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Ensemble/Orchestra
Written for Duo Beumer & van Ham (Sander Beumer and Hans van Ham) with Wildy Zumwalt
Requested by Sander Beumer and especially written for the 2023 World Saxophone Congress.
“Unsettled” has a somewhat nervous tension, as if one is not feeling comfortable. “Anyones lament” is an expression of grief, with not a particular person in mind.
The title “A hovering brute beauty” is a free adaption from Gerald Manley Hopkins’s poem The windhover , a bird that I often watch during my walks over fields and heather.
“Drummer Hodge” is after Thomas Hardy’s poem of the same name. In this poem the soldier, who is sent on a mission in the Second Boer War, is killed in action and buried in a strange and faraway land, his grave eternally reigned by “strange-eyed constellations.”(and still today, we hear about these terrible circumstances) The music is a moment of stillness.
“Sweet dancer” is a title from one of W.B. Yeats’s poems in which he encourages a young girl to keep on dancing, meaning to do what you are passionate about. Great happiness is compared by John Keats to “A lusty flower in June’s caress” a line taken from his poem Isabella; or, the Pot of Basil. An image which evokes a gentle and idyllic feeling to me and sounding almost like a love song.
soon to be published by DONEMUS – Amsterdam
Light and the half light– four pieces for wind quintet (2022)
3. Here, light is dim
4. Shifting patterns everywhere
Inside a large church or cathedral the different shadings of light coming in from windows is exuberant, but the shifting of incoming light when a cloud hides the sun will also change the atmosphere. There are certain spaces where there is virtually no light. This was an interesting musical idea and so I decided for all parts as well as within each part, to juxtapose the characters of different church modes: the Doric, Lydian, Mixolydian and Ionic. The hexatonic and octatonic scales have been sparingly used to create dissonant passages. Hence the title: ‘Light and the half light.” I do not expect listeners necessarily to notice all this but it was a helpful compositional vehicle.
duration: ca 7′
not published yet
The Hill to Climb (2021)
instrumentation: string orchestra
duration: ca. 7′
not published yet
Alusión (2013)
instrumentation: reed quintet (oboe, b-flat clarinet, alto saxophone, bass clarinet and bassoon)
duration: ca. 7′
not published
Concerto for horn and string orchestra – from the Preseli hills (2000)
instrumentation: solo horn and string orchestra
duration: ca. 19′
not published
The race day (2002)
When I first saw the wonderful painting by Jack Yeats, ‘Galway races’, I was immediately caught by it. Later, in 2002, when I was in Ireland spending my summer holidays, I was lucky to be able to go the Sligo horse races. I pictured some impressions of this event in this short and rather light-hearted composition.
Commissioned by and written for the VU Kamerorkest on the occasion of its tenth anniversary in 2002.
instrumentation: orchestra – 2fl(picc) 2ob 2cl(cl-b) 2fg 2h 2tpt trb timp perc hp str
duration: ca. 5’30”
premiere: November 3, 2002 Groate Kerk, St.Jacobiparochie (Friesland) VU Kamerorkest conducted by Daan Admiraal.
publisher: DONEMUS Amstrdam preview/ order
The pride parade (1998)
commissioned by Jeugd Orkest Nederland for its 40th anniversary with financial support from the ‘Fonds voor de Scheppende Toonkunst’
instrumentation: orchestra – 3332 4331 timp 2perc hp str
duration: ca. 13′
premiere: 1998 Musis Sacrem, Arnhem by Jeugd Orkest Nederland conducted by Roland Kieft
publisher: DONEMUS Amsterdam preview/order
Hymn (1996)
commissioned by Jouke Hoekstra
instrumentation: fanfare orchestra – 0000 4sax 2322 3bug 2barh timp
duration: ca. 11′
premiere: 1996 by Frysk Fanfare Orkest conducted by Jouke Hoekstra
publisher: DONEMUS Amsterdam preview/order
Chant for the living (1996)
instrumentation: solo violin and orchestra
duration: ca. 10′
not published
A Trampwoman’s Tragedy (after a Honeymoon Time at an Inn) (1996)
poems: Thomas Hardy
instrumentation: soprano and orchestra – sopr-m 2222 2000 3perc hp pf str 8.8.6.4.4.
this is an arrangement of the version for soprano, clarinet and piano
duration: ca. 20′
Written for the Midas ensemble with financial support from the ‘Fonds voor de Scheppende Toonkunst’
publisher: DONEMUS Amsterdam preview/order
Towards summer – forshadowing tableaux (1994)
commissioned by the Noord Nederlands Orkest for its 5th anniversary with financial support from the ‘Fonds voor de Scheppende Toonkunst’
instrumentation: orchestra – 3333 4331 4perc hp str
duration: ca. 18′
premiere: September 28, 1994 Oosterpoort, Groningen by the Noord Nederlands Orkest conducted by Jacek Kaspszyk
publisher: DONEMUS Amsterdam preview/order
Whimsical turns (1993)
commissioned by and dedicated to Jouke Hoekstra with financial support from the ‘Fonds voor de Scheppende Toonkunst’
instrumentation: fanfare orchestra – 0000 4sax 3332 4bug 2barh 6perc
duration: ca. 10′
premiere: 1993, WMC Kerkrade (the Netherlands) by Frysk Fanfare Orkest conducted by Jouke Hoekstra
publisher: DONEMUS Amsterdam preview/order
Alternation (1992)
commissioned by the ‘Fonds voor de Scheppende Toonkunst’
instrumentation: orchestra – 2222 2100 2perc cel hp str 8.6.4.4.2
duration: ca. 15′
premiere: 1992 by Nederlands Balletorkest conducted by David Porcelijn (selected by the Project Nederlandse Componisten in 1992)
publisher: DONEMUS Amsterdam preview/order
Peccadillos (1991)
instrumentation: nine wind instruments: flute, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons and 2 horns
duration: ca. 9′
publisher: DONEMUS Amsterdam preview/order
Fantasia (1988)
instrumentation: 24 wind instruments: piccolo (3rd flute), 2 flutes, 2 oboes, althobo, 2 clarinets, basss clarinet, 2 bassons, contra bassoon (also bassoon), 4 horns, 3 trompets, 3 trombones en tuba.
duration: ca. 9′
premiere: 1987 by Nederlands Balletorkest conducted by Antoni Wit (selected by the Project Nederlandse Componisten in 1988)
publisher: DONEMUS Amsterdam preview/order
