june - july 2013

In 1921, Paul van Ostaijen wrote 'Bezette Stad' (Occupied City). This is one of the first poems in that collection, reinvented as a contemporary electronics piece. It deals with the threat Antwerp faced in World War I.

The sounds are indulgent but canned, bleak but fervent. Distorted and lo-fi.


BEDREIGDE STAD

february-march 2013

melancholic instrumental flute piece based on timbre exploration

performed by Kees van der Heijdt

elegie for flute

november 2012

'weltjugend U6 [1984]' was performed by the NEXUS Reedquintet (www.nexusreedquintet.ch) on November 23rd, 2013 in Lucerne, Switzerland.

Oboe - Marita Kohler
Clarinet - Annatina Kull
Soprano saxophone - Sandro Blank
Bass clarinet - Nicola Katz
Bassoon - Maurus Conte

East-Berlin, 1984. Shrill U-Bahn sounds are echoing in the ghost station of Stadion der Weltjugend. It got that name when it was already a ghost station, although it could only be seen by the travelers of West-Berlin. The generation growing up in 1984 was becoming more and more desperate for its voice to be heard, to break out of the system. The sounds of the U-Bahn station change into beats, aggressively fighting the system, but the real burst didn't come until 5 years later.

This piece is dedicated to my dear friend Jörgen Moorlag.


weltjugend U6 [1984]

for Oleksandr Tsyba

Nederlands Kamerorkest
Toonkunstkoor Amsterdam
conductor: Alejandro Cantalapiedra

recording by NPO Radio 4

Ausschweifungen

A snippet of the electronics for the upcoming piece 'Magyar újrakeverés' - how the distortion of a phonograph roll can turn into delirious gabber music.

Performances from 10 February by Lucie Horsch (recorder) and Amsterdam Sinfonietta (strings).

Magyar Újrakeverés (2023 - trailer)

february-march 2014

'[...] quem lex subjungat' was performed on the 15th of may, 2014 at the Cultuur?BARBAAR! Festival 2014 in Leiden, Netherlands, audio from the video shot by Minja Sarovic

Violin - Kilian van Rooij
Cello - Ragnhild Wesenberg
Detuned piano - Jelena Popovic
Vocals - Christopher Klassen
Electronics - Rick van Veldhuizen

Karlheinz Stockhausen has once said serial thinking is the most democratic way of organizing one's thoughts, one's music, and will remain dominant. This reckless control over one's own thoughts and exclusion of elements which might not fit into that thought, to me, seems more like a dictatorial utopia. 

'[...] quem lex subjungat' is about a thoroughly organized system (the piano trio, whose pitch and meter are based on these serialistic principles) which has found comfort in its own rootedness before being intruded by a foreign voice: overtone singing and electronics. The piece developed as a research piece about what kind of an effect such an intrusion would have on this 'inviolable' entity.

[...] quem lex subjungat

[october-december 2014]
in memory of Lieke van Veldhuizen (1996-2013)

this associative, multi-lingual piece was written for the Amsterdams Requiem project at Orgelpark; it deals with the emotional journey I went through after the death of my sister, now two years ago

the piece moves freely through literary and musical associations, sometimes quoting Ingmar Bergman, or Camus, or Nico - different views on death that don't quite lead to a resolution, but a coming to terms with reality

the Amsterdams Requiem was performed on April 25, 2015 at Orgelpark, Amsterdam

choir: Neon - Koor voor Nieuwste Muziek
conductor: Fokko Oldenhuis
organ: Gonny van der Maten
harmonium/celesta: Tom Dicke
electronics: Rick van Veldhuizen

recording made by Bert van Dijk on 25-04-2015, for which I am very thankful


text (contains quotes by e.e. cummings, Ingmar Bergman, Nico and Albert Camus):
LACRIMOSA dies illa
LACRIMOSA die   illa
dies ill
days of death saying:

"Jag bär inte på några hemligheter.
Jag är ovetande."

with a song upon her eyes
softly sings|songe de ce jour:
midnight winds are landing at the end of time
a true story wants to be mine

LACRIMOSI, :the true story:
elle avait la bonheur de mourir jeune
not in june but in july

die Sehnsucht und die Einsamkeit
erlösen sich in Seligkeit
zieligheid
zielig toch? niet?

het ware verhaal cum ¿VERITATE VERA?

"Ingenting undgår mig.
Ingen undgår mig."

says Death
having a song upon her purple mouth
loudly sings|zingt luid
"LACRIMOSA
LACRIMOSA" als lied

lacrimosa

my piece 'de formation' - the last stage in growing up I had to pass. the material for this piece is entirely the things I composed between age 12 and 15.

more specifically, and in order: the 'raggo pour les mains perdues' (age 15) which found me experimenting with free atonal compoinsg, the 'nuchtere wals (die het best klinkt als je te veel gedronken hebt)' (age 12) which is a waltz inspired by a gay youth novel I read at the time and the 'valse pour un partenaire mort' (age 14), which is lugubruous and slightly post-impressionistic in nature.

revisiting those pieces, to me, is about growing up. this is my kinda 'Bildungsroman' - the few pieces I still value placed in the narrative of my own youth, but 'deformed' in a way - as looking at them while having changed, having moved.

performed by the Nieuw Ensemble on 18/02/2016, conducted by Gregory Charette, with many thanks for their great performance & wonderful collaboration.

de formation

'musica japonica' (2015) is a play on the title of a book by Franz von Siebold, who described Japanese flowers in the 19th century from his (western) perspective.

in this piece, a harmonium tries to capture the tonal language of the Japanese sho, but the player needs different body parts. at first, it sounds like a western chorale, but the movement-driven western music lands into endless, ethereal chords reminiscent of the sho.

the piece was performed on 05/13/2016 by Gonny van der Maten (harmonium) and rick van veldhuizen (electronics) at Orgelpark

musica japonica

(2016)
in this age of grand confusion, something is looking for its definite form while still being nothing more than decompressed matter

performed by Score Collective ensemble, under the bâton of I-Han Fu on 11-05-2016 at Bernhard Haitinkzaal, Conservatorium van Amsterdam

τίνι σώματι;

"but it couldn't be true/it's a picture of Hitler" - Kate Bush, Heads We're Dancing, 1989

(un)mensch is about how humans & human behaviour are fertile ground for derailment and radicalisation. yet, we usually refer to this as 'inhuman', thereby failing to associate ourselves with it. but the only condition under which one can be 'inhuman', is being human. 

(un)mensch portrays some aspects of the life and personality of Adolf Hitler, the prototypical villain of recent history whom people usually don't want to be associated with. it focuses mainly on the human traits of his character: insecurity, tinnitus, amphetamine addiction.

(un)mensch radicalizes existing styles: droning micropolyphony, overblown minimal music and dense, explosive soundscapes, as well as the beginning of Wagner's idealistic 'Ring'-dream, Das Rheingold, the fair copy manuscript of which perished with Hitler in the Führerbunker.

(un)mensch won 1st prize and audience award at the 6th International Composition Competition Harelbeke, Belgium on april 3rd, 2016

performed by
Royal Wind Orchestra 'Vooruit' Harelbeke
conducted by Erik Desimpelaere

(un)mensch

(un)mensch (2015)

the beginning of the piece 'cōnflārī', for cello, piano and organ
'the shrapnel of an unforetold disaster floating around in the ether'

Doris Hochscheid - cello
Gonny van der Maten - organ
Frans van Ruth - piano

commissioned by Stichting Cellosonate Nederland
recorded live at Orgelpark, 09-03-2019 by Bert van Dijk

cōnflārī (solve, fragment #1)

the second teaser for cōnflārī...

performed by Doris Hochscheid (cello), Frans van Ruth (piano), Gonny van der Maten (organ)

cōnflārī - teaser #2

[april-may 2011]

piano solo piece exploring the nuances of a single chord. Performed by Rick van Veldhuizen, october 4th @ Amsterdam Blue Note.

nuances

rick van veldhuizen [1994]

contemporary classical composer busy doing instruments-&-beats combinations [as body] and politics [as theme]. something of a postmo romantic at heart. check here for demos as well as entire finished pieces old & new. and songs!

perUmbram

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