World premiere: Aarre for symphony orchestra and concert organ

Olli Virtaperko’s new work Aarre for the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra and the Rieger concert organ of the Helsinki Music Centre will be premiered on February 14, 2024, at the Musica nova Helsinki festival. The Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Nicolò Umberto Foron, will perform the piece with organist Susanne Kujala.

“Composing Aarre was one of the most challenging tasks of my career, but also one of the most interesting and rewarding. I spent 18 months working on the piece, with the biggest challenge being how to create the organ an integrated role in the orchestra, somewhere between a standard orchestral instrument and a soloist. I did not want to write an organ concerto, yet I still aimed to give the organ a significant role in the piece, using it to bring new colors, textures, and harmonies to the symphony orchestra.

Understanding the possibilities and limitations of the Rieger organ was a crucial starting point. I spent the first six months studying the instrument and its capabilities, ultimately creating a large collection of organ material of which only a small portion made it into the final piece. I was particularly fascinated by the organ’s relatively large selection of overtone stops, which produce pure intervals moving in parallel motion. Throughout the piece, I frequently use parallel chordal movement based on justly tuned thirds, sevenths, and ninths. This 379-chord appears in various roles and contributes significantly to the harmonic identity of the work. The organ’s overtone registers provide microtonal possibilities, which in Aarre are further expanded through quarter-tone stops and the instrument’s Flexible Wind feature, with which tones and chords can be bended both upwards and downwards.

Olli Virtaperko and Susanne Kujala working on Aarre organ part at the concert hall of the Helsinki Music Centre.

The microtonality of the organ is complemented by the orchestra, particularly the brass section, which from time to time is required to play in just intonation, as well as by string harmonics and clarinet multiphonics. While microtonality certainly plays a role in Aarre, its influence on the overall harmonic landscape is subtle. The piece also includes a significant amount of equal-tempered material. In addition to organ, Aarre includes solos for several orchestral instruments, such as bassoon, English horn, clarinet, harp, and French horns in particular.

The title Aarre (Finnish for treasure) refers both to the Rieger organ, an invaluable treasure in itself, and to the Finnish modernist composer Aarre Merikanto. His Konzertstück (1926), written for chamber orchestra with a soloistic cello part, is occasionally referenced and commented on in the organ part. Due to its dual meaning, the title Aarre is not to be translated into other languages.

Aarre was commissioned by the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra as part of its Helsinki Variations commission series.”

(Olli Virtaperko, January 2025)