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This is list of compositions and performances. Podcasts, soundscapes and soundtracks: this page.
Aria & Trajectories
These two pieces were made for an indoor location with lots of daily objects and materials, such as a living of a house, a cafe, a community place, etc. Both pieces weren't performed yet, they were rehearsed but the concert projects didn't take place.
Aria is a site-specific performance with (minimum) four performers blowing air into holes, cracks and against objects and surfaces in a room. This happens not only with the mouth but also with spray cans or compressors. The audience hears and sees what happens if the wind could blow through a building and produce various noises and whistling sounds. The performance is meant to take place in a enclosed, not to large space, in which people live or work to ensure that all kinds of daily objects are present at the site. In Trajectories four percussionists beat a continuous pulse on objects, tables, cupboards, floors, walls, etc. in a living room or other space. They never beat on the same spot but move along a trajectory on those daily objects to create subtle, gradual timbre changes. They play crescendi and diminuendi, independently from those timbre changes. They scan the daily objects. The audience sees and hears how a distance of just a few centimeters on a wall or floor can create another sound world.• audio recording of a rehearsal of Aria in December 2017. I cut out a few fragments and thus reduced the duration of approx. 15 minutes to 5 minutes.
• the (provisional) scores of Aria and of Trajectories.
No Room
A living room, house or concert hall has borders, creating an inside and outside experience. Enclosed spaces - and their borders - leak and bring sounds from outside to the inside space. When the inside becomes silent - at night - the walls become audible and start to speak.
In No Room the surrounding architecture of an enclosed space is explored. Performers play outside the concert space on adjacent walls, floors, pipes, ventilation systems, etc. The sound reaches the audience through these walls and architectural objects. A microphone also records sound in real time outside the concert space and fragments of this live recording are played in the concert space.
• performance: friday 8 december 2017 in Miry Zaal (School of Arts, Ghent) by the Third Guy.
• the score and extra documentation.
Music Street
In Music Street local musicians play from houses with open windows or doors. The audience walks in a street parade together with two accompanying musicians. This results in a collage of music fragments blowing through the street. This work wants to reveal the (sound) diversity in a neighbourhood: the multiple music styles, the various ways to enjoy music and the sound transformations by the local architecture and acoustics.
• performance: saturday 21 January 2017 in the Biekorfstraat and Zeemstraat (Ghent), realised in collaboration with the neighbourhood committee de Biekorf. From 20 locations along the trajectory of the parade more than 25 (mainly amateur) musicians performed, together with Aya Suzuki (percussion) and Thomas Moore (trombone) in the parade.
• live recording of the whole performance of 21 Januari 2017.
• blog page on the artistic, compositional choices made in Music Street.
• the score and extra documentation.
Hearizon
In an open landscape musicians walk away from the audience, the performers play instruments with different loudness levels. The place and moment at which their music disappears, becomes inaudible and is absorbed by the environment is different for each performer. The audible horizon of each performer lies at a different distance from the audience. Each musician plays his own music and walks his own trajectory. This creates a spatial polyphony of distinct parts that gradually become softer and are transformed by the environment and its sounds.
• performance: 22 december 2016 in the Park Spoor Noord in Antwerp, performers: Thomas Moore (trombone), Aida Lopez (piccolo) and a bagpipe band (Metropolitan Antwerp with Adam Clarke). The music that was chosen to create this specific version of Hearizon was based on the visual and auditive experiences in this park. This music was: Eisenbahn-Lust-Walzer by J. Strauss, the song In diesen Wintertagen by A. Schoenberg and the traditional Green Hills.
• performance: 2 june 2017 at the burial site Campo Santo (Ghent), a version with trumpet (Bert Bernaerts), saxophone (Pol Mareen) and percussion (Wim Konink). The music for this specific version of Hearizon was the Renaissance Villanelle 'Io volo sopra il cielo', the folk song 'Ich habe der Fruhling gesehen' and the romantic song 'Die Jungfrau und der Tod' (Carl Loewe). This choice was based on the contradiction at Campo Santo between the beautiful (spring) nature and wide, open sky on the one hand, and the graveyard and related themes such as death and departure on the other.
• live recording: the first 10 minutes of the performance at Campo Santo (trumpet, baritone sax, glockenspiel and environmental sounds such as an air plane, train, birds, etc.).
• the score.
photo: Zena Vanden Block
Plain
Plain is a work for an inside space or a small, enclosed outside location. Continuous homogeneous tones or noise sounds are triggered or stopped by short sounds. All sounds are based on the frequencies, sounds, materials and architecture in the performance space. Consequently an alternation is created between static, frozen sounds and silences, after which new and old (voluntary and involuntary) sounds appear.
• performance: 27 october 2016 in the reading room of the library of de Singel (Antwerpen) at the Articulate Research Days.
• instrumentation: minimum four performers. The number of performers depends on the size and acoustics of the concert location.
• the score and extra documentation of this text score.
Beving Rozebroeken (Bebung)
Beving Rozebroeken (Bebung) wants to make the concert site vibrate audibly. The main (instrument) part requires multiple performers to beat on plants and objects (trees, stones, water, park benches, garbage, bicycles, etc.) situated at the concert site or characteristic for this place. The audible, present environmental sounds are part of the performance, but the focus is more on the hidden, implicit sounds that are contained in objects and need to be brought to life. More information available in my archived blog.
• performance: 27 August 2016 in Rozebroeken park during the Cinepuur festival (open air film), supported by the City of Ghent.
• live recording: the first five minutes of the performance in Rozebroeken park.
• the score and the video (animated score) for the percussion part (on site-specific objects).
Open Fields
Open Fields is to be performed in a large (outdoor) space. Four musicians are spread at a large distance around the audience, while three other players are located near to the audience. During the performance three of the four (far-away) performers gradually move in the direction of the audience. This piece builds upon the 20th century tradition to exploit the location of instruments in a music performance. In this work I try to obtain an auditory transparency: the music should not only draw attention to itself but also to the surroundings. During a concert the audience should not only hear the music, but also experience and learn about the concert environment.
• performance: 27 August 2016 in Rozebroeken park during the Cinepuur festival (open air film), supported by the City of Ghent.
• instrumentation: soprano sax, trombone, percussion (2 performers), flute, clarinet, accordion
Rasuren
Similar to the previous composition (fl)ASH this work consists of short fragments in diverse styles that are announced or cut off by the (solo) percussion. Rasuren stands for an old correction method by which mistakes were scratched off the paper with a knife and corrections were written on top of them. Rasuren is partly inspired by the creative process of Beethoven who wrote many sketches and versions while composing.
• written for the Deleuzabelli Variations project of Paulo De Assis and the Hermes Ensemble.
• performances: 29 september 2015 in the School of Arts Ghent and 9 november 2015 in the Bijloke concert hall of Ghent.
• score
Points to make
This work was made for a visual installation of the artist Alice De Mont. The composition consists of five parts or sections that can be performed in any order, with repetitions and/or omissions. The instrumentation is free and the musicians are invited to find different ways to perform staccato sounds (with pitch) on their instrument. The timing of these short notes is written in free time, resulting in a heterophonic texture.
• recordings: version 1: part B (loud) followed by part E and part B (soft)
• recordings: version 2: part C followed by part D
• score
(fl)ASH
(fl)ASH is based upon the blinding effect of a short music fragment. If a music fragment of a few seconds is followed by a silence, a moment of dazzlement is created during which the listener can think about the fragment and try to re-imagine it. By abruptly breaking off the fragment I try to strengthen this 'internal reverb' effect (in the head of the listener).
(fl)ASH is a static composition that stresses the 'here and now'. The structure is minimalistic and suggestive: in the short term there are repetitions of (similar) fragments, but on the long term -time structures longer than 30 seconds- there are almost no references to previous fragments. Moreover, the listener can create his/her own relations between the diverse fragments.
(fl)ASH is notated as an open, graphic score for which unfinished music has to be searched. The fragments are chosen from works that were never finished by the composer, often because he/she died during the composition process or because the material production (e.g. of an opera) appeared to be impossible. The first version of (fl)ASH used fragments of unfinished compositions by J. Haydn, J.S. Bach, W.A. Mozart, Fr. Schubert, H. Berlioz, F. Mendelssohn, Pappalardo, C. Saint-Saens, Fr. Liszt, Cl. Debussy, H. Vieuxtemps, G. Mahler, A. Bruckner, L. Ornstein, B. Bartok, A. Webern and Sorabji. Fragments were also based on my own sketches and sketches of (the performers) Patrick Housen and Dennis Allegaert.
• performances: in the Royal Conservatory of Ghent on 31 March 2014 and 15 October 2014
• recording (the first 5 minutes of a version with solo percussion, onstage ensemble (2 violins, viola, cello, flute, clarinet, harp, saxophone, piano, percussion), offstage ensemble A (horn, standing piano) and offstage ensemble B (accordion, bass clarinet, guitar)
CENTRA
The piano and the piccolo play a central role in this work. Both go their own way: the piano in the foreground, the piccolo in the background. The other instruments of the ensemble create a environment of short, contrasting fragments around these two instruments. Some ensemble fragments -almost- develop into an independent third voice, other fragments appear just once, as a chance event.
This work tries to create a sense of musical dept or distance. The spatialisation of the performers, the timbre and the musical material serve this goal.
To synchronize the parts with their own, independent tempi, the piano functions as a kind of clock. Almost all the synchronization cues are based on this part, thus the other instruments mainly follow the piano. As in chamber music, the ensemble of 7 instruments can play together without a conductor.
• instrumentation: piccolo, clarinet, piano, marimba, violin, viola and cello
• performances: by Spectra Ensemble in the Royal Conservatory of Ghent, 28 March 2013 and 15 October 2014
• score
EIGENGANG
This work is written for 3 pianists playing one piano. The performers play five layers or voices which have their own independent character, tempo and style. The work originated from a desire to create a work for an intimate ensemble -performers very close to each other- where each voice has enough space to develop its own personality.
The synchronization between the voices with their own tempi and character happens without a chronometer, metronome or conductor. Thanks to the physical proximity of the performers, a complex synchronization with visual and auditive cues was possible. The movements of one performer, his score and the instrument on which he is playing, are situated within the visual and aural field of the other performers.
To emphasize the timbre differences between the voices, several extended piano techniques are used, for example a piece of cloth is placed between the strings and hammers of the piano to create a very muted sound in one of the voices.
• performances: in the Royal Conservatory of Ghent, School of Arts, (January 2012), the Orpheus Institute, (Ghent, June 2012 and October 2012) and the University of York, Music Department (UK, May 2012)
• a live recording of a rehearsal
CHUNKS & STREAMS
Chunks & Streams is dominated by a continuous flow of heterogeneous musical textures and events on top and after each other. Longer fragments of music are compressed into shorter fragments by presenting extreme short samples sequentially after each other or by combining different musical ideas simultaneously. The result of this manipulation of our perception of time and our perception of identity and difference is an overall form which is at the same time audible and unpredictable, a stream of sounds and musics which is chaotic but not loud nor hectic.
This composition was made in close collaboration with the Zwerm quartet. After a first rehearsal during which the performers and the composer experimented with the multiple speaker setup and with the simultaneous combination of heterogeneous musical material, the time in between the next rehearsals was used by the composer to organize and finetune the material. In the final score improvization still plays an important role but the structure and spatialization are fixed, as are the general features of the various musical textures.
• commissioned by the electric guitar quartet Zwerm
• performances in London (Brunel University, 3 May 2011 and Cafe Oto, 2 May 2011), New York (Issue Room Project) and Ghent (the Logos Foundation, 13 October 2011, and het Orpheus Institute, 6 October 2011) by Zwerm
• live recording (concert in Brunel University, London)
• score
THREEWAY II
Just as Threeway I (Drieweg I) this composition is a polyphonic piece in which the parts have a very high degree of independence. Very occasionally there is some active interaction between the performers. In general every performer concentrates on what he is playing and perceives the other musicians as if they are 'in the background'. This piece wasn't written for 4 specific instruments, it has an abstract score that can be played by several instruments (with certain characteristcs).
• performances: a first version of Threeway II was performed by Hans Roels and Fabian Coomans on the festival Jazz & Sounds (February 2010 - Ghent). Further performances by Manama students of the Royal Conservatory of Ghent (February 2011) and by students van York University (Music Department) in May 2011 on a concert of the seminar 'Embodiment and Experiment'.
• recording by Ensemble Besides
• score
GORT
Gort is the name of a town and river in Ireland. The region around Gort is known for its underground rivers. They disappear underground, emerge at the surface and sink underground once more in complex patterns. As a child I was fascinated by the appearance of these rivers in the middle of a field or some hundred meters before they poured in the sea. The performance techniques used in Gort produce by-sounds. Often the pitched sounds disappear in these by-sounds and a few moments later they emerge again. Whether 'undergroud' or 'overground' the music continues very intensily, very softly and full of energy. Normal bowing techniques almost aren't used in this piece.
• instrumentation: string quartet
• commissioned by the Spiegel Quartet
• performances: by the Spiegel Quartet on 9 October 2008 in de Singel - Antwerp (B)
• score
SOFFITTO
In Soffitto a piano keyboard is connected to a computer that controls an automatic organ and xylophone. After experimenting with musical techniques, ornaments, chords and phrases that fit with these automatic instruments, Hans Roels developed algorithms (in Pure Data and Python) that change the input from the keyboard during the performance. Some details and structural elements were fixed more or less in advance, while others are totally 'open' and can be changed during the performance. Just as in live electronic music composition, improvisation and interpretation are almost inseparably connected.
• instrumentation: MIDI keyboard, computer and 2 computer-controlled music automats
• commissioned by vzw Musicon (Ghent)
• more information in the score and files (Pure data file: soffitto-1.pd, Python file: glisclus7.py), Pure Data (Pd), Python and the Python external for Pd need to be installed, this external can be found on this site.
• score
• more information on the computer controlled music instruments, built by Godfried-Willem Raes.
DRIEWEG
Threeway (Drieweg) is a polyphonic piece in which 3 main instruments play in a seperate tempo and a fourth follows and accompanies this trio. This piece wasn't written for 4 specific instruments, it has an abstract score that can be played by several instruments (with certain characteristcs). The first version was played in the Logos Foundation on a toy piano, a melodica and two synthesizers but f.e. a performance with xylophone, clarinet, cello and accordeon or mandolin, accordeon, bass recorder and harmonium is also possible.
Threeway almost sounds as a soundscape with three clear and seperate voices that go their own way but -as if by accidence- fit together well.
• score
PATCHWORK
Between 2007 and 2010 Hans Roels has teached live electronic music to a group of teenagers and amateur musicians. Because there aren't many compositions that can be played in these lessons he started to compose a cycle of works. These pieces are mostly based on one specific technique from electronic music. They also want to demonstrate the diversity within live electronic music. The approach, style and peformance requirements differ a lot. Often the performers need to improvise.
The software that is used in these works is the free and open source program Pure Data running on Linux, Windows and Apple. Special hardware (like certain types of synthesizers or effect machines) is avoided.
• more information (scores, Pure Data files, recordings,...)
• performances: on the November Music festival, 16 November 2008 in the Bijloke (Ghent)
RADIO SOUTH
Radio South is a piece for 8, 12, 16 or 14 radios that can be performed by children or teenagers. I borrowed the idea to make a piece for radios from John Cage. Every performer has to memorize 2 places on his radio: 1 radio station (music or voice sounds) and 1 place inbetween 2 radio stations (all kinds of noises). The players are standing in the public.
• instrumentation: for 8, 12, 16 or 24 radios and 1 or 2 optional instruments
• performances by pupils of the Stedelijke Academie voor Muziek, Woord en Dans van Deinze
• score
SLOW MOTION
A piece in which 11 computer controlled automats are being played through a MIDI keyboard. Only the key chambers of the 3 organ automats are used to produce noise. For every automat I programmed a different way of playing. Three very short parts (consisting mainly of a melody) were composed in advance. By chosing the repetitions and the order of these parts during the performance, the piece gets its shape. Slow Motion is in fact a patch in Reaktor that enables a performer to improvise with 11 music instruments. What the individual automats play, can be made in advance, generated by a (melodic) algorithm or improvised on the keyboard. Therefor, every performance sounds different.
The noise machines (like <PSCH>, <SPRINGERS>, <THUNDERWOOD>) give the performer the opportunity to play with different kinds of noise while the automatic harmonium enables the audience to hear very tiny differences in amplitude. These two characteristics are used a lot in Slow Motion.
• instrumentation: computer-controlled instruments and computer
• performance: 17 October 2006 in the Logos Foundation
• more information on the computer-controlled music robots produced in the Logos Foundation
POINT BLACK
In Point Black the pianist doesn't only play on the keys of the piano: he also plays on a cardboard box, he whistles and uses his voice. Some piano keys are prepared: rubber, bolts and other things are placed between the strings. The electronics (made with the Reaktor software) are mostly based on the granular synthesis of 3 short samples. Apart from this I also made an audio effect that modifies the dynamics of the voice and box sounds.
• instrumentation: piano and computer (live electronics in Reaktor software)
• performances: 18 July 2006 in the Koninklijke Academie voor Nederlandse Taal- en Letterkunde van Gent by the Dutch pianist Reinier van Houdt (NL)
• commissioned by vzw Trefpunt
• score