2025
Continuation of the From Scratch cycle
25 09 25 Filed in: work in progress
This fall, I began work on the third and final part of the From Scratch Cycle. From Scratch is based on drawings by visual artist Alexandra Roozen. As the title suggests, I'm building the music from the ground up, closely following Roozen's working method rather than the feelings her work evokes in me.
The first part of the cycle, From Scratch I, ›Plain Dust‹ & ›Trills‹, was performed in 2019 by the Ives Ensemble at the November Music Festival and the Muziekgebouw, Amsterdam.
From Scratch II, ›Seen by Hand‹, was completed in 2020 but not performed due to the coronavirus epidemic.
In 2013, Alexandra exhibited the series of drawings ›Traces‹ in Seoul, which is based on the instructions for the musicians in the score of From Scratch I.
For From Scratch III, I'm basing my work on her most recent series of drawings: ›Surround‹ & ›Black Ice‹, a glimpse of which can be seen in the photo (Gallery Roger Katwijk).
Premiere Genieting VIII for violin
04 06 25 Filed in: concerts
With Manuel De Falla. Three years ago. That was during the preparations for Genieting VIII, an extensive work for solo violin that Janneke van Prooijen will premiere on 8 June | 3 pm in the Uilenburgersjoel in Amsterdam. »A body piece«, she calls it. It is also a study of music from Andalusia, Al-Andalus, traditional Turkish and Balkan music. I am not following in De Falla's footsteps, but the clarity and precision of his compositions certainly appeal to me. His El Retablo de Maese Pedro is unsurpassed.
Well, if you want to know how I do that with music from strange, faraway countries, you should come and listen!
After Genieting VIII, by the way with beautiful light projections by Lichtbende, the Amsterdam Andalusian Orchestra will play a short program with music from the regions on which I based my music. All this in the Klankkleurfestival 2025.
Genieting VIII for violin will be premiered in 2025 by violinist Janneke van Prooijen
02 01 25 Filed in: work in progress
»A half moon shines south and east of Europe, from Andalusia via North Africa and Turkey to the Balkans. Its light penetrates into Western Europe, and here, in this nightly light, I hear the contours of music that is strange to me but nevertheless deeply touches me. I capture its sound rays in Genieting VIII for solo violin.« (Willem Boogman)
flyer by Egbert Luijs
Composer Willem Boogman selected some forty melodies from classical Turkish art music, folk music from the Balkan countries, classical Arabic-Andalusian music and flamenco. The connecting link is a system of pitch intervals, the Turkish mode Hicaz, which is related to the Arabic Hijas and the Western Phrygian mode. It is these modes that give the music a specific colour. He uses the melodic, harmonic, rhythmic and metric contours of these melodies as building blocks for his musical forms.
Musical forms rarely retain their identity in Boogman's music: they are recognisable, but also distinctly fluid. They appear, like clouds in the sky, ever changing in shape in an ever changing light, evaporating and penetrating each other, taking on each other's characteristics.
flyer by Egbert Luijs
Composer Willem Boogman selected some forty melodies from classical Turkish art music, folk music from the Balkan countries, classical Arabic-Andalusian music and flamenco. The connecting link is a system of pitch intervals, the Turkish mode Hicaz, which is related to the Arabic Hijas and the Western Phrygian mode. It is these modes that give the music a specific colour. He uses the melodic, harmonic, rhythmic and metric contours of these melodies as building blocks for his musical forms.
Musical forms rarely retain their identity in Boogman's music: they are recognisable, but also distinctly fluid. They appear, like clouds in the sky, ever changing in shape in an ever changing light, evaporating and penetrating each other, taking on each other's characteristics.