News

    Loading posts...
  • Lamento of Ananias

    ”Lamento of Ananias (original Finnish title Ananiaan valitus) is a work in a traditional lamento character, built on a broad melody around a stable drone of the tonic A in the middle register. The version for solo organetto is plain…
  • Moiré

    Moiré is a concerto for natural horn and Baroque orchestra with orchestral natural horn obligato. Moiré was commissioned by Tommi Hyytinen and premiered by Tommi Hyytinen and Finnish Baroque Orchestra FiBO (under Tomas Djupsjöbacka) in Musica nova Helsinki 2021 festival,…
  • Hämäläisten jumalat

    The Finnish language belongs to the languages, which were formally standardized through the Reformation-driven need to translate religious texts from Latin to vernacular. The early Finnish biblical translations laid the foundations of standard Finnish, and the translation work was accomplished…
  • Ambrosian Delights

    Ambrosian Delights, a concerto for Knifonium and Baroque orchestra (2013) is a crossover work that combines the subtle Baroque period instruments with the grooving new retro tube analogue synthesizer, Knifonium. The 27-minute work consists of four attacca movements. The piece…
  • Fantasia “Liberazione”

    Fantasia ”Liberazione” is a solo work for harpsichord in the traditional 1/4 comma meantone temperament (from Eb to G#). The piece begins as a chromatic chaconne with descending bass line, gradually starting to fall apart both rhythmically and harmonically and…
  • Meren päällä ohuempaa

    ”Meren päällä ohuempaa is a three-movement work for Renaissance recoder quartet. During the compositional process I was simultaniously writing music for Yle Radio Theathre audio drama Urian kirje (Letter to Uriah). I used the Bravade recorder quartet as a performer…
  • In nomine ´Shivering´

    In nomine ‘Shivering’ is Virtaperko’s second contribution to the polyphonic In nomine viol consort tradition, which flourished in England during the late 16th and early 17th centuries. In nomine settings were built around the cantus firmus Gloria Tibi Trinitas (from…
  • Puumala-sarja

    ”Puumala-sarja (Puumala Suite) is named after the municipality of Puumala, located in Southern Savonia region by the vast Lake Saimaa. Since 2007 we have spent summer holidays in one of the rental cottages of Reposen lomamökit in Lietvesi (Hurissalo, Puumala),…
  • Maatiaissarja

    ”Homebrew Suite (original Finnish title Maatiaissarja) is chronologically my second suite for solo treble viol. Similarily to Kansanmusiikkigambaa (2013) ja Puumala-sarja (2015) the Homebrew Suite combines the aesthetics of folk music and early music in instrumentally idiomatic way.The opening movement…
  • In nomine revised

    In nomine revised connects to the English polyphonic In nomine viol consort tradition of the 16th century, where the plainchant melody Gloria Tibi Trinitas (from John Taverner’s six-voice mass from 1530) was used as a cantus firmus (often played by…
  • Folk Suite for Treble Viol

    Written in 2013, Folk Suite for Treble Viol consists of five short movements that reflect Virtaperko’s recent, growing interest in the Nordic folk traditions. ”I wrote ‘Folk Suite’ primarily for my own amusement and use during the Summer holiday of…
  • Ground upon open strings

    Ground upon open strings is a Renaissance-influenced solo work for 7-stringed bass viol, based on a short 3-part canon with ostinato bass, (with the bass line using only the open strings of bass viol; listen Audio for the original canon).…
  • Fanfare

    Fanfare (2012) is written for viol consort (a6) in a quasi-neo-Baroque style. The piece starts with a majestic introduction that leads to a fast and intense double canon in a vigorous fanfare style. Going through several harmonic modulations, Fanfare remains…
  • Fantazia

    Fantazia (2012) is a four-minute piece for Baroque cello and harpsichord, written in a Renaissance spirit. Fantazia follows the basic structural model of Girolamo Frescobaldi’s Canzonas with alternating slow and fast passages in double and triple meters. The piece opens…
  • Songs of innocence, lust and sorrow

    Songs of innocence, lust and sorrow (2011) for two bass viols was commissioned by Markku Luolajan-Mikkola and was premiered at Vantaa BRQ festival on 15 August 2011. The programmme note by the composer describes Songs of innocence, lust and sorrow…
  • Passacaglia per cello e cembalo

    Passacaglia per cello e cembalo (1999) is a polyrhythmic study for Baroque cello and harpsichord. The passacaglia theme appears throughout the piece in various melodic settings realized by three independ voices in their own independent tempos. Starting with an intimate…
  • Spoilt Bastard’s Christmas Carol

    Spoilt Bastard’s Christmas Carol is a solo work for harpsichord, which I wrote at the age of 23 during my first year at the Sibelius-Academy. The piece was composed for harpsichordist Ere Lievonen, whose exceptional technical abilities allowed me to…