Viitanen: Firmamentum / Images D'Oiseau Pour Orgue / Voyager

Featuring

Harri Viitanen
Hannu Lintu
Avanti! Chamber Orchestra

Did you know?

1/7

Compositional Technique

For his work "Images d'oiseau pour orgue" (Bird Images for Organ), Harri Viitanen utilized recorded bird-songs from nightingales, pied flycatchers, blackbirds, and great tits as musical material.

Instruments

The organ used for this recording is the present organ of Helsinki Cathedral, built by the Danish firm Marcussen & Søn and inaugurated in 1967.

Performer Biography

The Avanti! Chamber Orchestra, founded in 1983 by conductors Esa-Pekka Salonen and Jukka-Pekka Saraste, is known for its versatility and commitment to contemporary music.

Composition History

The concerto "Firmamentum" (The Firmament), for organ and symphony orchestra, was inspired by the idea of transforming the distances between stars and Earth into tonal ratios.

Composer's Artistic Vision

Harri Viitanen's personal compositional language has been developed through studying astronomy, ornithology, and the latest data technology.

Composer Biography

Harri Viitanen, the composer, studied composition and organ playing at the Sibelius Academy and continued his studies in Paris with composer Tristan Murail.

Compositional Technique

In "Firmamentum," Harri Viitanen used three different musical interpretation models of constellations, aided by astronomical literature and Hallwag's Star Atlas.