Orchestral Music I Composed (Classical, Soundtracks, Hybrid Styles and Whatever Popped Up)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TB6SrcFqFNk

In this film, I re-arranged and edited several short video fragments made and shared (cheers for that!) by Cottonbro. In how I arranged all the fragments, the film corresponds loosely to the structure of the canon. 

This three-part 'grounded' canon actually started out as an assignment I made for Berklee College of Music: make a string arrangement on four chords. I decided to make a 3 part canon above a 'ground', in a baroque manner. Be it not strict though - but rather with a contemporary and soundtrack-ish feel. Kitschy? Perhaps - I'd prefer 'Baroque 2.0'. 

Enjoy!

I used the authentic Miroire lib by Orchestral Tools and added the very nice Viola da Gamba lib by Cinesamples. Mixing and mastering plugins by Waves, Izotope and Fabfilter.

Canon A 3 'Common Ground' | modern baroque for film

In this Berklee assignment I had to re-orchestrate a theme from Mahler's Third Symphony. It's short, but had a lot of fun in the process. 

It always struck me that the theme was so much like Brahms' main theme from the Finale of his Fourth, so I put some Brahms DNA in the beginning as well. He deserves it. 

Used BBC Symphony Orchestra by Spitfire, making a mockup after having composed and notated in Finale notation software.

Theme from The Third Reinvented | Rescoring Mahler using Brahms DNA

Talking Music
	
 	The construction
 	This prelude draws from a technique similar to twelve-tone technique- but only to a certain degree. Whereas dodecaphony rises all chromatic tones to equality, I chose to leave distinct tonal markers in the genome of this piece, in order for it to remain communicating. The choice of material helped. The single 16-note progression upon which material is based, was derived from the already rather chromatic dux of a baroque (so utterly tonal) fugue I wrote around the year 2000. This tonal dux fitted the purpose of a rather strict use in bending, tossing around and transposing utterly smoothly, because of the chromatic aspects of it and almost complete use of a chromatic scale. Retrograde motion, transposition and inversion were used in the context of a traditional formal structure and a free tonal harmonic vocabulary, the balance between tonal and atonal shifting now and then. 
	The piece
	The structural model for Breakdown is the Baroque Prelude.  The principal sequence of notes (called 0) is stated repeatedly, be it at first in ‘cells’ of four sixteenth notes, in a fluid rain of notes. Then the theme appears more or less complete and is repeated in various ways, increasingly interrupted by fragments of itself. Towards the end all material is disintegrating to continuously shrinking fragments that are mixed unrecognizably, deteriorating to a musical void. The piece ends with a sudden and short moment of relived brightness.  
On (a)tonality
	Hopefully this modest addition to the still ever-growing symphonic repertory may contribute to the definitive defeat of the convulsive (and still rather powerful) modernistic view, in which all things should be new for the sake of being new. What wrong lies in the synthesis of something Old and something New? Why completely abandon principals that already proved their merits, purely for the sake of abandoning? And why trying to reach musical goals by solely using dissonances? Or complex systems that possess hardly any communitive properties? Just like light exists only exists because darkness does, consonance and dissonance are the Ying and Yang in music. They are in fact the Ferdinand and Isabella that make our musical realm complete.
	I refuse to understand why music without consonances should be more worthwhile to create, perform or listen to than music predominantly consonant. I think it is out of sheer intellectual elitism that we’ve presumed otherwise for so long. It is time we dare admit that the Emperor is, in fact, naked.
	So, in this aphoristic  musical statement, I have sought to combine tonal and atonal principals, and to bring together old and new forms. In harmony.   

Breakdown is the result of my final assignment for a Berklee Orchestration class in 2022.

Breakdown

Breakdown, a prelude for orchestra, by Sipke Hoekstra (=Fugitempus)

Action take for which I used the full symphonic orchestra, including a bulk of perrcussion - augmented with quite some percussion (loops), fx and hits as well. Used BBC Symphony Orchestra PRO by Spitfire and East West SO Platinum. All polished up with some plugins by Waves mainly.

Chaseburger XL - Action Scene for Hybrid Orchestra

First I had to wrap my head around this unusual and to me unknown theme. Unusual, because it contained some eerie harmonic (Strange progressions and 3rd and/or 4th voice missing in the 2-voiced Berklee setting) secrets that I had to reconstruct first. So, before going to work I in my DAW I made some harmonic and motivic sketches in Finale. I imported those (4 stems) into Cubase and took it from there. Already while working in Finale I decided I wanted to make a heavy, dark, ominous version first, then followed by a light tarantella-like, crazy whirling waltz.

For the first version I started out with strings only: basses and violoncelli staccatissimo, covered by tremolo in the viola's. Bassoons and contrabassoons join in, legato, and bass clarinets, clarinets and violins (pizz.) provide extra rhythmic energy. When the theme is fully stated, a short, urging bridge (cresc. + accell + modulation + pitch shifts etc.) leads us onto a enchanted dancefloor (2nd version NB). This is when the full symphonic orchestra palet starts to unfold.
Violins take over the melody. Viola's and basses provide for the Waltz-rhythm, joined later on by tuba and some of the horns. Glockenspiel starts a trio with piccolo and flute, dovetailing all over the place, providing hints of mystery and dansant insanity.
In the second section of the theme trombones join in on the countermelody, trumpets (cuivré) join the violins.  Percussion starts to beat all elegance out the Waltz systematically (mechanical, soulless first beat hits by the bass drums and timpani, dito afterbeats by the snare drum (rimshots) and cymbal crashes, lots of them, just to let things explode even more.
it all suddenly comes to an end, as if Dumbledore had walked in on a forbidden party.

I used mainly BBC SO pro and plugins by Waves.

Re-orchestrating a John Williams' Harry Potter Theme

Actually my first ever action track, but the second one to upload here :-) 

Used some existing rythm loops, added some percussion manually. Rest is all my own, using mainly BBC by spitfire and East West Symphony Orchestra. Plugins by Waves.

Chaseburger XL No.2 - Action Scene for Hybrid Orchestra

Here's three takes on eight simple chords, combined into one build-up for full orchestra, culminating in a grand orchestral tutti. The sec eight chord sequence is presumably by Berklee's Ben Newhouse, all the thematic and motivic material, including the orchestration, is mine.

Used BBC Symphony Orchestra Pro and mainly Waves plugins.

Eight Chords. Three Takes. One Orchestra.

In this track I used four chords and repeated them twice. Added a short coda. The first take is Shostakovich-ly grim. Winds help change the mood in the second take, after which the third take, with a Holst-like approach, brings hope of a reunion. 

Made in Finale, bounced in Cubase Pro with Spitfire BBC SO, East West SO and UVI OS. Honestly, neither of them performed a realistic legato attack in the pianissimo sections. Only combined they sound rather ok. I later replaced this one with a new version, in which I use mainly Spitfire Appasionata Legato Strings and let the others play just second violin :-) 

Plugins by Waves and Izotope mainly.

Farewell | for orchestra

In this one I orchestrated 8 measures of action material (melody and bass part) presumably by Ben Newhouse, for a Berklee course, Orchestration 2. I extended the material by orchstrating it, creating an intro, repeating the material while building up tension and activity. 

I first made some sketches in Finale, creating the most important front, middle and background material. I also defined the harmonic outlines and a countertheme in Finale. I then imported it in Cubase, where the true magic happened 😊

I chose not to simply repeat the 8 measures but to make a 16 measure section of it. I added a short percussion intro, then a simple yet already active first version of the theme. Then I added a second version of the theme, adding more orchestration, adding up to in fact the full instrumentation of the grand orchestra. I also added more activity here (strings and high woodwinds) as well as a countertheme in the brass. 

I included a vast battery of percussion, made up by percussion from both BBC SO Pro and EW SO Platinum. Both Libs were used for all the instruments as well. (Neither of them is 100% satisfactory, but when they team up they almost are). The rhythms (midi) are mine.

Orchestrating a Short Action Cue

This Pavana originates from a piano suite I wrote in 2009.. The entire suite was composed using a technique similar to twelve-tone technique- but without the atonal bit ;-)

Retrograde motion, inversion, transposition, augmentation and diminution were used in the context of a traditional formal structure and a free tonal harmonic vocabulary, the balance between (poly)tonal and atonal shifting now and then. 

	Inspiration the for Pavana and its primary rhythm  is the Renaissance dance of that name. So working on the Pavana inevitably evoked images of a late 16th century court. This gave me the idea to make the Pavana a kind of tableau vivant, with every variation or version of the theme portraying one or more courtiers. In fact very much like a Lego-set with minifigures, every figure taking its place and role in a miniature story. The story? About a dancing master who desperately tries to teach the courtiers (the old first minister, the astrologer, the jester, murmuring bishops, a bunch of knights joking around, a light-footed princess, heralds – you name it) the Pavana, before the King enters. Will he succeed? It’s all in the score!

PAVANA - a Dance in Miniatures for Orchestra

In this short track I created a mediterranean tune, fit for opening a film or series. 
I kept the material simple and transparent. The result is a somewhat hybrid classical/film-ish kinda thing.
Oh; I added a wind machine in the percussion group, not only because I have always wanted to add one, but foremost because I had a 'tempestuous'  association when the orchestration developed the way it did. And: while still being an orchestral instrument, it's also sound design avant la lettre, adding to the scoundtracky feel of it all.
The combined result of music and clips depcits the storms we face, within and outside ourselves - and how to meet them with imagination!

Created with mainly BBC SO by Spitfire and East West, plugins mainly by Waves.

La Tempesta

‘Fair Wells’ is actually one of my first ever DAW-productions, dating from 2018, when I was making my first, unsecure steps from notated music to improvised music and DAW. 

Here I let Alicia’s Keys (that wonderful piano vst plugin based on Alicia Keys’ favorite Yamaha grand piano) team up with a small chamber orchestra, containing no more than a solo soprano sax (Garritan Jazzband 3), accompanied by French Horn and Bassoon (both East West SO), low strings (East West SO + Spitfire Appassionata strings). 

At the core of this short atmospheric piece lies a live improvisation. The rest was added later on. Plugins are mainly by Waves, Izotope and Audiaire.


native-instruments.com/en/products/komplete/keys/alicias-keys/

"The instrument samples come from Alicia Keys' very own Yamaha­™ C3 Neo grand piano. This unique and highly-sought after instrument was built to celebrate Yamaha's 100th anniversary in 2002 and represents the very top of the Conservatory Collection line. [...]

ALICIA'S KEYS was sampled from her own playing, recorded in the artist's own studio under the supervision of her trusted engineer, Ann Mincieli."

Fair Wells | perspectives on Alicia's Keys part 3 (with small orchestra)

Commissioned work (2014) that helped the Frysk Jeugd Orkest win the National Competition for Youth Orchestra's in 2015, in De Doelen in Rotterdam. 

During the period that I was roughly sketching the outlines of what would eventually become the symphonic poem ‘Saga’, I was deeply moved by some anonymous Second World War graves I ran across during a random visit to a random graveyard. The men who had been buried there, died for the freedom of other people, having willingly taken that risk. 

They lay there without their names, without their identities. It made me realize very, very clearly that hero´s mainly are hero´s, not by nature or ambition, but by context and necessity. Is this the most tragic and therefore, perhaps, the most pure kind of heroism? 

This all inspired me in structuring the piece loosely in parallel with what well could have been a hero’s life: birth (Intro), youth (A + B), battle, (C) returning home (D), building up for and fighting the last battle (E) death (F), mourning (G) and the memory of the hero being honoured proudly for a while (H)) before that as well slips out of the collective remembrance.

By creating the poem in this specific way, I wanted ‘Saga’ to be a tribute to all persons, female and male, now forgotten, who helped change the world towards being a better place.

Performed by Frysk Jeugd Orkest, conducted by Theo Brouwer.
Fugitempus = Sipke Hoekstra

Saga | Soundtrack To The Life of a Forgotten Hero [live by the FJO]

Watch the video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z-S5hH8CSSg
Unfortunately I was a bit lost in time myself and had to skip BIFSC 2023. But I couldn't resist at least sharing my ideas for the closing credits - hope you won't mind :-) 

The theme I composed is anticipated in several (fragmented) ways throughout the score. Perhaps I will finish it some day and share the whole thing later on. 

For the closing titles I used Spitfire appassionata strings and ethnic instruments and voices by East West. Mixing and mastering mainly with Waves and Izotope.

Lost In Time | BIFSC 2023 | Closing Credits

This track is the result of me recomposing, arranging and orchestrating one of my all time favorite folk songs, The Maid of Coolmore. 
In this version for string orchestra, I unraveled the fabric of the original song and wove the strands into new harmonic and melodic textures. Enjoy!
Watch the video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xu5ozk0aaVY

(String VST's by Spitfire (BBC SO, Appasionata Strings), East West SO and UVI. Mixed and mastered mainly with Izotope and Waves plugins)

Coolmore

One of the very first DAW projects I started, but never finished because of the sheer size. 

Epic Passacaglia

Started this mockup-like track soundmining 8dio choirs. Suddenly felt a craving for a Hunt for the Red October / Rachmaninov kind of thing and added Olympus Choirs, made by Soundiron, to it. Getting the vocal sounds right. Olympus (men's choir) yielded phrases from a well known chant about Maria, believed to be mother of Jesus. A more recent saviour? Seek out Vasily Arkhipov. A man nowadays profoundly unknown, yet he singlehandedly saved our all lives, back in 1962. This song is about steadfastness and faith in all what is good in men. On whatever side you are.

Bogoroditse Dyevo

Fugitempus = Sipke Hoekstra = Eckmann
Composer/orchestrator/arranger/producer of whatever music or sounds I like 
(classical stuff published by Donemus and released on Spotify)

Orchestral Music I Composed (Classical, Soundtracks, Hybrid Styles and Whatever Popped Up)

FUGITEMPUS