organ music

The new concert hall organ in the main auditorium of the Music Centre in Helsinki was put through its paces in contemporary repertoire for the first time at the solo recital given by organist Susanne Kujala in the Klang concert series on 12 February 2024. The audience, nearly 1,000 strong, was treated to a handsome selection of contemporary organ music, giving full rein to the features specifically designed for this purpose in the Rieger Orgelbau instrument.

One of the world’s largest concert hall organs was inaugurated in the main concert hall of the Music Centre in Helsinki at the New Year. Organist Jan Lehtola has been curating the process from the first beginnings of the project to the final test performances. He has seen to it that the wishes of the headline donor, composer Kaija Saariaho, were implemented in the best possible way. So what was the process like, from planning to finally playing this grand instrument?

When the phone rings, church musician Hanna Seppänen answers and listens attentively. Experience has taught her to identify the stage of the caller’s grieving process. Sensitivity is required. Seppänen listens to the caller’s wishes and considers how to best respond to them. Seppänen’s job description is quite exceptional: she works as a funeral musician.

Microtonal classical music comes across as a nerdy pastime operating in the margins between "real notes," and with good reason. An experimental microtonal instrument is typically encircled by a close-knit community of musicians and composers who are unable to evangelise their discoveries because of difficulties in playing technique or other challenges. However, in recent years so many microtonal instruments have been developed and adopted in Finland that the colourful world between the notes is finally opening up to wider audiences.

"Kujala’s new Alba recording includes an excellent and fascinating collection of works from five Finnish composers."

"Hardly anybody thinks of Sibelius as an organ composer, and yet his natural mode of composition suited the organ perfectly: he thought from the bass upwards, and that’s the way the best organ music works."