Robert van Heumen Composer Improvisor Laptop-Instrumentalist Sound-Designer
Software Developer
Software Developer
(music player)
Composition
 Funeral FreezeA forgotten track I submitted for the Nachtmuziek album in 2015. The full album on Bandcamp. Dedicated to my dear friend Arjan who passed away last week so unexpectedly. | |
Composition
 GeluidjesFabriek (SoundlingsFactory) remixesThese are two remixes of my work, done through the GeluidjesFabriek. The term GeluidjesFabriek was coined by my dear friend Oane, who passed away more than 13 years ago, but is still in my heart and mind. | |
|
MOROS is a Sci-Fi film in sound for bass clarinet, contrabass clarinet and live electronics, performed by Laura Carmichael and Oğuz Büyükberber Money For Your Whale is Albert van Veenendaal and Robert van Heumen. They perform improvised music with prepared piano and laptop-instrument. | |
Composition
 SPILL (2015, 20')is a composition by Robert van Heumen for harp and live electronics, developed in collaboration with and performed by Miriam Overlach, with financial support from the Performing Arts Fund NL. A special version for harp, live electronics and voice was developed in collaboration with sound poet Sieger Baljon and director Nienke Rooijakkers for the theatrical concert To Whom this Power, performed at Orgelpark Amsterdam on November 28 2015. | |
[ more ] | |
Composition
 Parish of Tama (2016, 17')is a composition for cement mixer, clarinet, electric bass, drums and laptop-instrument by Robert van Heumen with financial support from the Performing Arts Fund NL Excerpts below are from the premiere at De Ruimte (Amsterdam) on November 2 2016. | |
[ more ] | |
Composition
 Sacred Noise (2015, 17')is a composition by Robert van Heumen for organ and live electronics, developed in collaboration with and performed with Jacob Lekkerkerker, commissioned by the Orgelpark in Amsterdam | |
[ more ] | |
Composition
 Untitled For Anne (2015, 10')is a composition by Robert van Heumen for flute and live electronics, developed in collaboration with and performed by Anne La Berge, with financiel support from the Performing Arts Fund NL | |
[ more ] | |
Composition
 Sunday Rhino (2015, 20')is a composition by Robert van Heumen for voice, cello, organ and laptop-instrument, performed by Audrey Chen, Michael Bonaventure & Robert van Heumen. The work was commissioned by the Orgelpark in Amsterdam for the Bending Baroque festival and performed there on June 5 2015. | |
[ more ] | |
Composition
 Detuning Guitar (2015)is a composition for acoustic guitar and live sampling, performed by Jasper Stadhouders and Robert van Heumen using the Shackle System.Composed under a composition stipend from the Performing Arts Fund NL. | |
[ more ] [ video ] | |
Composition
 MOROS (2014, 10')is a Sci-Fi film in sound for bass clarinet, contrabass clarinet and live electronics by Robert van Heumen. The premiere took place on December 14, 2014 at Splendor Amsterdam, performed by Laura Carmichael and Oğuz Büyükberber. | |
[ more ] | |
Composition
 A Short Piece of Decay (2014)is a composition by Robert van Heumen for blockflutes, panflutes, viola, accordion, percussion and live electronics. The piece is about the process of cooking a dish from basic ingredients that is subsequently being devoured.Commissioned by the Black Pencil ensemble and written under a composition stipend from the Performing Arts Fund NL. | |
[ more ] [ video ] | |
Composition
 The First Law of Kipple (2013)is a composition by Robert van Heumen for 4-channel sound and MIDI-controlled organ. Length: 21min21sec. FLoK is inspired by Gorecki's Miserere and a library of processed recordings in various churches. It is about creating order in chaos and crunching melody into noise. FLoK is commissioned by Orgelpark in Amsterdam and premiered there on November 3 2013 using Orgelpark's Sauer Organ with its unique digital interface.The First Law of Kipple was revised in 2014 to be performed by an organ player accompanied by a soundtrack. The premiere of this revised version took place in London on November 2 2014 and was performed by Michael Bonaventure. Read Van Heumen's Composition Stipend Blog for more info on the development of FLoK. | |
[ more ] | |
Composition
 MDFreeze (2013)is an algorithmic composition for 8 speakers dealing with the perception of music in time. By taking snapshots of an existing piece of music at irregular intervals and freezing those snapshots, the regular flow of time is altered and a parallel version of the music is created. Length: 13min08sec.MDFreeze has a well-defined form and feel, but differs in details on every play. This creates more room for discovery and surprise on the listener's side. | |
[ more ] | |
Composition
 NightCall (2013)is pure suspense, inspired by Painkiller, David Lynch and Ennio Morricone. A composition for the band IstanPOOL but can be performed by any combination of instruments, although an electric guitar should be there. IstanPool is Michael Moore (Anne La Berge), Mark Alban Lotz, Şevket Akinci, Giray Gürkal, Robert van Heumen, Korhan Erel. | |
[ more ] | |
Composition
 Tubes in Chains (2013)is a composition for various organs, flute with electronics and laptop-instrument, performed during its premiere by Dominik Blum and Shackle (Anne La Berge & Deckard). Length: approx 25min00sec. Tubes in Chains is the next step in Shackle's research project into restriction and structure in electro-acoustic improvisation. Tubes in Chains premiered at Orgelpark on November 3 2013 using Orgelpark's Sauer Organ with its unique digital interface. Read Van Heumen's Composition Stipend Blog for more info on the development of Tubes in Chains. | |
[ more ] | |
Composition
 Sound of the Machine (2011)A composition for Disklavier, laptop-instrument and flute with electronics, performed by Shackle (Anne LaBerge on flute with electronics & Robert van Heumen on laptop-instrument)Alternative version for Disklavier, laptop-instrument and voice, performed by Robert van Heumen (laptop-instrument) and Stephanie Pan (voice) Length: 15min21sec The sound of machines is fascinating. They scream, growl, grind, buzz, hum, sing, roar, whistle, thunder. The Disklavier is a machine to make music with. But it's not only the strings that make sound. This composition exposes the Disklavier's mechanism and produces freshly squeezed music. | |
|
VIDEO: Sound of the Machine [ more ] | |
Composition
 Stranger: composition and live interpretation (2008)Stranger is an electronic work that starts with the basic questions of life: How do we control our lives? Can we control our lives? What does it mean to die? Does it matter if we know when we`re going to die? Does anything matter? What really is empathy? What does it mean to be human? What can it mean to know another person, to understand another life? Is it possible to break free from the bonds of the familiar, from existing concepts and beliefs? | |
|
Stranger is inspired by Albert Camus' L'Etranger and Philip K. Dick's Do androids dream of electric sheep. And as always by L.E.J. Brouwer. Similar questions to the ones stated above will arise in the choise of sounds and the structure of the processes and the composition itself: How do we choose sounds and processes out of many? Can that process be arbitrary, even random, or should every sound and every process be weighted again and again until we know it's right? What does that mean, 'it is right'? What is it to create a piece of music? Should the judgement of others be considered in making a composition? Is it even possible to create a unique piece of music? Does it matter whether is it unique or not? The obvious metaphor: a composition as a life. This video is the documentation of a semi-improvised live interpretation of the Stranger composition performed at the SPARK festival in Minneapolis in February 2009. The performance is semi-improvised, based upon a pre-conceived structure, exploring the no man`s land between a traditional tape piece and free improvisation. [ more ] | |
Composition
 No Man`s Land (2008)This radiophonic work deals with the Dust Bowl period in the USA, specifically with the people that lived in the Oklahoma Panhandle, the extreme western region of the state Oklahoma. It is the story of Hazel Lucas, who migrated to Boise City, Cimmaron County with her parents and who lived through the worst hard times during this ecological and economical disaster. The story is taked from the book `The worst hard time` by Timothy Egan. Most of the sounds are produced in the CEM studio at WORM Rotterdam with the ARP2500 and the Korg MS-20 synthesizers and a Synton stereo EQ. The voice is by Marilyn Ivy and the production is done by Robert van Heumen. Below an excerpt of the instrumental version of the play, as included on the Stranger album. | |
|
No Man`s Land is commissioned by WORM/CEM and VPRO`s Cafe Sonore. The radioplay aired on Saturday Dec 6 2008. | |
Composition
 Fury (2006)The CD Fury, released on Creative Sources Recordings (Jan 2008) contains two works: "Fury (after anger)" and "They would get angry sometimes". "Fury (after anger)" is originally an electronic 5.1 surround composition commissioned by the Sonic Circuits festival 2006 in Washington DC. "They would get angry sometimes" is a derived version, performed live in 2007 at Brown University, Rhode Island (USA) and at the <>TAG Gallery, The Hague (NL). It shares its sounds with Fury, but has a different structure and different movements. | |
[ more ] | |
Composition
 Silent (2007)In December 2006 and January 2007 I created the composition Silent (in 7 parts), "Music for late at night, with no wind, and maybe a soft drizzle. Staring out of your window at the empty streets." It is released on CDR on the Fridgesound label. | |
|
The work is based on a specific synthesis procedure, inspired by James Tenney and programmed in real-time audio-synthesis and algorithmic composition software SuperCollider 3. It is quite different from my live electronics work. If the term wasn`t misused so often I would call it ambient. I like the idea that the music blends with the environment. Definitely influenced by John Hudak, Tim Hecker, Biosphere and Jazzkammer. Please listen with headphones or good speakers. You can buy the full CD at Fridgesound. | |
Composition
 12 Bullets (2006)A 5.1 piece by Robert van Heumen - especially composed for STEIM`s Noiseroom - January 2006. 12 Bullets is the culmination of Van Heumen`s varied work, using live generated textures with LiSa and Super Collider, environmental recordings, digital crackles and voice samples. Part of the material used is live footage by SKIF, his electronic duo with Jeff Carey. http://www.noiseroom.org | |
Composition
 Solitude (2005)An audio-visual theatrical composition based on the extatic feeling of solitude. Awareness of the sounds normally unheard: the fridge, faint sound from outside the room, heater switching on. With texts from 'The invention of solitude' by Paul Auster. Created in collaboration with Arnoud Noordegraaf. | |
|
'Solitary. But not in the sense of being alone. Not solitary in the way Thoreau was, for example, exiling himself in order to find out where he was; not solitary in the way Jonah was, praying for deliverance in the belly of the whale. Solitary in the sense of retreat. In the sense of not having to see himself, of not having to see himself being seen by anyone else.' Paul Auster - The invention of solitude Quote from Paul Auster's assistent: 'Paul asked me to let you know how much he liked your music -- its eeriness appeals greatly to him. Many thanks from Paul to you.' [ more ] [ video ] | |
Composition
 hardhatarea (1998)hardhatarea: sound from the beginning / where it all started | |
[ more ] | |