Classical Music and Stylecopies I made

In this modest menuet I salute Beethoven, having been born 250 years ago now, and all he did for the world and for me personally. 
i ofcourse used a fortepiano. Enjoy.

(Stylecopy by Sipke Hoekstra, also known as 'The Eckmann Family' and Fugitempus. Early Beethoven Period imitation.)

Minuet for Ludwig van Beethoven

Birthday Minuet for Ludwig van Beethoven

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)

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.

Some fifteen years ago I wrote a sonata for flute and harpsichord, baroque style, based on the famous La Folia-theme. Some years later I made a simple arrangement for organ and trumpet and later yet one for flute, harpsichord and strings (bc). The version for organ and trumpet can be heard on of my soundclouds, The Eckmann Family. 

Here, I bounced the Finale file in Cubase, using baroque instruments by Orchestral Tools (Miroire), Cinesamples (viola da gamba) and UVi (harpsichord, Flemish). I mixed with Waves and Izotope plugins. Enjoy!

The Craze - Concerto Grosso For Flute, Harpsichord And Strings

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

Testdriving Era II in a Pseudo-Dufay-Ish Motet ('Mon Coeur Détruit' by Fugitempus)

Bought Era II recently and wanted to testdrive it immediately; wrote some 'medieval' things in the past and now I had a chance - finally - to make it sound right. 

This is a motet I wrote in Dufay-style, many years ago. In this testdrive I tested quite some instruments of the Era II library, including a bunch of recorders, bowed strings (viola de roda, nyckelharpa and bass viola da gamba), plucked strings (zither, langeleik and early renaissance harp) and a diverse percussion ensemble. 

Will be sharing more of my Era II exploits soon, but the conslusion for  the time being: like!

Mon Coeur Detruit | True Medieval Instruments | Testdriving Era II

The Frysk Jeugd Orkest won the First Prize of the National Competition of Youth Orchestra's of the Netherlands 2015, partly by performing my symphonic poem 'Saga.' 'Saga' was commissioned by the orchestra in 2013. 
The work is published  by Highland Music in Amsterdam in 2014. 

Saga | soundtrack to the life of a forgotten hero [Live performance in De Doelen in Rotterdam]

Music & Concept: Sipke Hoekstra Mastering & Sparring: Jeff Hijlkema (a NOTEKNITTERS production) This movie was created purely for the purpose of showing how my music is capable of interacting with video. It consists solely of free stock clips made available by Pexel.com. I designed the storyline, produced/assembled the movie and composed the music and produced/mixed it in Cubase. Jeff Hijlkema mastered the audio of this version - cheers mate!

COLOR | Film & Music by FUGITEMPUS

This is my Soundcloud, welcome on board!  Some of my most recent works can be found here. Enjoy! Want to hear some of my composing ancestors? Check out www.soundcloud.com/eckmann #HOAX