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2011
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Hic Et Nunc
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6'
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french horn & piano
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a short piece, very rhythmical, exploring the whole range and different characters of the instrument
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Doppelgänger
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15'
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violin/cello/piano
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a "neoclassical" piano trio, building on elements from Schuberts song "Der Doppelgänger". Two movements: a theme with 11 variations (9') and a rondo (6')
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2010
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Kemps Revival
(text: Frans Budé)
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5'30"
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soprano & ensemble (2fl/2ob/2cl/2hrn/2bsn)
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a sunny waltz, celebrating life and springtime. written for ensemble Helicon
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Scherzo
(text: Wiel Kusters)
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2'20"
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children's choir (S/A) & piano
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a fast-paced piece, to be used as the obligatory piece for the "Maastrichtse Jeugd Zingt" festival on October 16th
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Bombardement
(text: Amber-Helena Reisig)
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3'30"
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voice/flute/alto saxophone/string quartet/percussion
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part of "Klinkend Changement", the 2010 project of the Stichting Limburgse Componisten, about how people perceive change. the text looks back at the Second World War: bombs dropping, people in hiding and dying
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Sonata
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1'
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piano
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for a GeNeCo sampler CD, all composers were invited to hand in a 1' piece. mine is a 3-part "micro-sonata": Moderato - Andante - Allegro
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2009
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Die Jakobsleiter
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8'30"
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version 1: church organ
version 2: fl/cl/perc/pno/string quartet
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written for the organ of the St. Brigida church in Noorbeek (NL). an ever-repeating melody surrounded by different soundscapes. I later arranged the piece for ensemble
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Bolero
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10'45"
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double bass/piano
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after spending about 3 years on the "things to do" list, i finally wrote the piece in two days... the opening melody was written somewhere in 2007. one tempo, one relentless rhythm, the piece builds up towards a rather massive and noisy ending. unusual for me, all of the piano part is on the keys, traditional. the double bass part was - as in Janus - written in fifths tuning (CDGA)
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Lacrimosa
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5'30"
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string sextet (2vlns/2vlas/vc/d.b.)
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an instrumental version of 2002's Stabat Mater for mixed choir. i always liked the music, but disliked the religious connotations. so once i got rid of the text it makes a nice little post-romantic string sextet
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Qara Köz
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10'
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piano & orchestra (2 2 2 2 / 2 2 0 0 / 1 perc / strings)
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another one-movement "concertino" scored for a sinfonietta-sized orchestra for extra clarity and brilliance, with - unusual for me - only one limited percussion part. as in "Gorf", there's only one basic cell, a 3-tone mini cluster. the title is taken from yet another Rushdie novel (QK is the protagonist of The Enchantress Of Florence)
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2008
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Serenata
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8'30"
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flute/clarinet/violin/violoncello/piano
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a revised version of my 1997 piece; I changed the guitar to piano and made some further minor adjustments
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Janus
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12'
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string sextet (2vlns/2vlas/vc/d.b.)
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2008 being the Messiaen centennial, I combined a 12-tone row with valeurs ajoutés, resulting in a rhythmically complex piece. the double bass is tuned in fifths (CGDA), just like the other strings
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De Bezetting
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4'
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2fl/2ob/2cl/2hrn/2bsn/org/sopr/d.b.
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the opening movement of the "Wahlwiller Passie", a multimedia "passion" about artist Aad de Haas and his modern vision about sacred paintings in churches, especially the passion series in the Wahlwiller (NL) church. More info about this project here
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Vent
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5'
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piano
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film music, accompanying the short animated movie "Vent" by Erik van Schaaik
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2007
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Alpine Architektur
I. Kristallhaus
II. Architektur der Berge
III. Der Alpenbau
IV. Erdrindenbau
V. Sternenbau
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32'
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orchestra (4fl/2ob/e.h./2cl/b-cl/2bsn/c-bsn/4hrn/3trp/2trb/b-trb/tb/4perc/timp/hrp/strings)
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a 5-part symphony based on the drawings by Bruno Taut (see 2005's "Weltbaumeister")
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Symphonie En Gris
(text: Marie Krysinska)
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14'
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tenor solo & orchestra (2fl/ob/e.h./cl/b-cl/bsn/c-bsn/2hrn/2trp/2trb/tb/3perc/hrp/pno/strings 12-10-8-6-4)
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a (mostly) very soft and dreamlike piece, with lots of shifting "soundblocks" consisting of free patterns
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De Profundis
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12'
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(bass) clarinet/violoncello/double bass
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starting "out of the depths", the music struggles for peace and harmony, which are finally reached in a drawn-out coda
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Study No.2
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3'
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piano
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a short return to the piano, a follow-up to Study No.1 from 2000, with influences from Bartók and Martinů
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2006
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L'Azur
(text: Stéphane Mallarmé)
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22'
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choir SATB/2 pianos/2 percussionists
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written for chamber choir Quartna and my own Quatuor Attaque. first performance was on April 1st 2007, when we did a concert together on the theme of "l'Eternel". most of the music was derived from the choral "O Ewigkeit, Du Donnerwort"
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Herbst
(text: Rainer Maria Rilke)
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9'30"
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mezzosoprano/cello/piano
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written for the opening of the academic year 06-07 at the Maastrichts Conservatorium. a very quiet and introspective piece, clearly influenced by the music of George Crumb
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Mining [2006 Deeper Underground Mix]
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4'45"
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synthesizer
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for the documentary "Bronsgroen En Anders Zwart" (about my native province Limburg), I remixed themes from 2000's "CineConcert", to be used as soundtrack to the fragments about the Dutch state mines (machinery, darkness, dirt)
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Petite Suite
I. (the whole hour)
II. (quarter past)
III. (half past)
IV. (quarter to)
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2'20"
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carillon
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hour-melodies written for the carillon of "St. Petrusbanden" church, Venray (NL). the mp3 excerpt on the Audio page is actually a midifile using carillon samples
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Volver
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6'30"
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cello solo/2 violins/double bass/piano
(Simurg version: cl/vc/d.b./pno)
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the last piece I wrote for my salon ensemble. another tango, very fast with a slightly "poppy" feel, and an odd 15/16 beat intermezzo
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2005
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The Gardener's Songs
(text: Lewis Carroll)
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13'
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children's choir SSA/pno
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I've been meaning to compose these since about 1994... a cycle of 9 short songs for 3-part children's choir and piano, once again based on the poetry of Lewis Carroll, this time from "Sylvie & Bruno"
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Der Weltbaumeister
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19'
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2 pianos/2 percussionists
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in 1920, Bruno Taut published Der Weltbaumeister, an "architectural play for symphonic music". I composed the music for Quatuor Attaque, as part of the Broken Glass-exposition (Sept./Oct. 05) in Heerlen (NL). during the exposition, the slide show (Taut's original black-and-white drawings were hand-coloured by students of the RWTH Aachen) with its "soundtrack" was shown on DVD. I'm still thinking about an orchestration of the piece. and since Mr. Taut published two more related works, "Alpine Architektur" (which I finished by now, see 2007) and "Auflösung Der Städte", it might eventually become a triptych for large orchestra. more projects!
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Grasshoff Songs
I.Schwüler Sonntag
II.Madame Goulou
III.Kunkelsuse
(text: Fritz Grasshoff)
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9'30"
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mezzosoprano/2 violins/cello/double bass/piano
(Simurg version: m-sopr/cl/vc/d.b./pno)
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cheeky and silly cabaret songs about a humid summer afternoon, a tattooed prostitute and a barfly slut
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2004
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2 Songs
I.Nacht
II.Moment
(text: Esther Jansma)
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3'
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soprano/piano
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at some point there might be more Esther Jansma songs. projects, once more...
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CD "Dreams"
01. Flight 7
02.Bubbles
03. C Hypnotic
04.Winterreise
05.Bad Angel
06.Ogen Dicht (composed by Martin Wilbers)
07.Deep Blue Sea
08.A Simple Melody
09.White Lullaby
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47'
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synthesizer
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my "new age-project"; a collection of ambient pieces, mostly very quiet and atmospheric
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Narcissus
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7'
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violoncello
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after seeing a production of a cellist and a dancer (modern dance on cello solo music of Bach), I also wanted to write a piece for this combination. after spending over a year on my projects-list, I finally composed the piece in about 3 hours...
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Pagan
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6'
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mezzosoprano (no text)/2 violins/cello/double bass/piano
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the much-used Paganini theme in a minor; it's basically a theme and 3 variations, rather silly but nevertheless fairly virtuoso, especially the coloraturas for the mezzo
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Golem
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8'30"
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clarinet/2 violins/cello/double bass/piano
(Simurg version: cl/vc/d.b./pno)
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written during a sleepless night somewhere in 2003, I toyed around with the piece a lot, at one point even adding vocals, but in the end I used it exactly the way I first wrote it. the sound is very Jewish, klezmer-style; slow recitativo-style verses, heavy and brooding intermezzi and fast dance refrains
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Fantasie Fatale
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7'30"
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viola solo/violin/cello/double bass/piano
(Simurg version: cl/vc/d.b./pno)
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another virtuoso piece, this time written to give the 2nd violin some time in the spotlight. he never played it on viola, though, I had to arrange it for violin solo. musically, there's a lot of eastern European influences, as well as some Rachmaninov
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2003
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TetraEder Remix
I.Rondo
II.Passacaglia
III.Toccata
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15'
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violin & piano
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as it proved so difficult to actually write a piece for violin and piano (version I became Cronos, version II, the final movement of Medusa), I revisited my '98 euphonium/piano-suite TetraEder and translated the tuba part into an equally virtuoso violin part. the piano part remains the same, only the Passacaglia needed some reworking on account of the range of the violin
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Medusa
I.
II.
III.
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20'
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violin & orchestra (4fl/2ob/e.h./2cl/b-cl/bsn/c-bsn/4hrns/3trp/2trb/b-trb/tb/5perc/timp/strings)
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this piece made a very confusing journey from one-movement violin-piano piece to 3-movement violin concerto... the first movement (6') is very free, introducing elements from the 2nd and 3rd part. the second movement (10') is a lyrical piece with rather romantic tendencies. the third movement (4') is fast, virtuoso and very intense
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Rhapsody
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5'30"
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2 violins/cello/double bass/piano
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after concerts in Romania, I tried to incorporate the wonderful gypsy music into the classical sound of my salon ensemble
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Romance (Saitensprung)
(text: Dan Zemlicka)
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4'
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2 violins/cello/double bass/piano
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another piece for salon ensemble. the text is about a cellist "cheating" on his cello with a double bass. the piece was composed somewhere in the 90's, and had already resurfaced as film music in "Sentimental Journey" (2000), I just added a new melody. Creative recycling?
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2002
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Grimus
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10'
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piano & orchestra (2fl/2ob/2cl/2bsn/2hrns/trp/trb/hrp/cel/2perc/timp/strings)
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a lighthearted and playful one-movement piece with echoes of - once more - Bartók
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Psalm IV
Psalm V
(text: Leo Vroman)
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7'
10'
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baritone/(bass-)clarinet/violoncello/percussion/piano
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parts IV and V of the song cycle "Systems", composed in collaboration with Wolfgang Güdden (Psalm I-III) and Raimund Philippi (Psalm VI-VIII). the duration of the whole cycle is approx. 47 minutes. written for the 2002 edition of the Musica Sacra festival in Maastricht, where the ArToll-Ensemble performed it. in these eight psalms, Vroman describes various aspects of the God-idea as a "system"
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Cronos
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12'
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double bass & orchestra (hrp/pno/cel/5perc/12vl/8vla/8vc/4d.b.)
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a dark, moody, eerie (and sometimes rather violent) piece for double bass solo and "strings, percussion & celesta" (yes yes, again Bartók). this should originally have become a piece for violin and piano, but it changed its mind... a second incarnation of the same violin-piano concept has become the last movement of "Medusa", for violin and orchestra
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Stabat Mater
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5'30"
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choir (SSATBarB)
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this is not the full text, but a shortened version (of the original 10 verses, I constructed 4 new ones, mostly using the words I liked best...). for 6-part chamber choir, with very long phrases, sort of post-romantic, I suppose
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Nocturne
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8'
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clarinet/violin/violoncello/percussion/piano
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written for a youth ensemble, a (mostly) very quiet and atmospheric piece with improvisational elements
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Tango 1412
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4'30"
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2 violins/cello/double bass/piano
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a lighthearted tango for salon ensemble. the title comes from the fact that the piece was composed on December 14th
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2001
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E.A.Poe Songs
I.Evening Star
II.Lenore
III.Annabel Lee
(text: Edgar Allan Poe)
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15'
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baritone/piano
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written for a festival with the theme of "Eros And Thanatos"; I thought of the beautiful poetry of Poe at once. the first piece is sweet and dreamlike, almost impressionistic. the second starts very wild, but calms down in the end; its middle part is set up like a Bach choral prelude. the last piece is like a mediaeval ballad
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Chimaera
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12'
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saxophone quartet (Sax-S/Sax-A/Sax-T/Sax-Bar)
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composed in the style of John Cage's "Music For": there is no score, all players play with a stopwatch and are free to decide when to react to their fellow musicians, resulting in a slightly different piece every performance
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Zeefdruk
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3'
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choir (4 vocal groups)
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there is no fixed pitch in this piece, just soundscapes. the music "passes" through the group, starting and ending with an "external" sound (a "trill" with pieces of paper, which is imitated and developed by the voices). works best with a large group and good reverb
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The History Of The Devil
opera in 2 acts
(libretto: adapted from the original play by Clive Barker)
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90'
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singers: soprano/mezzo-soprano/alto/2tenors/baritone/2basses/actor (some of the singers have double parts)
Original chamber orchestra version: cl/sax-a/2bsn/2trb/e-gtr/e-bass/perc/pno/2vlns/vla/vc
Full orchestra version: 2fl/2ob/2cl/2bsn/2hrns/2trp/2trb/tb/e-gtr/e-bass/2perc/timp/pno/strings (12-10-9-7-5)
The music of both versions is identical. Scores and/or piano reduction available on request
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the Devil, fed up with being blamed for all the wrongs of this world, stages a trial against himself. a makeshift court is set up in Africa, and a host of colourful witnesses is called to court, giving us an astounding report about the activities of the Devil since his Fall from Heaven. there is far more humanity in him than we would want to acknowledge... in the end, he is allowed to rejoin his Father in Heaven, although his life is far from guiltless. but he has been tricked: Heaven is empty, God has gone. bound by his word, he is obliged to return to the empty Heaven...
I started working on this opera sometime in 1998, adding scenes as the spirit took me. for a composition competition in Athens, I reworked a part for full orchestra. I then decided to make two versions of the whole piece. and now I really prefer the symphonic one...
(Jan. 2005) added another scene in the first act; it always bothered me that I cut that one out in the first place...
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2000
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CineConcert
(film music)
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70'
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clarinet/horn/violin/double bass/piano/percussion
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new music to old movies. a history of 100 years of cinema in Limburg, accompanied by live music, conducted by the composer. some pieces were pre-recorded, such as a Gregorian chant, a bar piano and electronic percussion
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Menora
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13'
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oboe/clarinet/horn/bassoon/piano
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I wrote this piece for my composition exam. I love this combination of wind instruments, as in old English carols
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Gorf
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12'
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2 pianos/2 percussionists
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an extended improvisation on a mini-cluster of three notes (how's that for economic use of material?). a very fast piece, mostly. Written for Quatuor Attaque
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Hydra
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6'
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viola/piano
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a short piece, improvisation-like in character. it has become my habit to name string music after mythological creatures (in the case of piano music, after Salman Rushdie characters and books)
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Sentimental Journey
(film music)
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27'
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synthesizer/piano
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holiday home movies from the 30's and 40's. the music is a series of style variations on a short piano theme (written somewhere in '93). a tribute to Astor Piazzolla, J.S. Bach, Michael Nyman, Dead Can Dance, Nino Rota, Angelo Badalamenti a.o.
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Study No.1
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2'
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piano
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a short but virtuoso piece; surely Bartók/Stravinsky-influenced. the title suggests that some day there will be more studies... I actually want to compose a cycle like Debussy or Ligeti. more projects!
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Roodkoper
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10'
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string quartet (violin1/violin2/viola/violoncello)
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one of my personal favorites, based on the "native hymn" of my province Limburg. I've always regarded the string quartet as one of the highest art forms in Western culture; it's the perfect harmony in chamber music. this piece started out as a joke (a 20-second "modern" treatment of this hymn), but effortlessly developed into one of my most personal compositions. the title is actually the first development of the theme: in the song, there's the phrase "bronze-green oak wood". Bronze-green, so Red-copper (musician's sense of humour I suppose)
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1999
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Gaea
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12'
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orchestra (3fl/3ob/3cl/3fg/4hrns/3trp/3trb/hrp/pno/2perc/timp/strings [12-10-8-6-4])
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inspired by Ligeti's "Atmosphčres", the music loosely follows the first parts of the Greek myth of Creation. To "complete" Gustav Holst's cycle "The Planets", I would have liked to compose "Pluto" some day. But since we know now that Pluto is actually a dwarf planet (an ex-planet, so to speak), my work is done
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Dial M For...?
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3'
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voice/piano/percussion/tuba/violin/violoncello
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a short improvisatory piece, written for a workshop on modern music. I thought it was perfectly simple; the students disagreed. requires "interactive playing" and listening to your fellow musicians - maybe that was the problem. the vowels from the text are taken from the words "Mission Impossible", the theme of that week
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Sneeuwend Slagveld
(text: Wiel Kusters)
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2'
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soprano/piano
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composition students of Maastricht composed songs on poetry by poets from the province of Limburg. recorded for the CD "5 centuries of composers in Maastricht", with the composer playing piano
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1998
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TetraEder
I.Passacaglia
II.Toccata
III.Rondo
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15'
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euphonium/piano
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a highly virtuoso suite for tenor-tuba and piano, with lots of special techniques for both players. I'm glad I never had to play it, because it's really nasty. I still like it, though
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The Moor's Last Sigh
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5'
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piano
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starting from a 5-tone chord, the music explores the "sighs" (Seufzer) from the title. the pizzicato parts could also be played on a zither (as in the recording on the Audio page) or a toy piano (if you can find a chromatic one, which I didn't). recorded by my former teacher, Tonie Ehlen, for the CD "5 centuries of composers in Maastricht"
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Le Corbeau Et Le Renard
(text: Jean de La Fontaine)
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9'
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choir SATB/piano
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a multi-faceted piece for chamber choir: slow chords, playful fugues, and free soundscapes where the text is taken apart until only sound remains. the last part is divided into a double choir (the second a smaller group of 2 singers per voice). the piece won 3rd prize at the 2000 Alphons Diepenbrock Competition in Rotterdam (NL)
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Burlesca
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12'
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4 trumpets/horn/4 trombones/tuba
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written for brass ensemble Tell-Brass. influences of Eastern-European folk dances, hence the title
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Jabberwocky
(text: Lewis Carroll)
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4'
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children's choir SSA
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Alice In Wonderland has always been one of my favorite books, and it was a pleasure to set the fantastical poem about the Jabberwock to music for children's choir - the perfect medium for this text
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1997
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Serenata
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8'30"
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flute/clarinet/acoustic guitar/violin/violoncello
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an attempt at incorporating Eastern elements (uneven meters, unisono melodies, rhythmic cycles as the basis for improvisations) into Western chamber music
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The Plot Thickens
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8'
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chamber orchestra (fl/ob/cl/bsn/trp/trb/e-gtr/pno/2perc/2vlns/vla/vc/d.b.)
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written for the ArToll-Ensemble; recorded on our first CD "unecht". a kaleidoscopic piece with 5 groups (one of which a "vocal tutti") in ever-changing order. personally, not my favorite composition
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1996
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Tender Fury (Blues in C)
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2'
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piano
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the subtitle "blues in C" comes from the fact that the piece is a reconstructed version of the good old 12-bar blues (not that anybody would notice, I guess)
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5 Préludes
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6'
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piano
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short pieces to try new ways of composing and handling chord sequences. actually, it's 6 pieces: 5 preludes and an intermezzo
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1995
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Concerto for harpsichord & chamber orchestra
I.Allegro Moderato
II.Passacaglia
III.Finale
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18'
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harpsichord solo & chamber orchestra (fl/ob/cl/bsn/sax-s/sax-a/sax-t/sax-bar/2 perc/timp/strings)
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the last piece I wrote before starting my composition studies. although far from perfect, I still like it a lot. there's a lot of Shostakovich in there, as well as some Michael Nyman
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