautifully sang by Marlou, of course.

Don't Wanna Live without Your Love

A beautiful Celtic sounding song I wrote for Berklee Songwriting. I had this tune in mind for a few days, and it works very well as an instrumental (which I will also upload). Marlou wrote some great lyrics for it and sang, the rest of the instruments are played by me.

You are Here

In the distance I see
My love coming to me
I've been waiting so long
For this moment to come

All these years wondering: "When?"
Swiftly came to an end
I can feel you come close
Nothing else matters now

You are here

You've been calling my name
Through the wind and the rain
Every ray of the sun
Spoke of this hope divine

That your promise was true
Kept my heart close to you
Love grew stronger each day
Nothing else matters now

You are here 


You are Here instrumental

Get the whole album at www.frankvanessen.com

The Face Of Grace

Origins

Get the whole album at www.frankvanessen.com

The melody of this track has been with me since I was in my early twenties. You could say it is maybe the melody of my life... It was featured on Iona's Open Sky album, almost 20 years ago now. Intersting to see how different I play it now. Dave and I recorded this on the spot, completely improvised, with only 1 or 2 edits... Enjoy it...
credits
from SANCTUM, released October 25, 2018
Frank van Essen: Solo violin, bar chimes
Dave Bainbridge: Keyboards

Composed by Frank van Essen and Dave Bainbridge
Recorded & mixed by Frank van Essen @ StringsAttached Studio, Collendoorn
Mastered by Sander van der Heide @ Wisseloord Studios, Hilversum

Published by Dew Age Publishing

Photography by Bertil van Wieren
Artwork by André Hofsink

A Million Stars

Get the whole album at www.frankvanessen.com

Marlou and myself live in a farmhouse with 8 cats, a dog, 8 goats, chicken and a pond full with fish. The cats will sometimes lie together in a small barn, very peaceful. Until one of them lashes out and the whole thing erupts! This track is kinda inspired by those events...
credits
from SANCTUM, released October 25, 2018
Frank van Essen: Solo violins, drums, toms, bodhran, congas, shakers, piano, autoharp, keyboards, programming
Mark Dekkers: Bass guitar
Jan Peter Beijersbergen: Acoustic & electric guitars
Sjoerd Visser: Soprano & alto saxophones, low & high whistles

Composed & arranged by Frank van Essen
Recorded & mixed by Frank van Essen @ StringsAttached Studio, Collendoorn
Mastered by Sander van der Heide @ Wisseloord Studios, Hilversum
Published by Dew Age Publishing

Photography by Bertil van Wieren
Artwork by André Hofsink

Cats In The Bakery

Introspection

Healing

Labyrinth

Geschreven & uitgevoerd voor de opening van de Kersttour 2012 van de band Sela. Voel je vrij om te downloaden!
Written & performed for the Christmas tour of the Dutch bamd Sela. Feel free to download!

Sela intromuziek 2012

Just finished a new piece of music for my new album - Meditations of a Sound Mind. It is based on a Biblical passage in Ezechiel 37 - The Valley of Dry Bones. If you have never read it, please do, it is such a powerful prophesy.This passage has always fascinated me, and when I reread it a few weeks ago it moved me deeply again.It seemed so fitting to write a piece of music around this, especially since it is 75 years since the Shoah - the Holocaust.

Marlou and I visited the camps in Auschwitz years ago. It was a beautiful day, the sun was shining, butterflies everywhere... It was hard to imagine that more than a million people died there under the most gruesome of circumstances. We saw the piles of shoes, suitcases, piles of hair, false teeth... We stood in the gaschambers where people were murdered with poison gas - made by Bayer. It literally felt like a valley of dead bones & ashes. It made me wonder if it would ever be possible for a people to truly recover from something so demonic, grotesk and horrific. 
No wonder Ezechiel wrote: "Our bones have dried up, our hope is gone, and we are completely cut off."

Ezechiel 37 spoke very loudly to me in the years to follow, with that image in mind. When God spoke to Ezechiel to speak new life to the bones and to prophesy for Breath to enter, he was adressing the Jewish nation and its people. And how amazing to see some of the fulfillment of Ez 37 come to pass in the last century - to see so many Jewish people restored to their promised land, Israël. "‘My people! I will open your graves and make you get up out of your graves, and I will bring you into the land of Isra’el.". Truly amazing. 
Of course there are many (political and otherwise) sidenotes to make, but for me personally, the return of the Jews to their nation is such a witness of Gods love & faithfulness.

This is a fragment of the 9 minute piece, not 100% finished yet, but a good preview. It will most likely become the closing piece of "Meditations of a Sound Mind". Let me know if and how it moves you.

Dry Bones Come To Life PREVIEW

This is a small section of a longer piece called "Plains of Eternity" - music Dave Bainbridge and myself improvised a few years back.
The whole track will soon be released as part of my new album "Meditations of a Sound Mind (vol 1) - an album with music for meditation, prayer, relaxation and inspiration. Music that makes room for your imagination and lets your spirit soar.

You can get more information and pre-order (yes, please!) the album here: https://frankvanessen.com/album/meditations-of-a-sound-mind-vol-1

Meditations of a Sound Mind vol 1

Plains of Eternity PREVIEW

Good Friday, April 10, 2020 (In the midst of the Corona crisis):

I did this arrangement of G.F. Händel's "Surely he has borne our griefs" years ago for a tour we did back then called the "Classic Festival", where I also sang this live. We used to play it with a full band, orchestra & choir, but I found the backing track last week and really liked this stripped down version.

I played and sang it for you this afternoon. The words are powerful and so moving, Isaiah 53:4-6. Hope this speaks to you again, it really moved me when I sang it.


Surely, surely
He has borne our griefs
And carried our sorrows

He was wounded for our transgressions
He was bruised, he was bruised
For our iniquities

The chastisement, the chastisement
Of our peace was upon him.

released April 11, 2020
Arranged & performed by Frank van Essen
© 2020 Strings Attached Records

Surely He has borne our Griefs 2020

This track is dedicated to the incredibly courageous victims & survivors of SRA (Satanic Ritual Abuse).

Verse 1:
Little bodies hurt, little bodies broken,
Little souls crushed, little souls traded for pleasure and gain.

Little bodies slashed, sacrificed to evil,
Little bodies, trashed, discarded in a well of immeasurable despair.

Pre-chorus
Can these lives be rescued?
Can these lives be saved?

Chorus::
For He sees in the darkness, the mystery of all the shattered pieces.
Assembling oh so carefully, arranging them into
A magnificent, glorious One,
One, whole You,

One True You!

Verse 2:
Little bodies chained, deprived of all affection,
Little bodies drained, providing a supply of the ‘fountain of youth’.

Little souls caged, innocence stolen,
Little lives lost, no-one ever knew that they lived down below.

Can these lives be rescued?
Can these lives be saved?

Ref: For He sees in the darkness..2x

Bridge:
The ones that didn’t make it,
were carried up by Angels,
into the arms of Jesus, Safely Home. 2x

Silent
No more
Silent
No more
credits
released January 10, 2021
Lyrics & music by Marlou van Essen
Produced & arranged by Frank van Essen

With:
Marlou van Essen - Vocals
Jay-P Beijersbergen - Acoustic & electric guitars
Jonas Pap - Cello
Frank van Essen - keyboards, drums, violins & viola, programming

Children's choir:
Mardou, Hosanna, Linette, Jewel, Rose, Hero, Bliss, Emma, Saar, Nora, Abby-Jo, baby Dynasty

Recorded, mixed & mastered by Frank van Essen
license
all rights reserved

Little Bodies

This is a strings excerpt of the title song of the Dutch version of the Narnia movie "Voyage of the Dawn Treader". I re-recorded all the strings, because the Dutch singer needed to sing the song in a different key. Nice track!

Frank van Essen

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