Puut humisevat – Organ music by Juhani Pohjanmies and contemporaries
Ville Urponen, organ
Programme:
Oskar Merikanto (1868–1924)
Suomi Surussa (comp. 1899, publ. 2009)
Grave – Allegro molto – Moderato – Allegro moderato
Fredrik Isacsson (1883–1962)
”Katedraalissa” -suite (1918/1920, manuscript)
Part 2. Yöllinen laulu
John Granlund (1888–1962)
Passacaglia (1915, manuscript)
Väinö Raitio (1891–1945)
Improvisata for organ (1914, manuscript)
Juhani Pohjanmies (1893–1959)
Sonata (1917)
Grave – Andantino – Allegro moderato – Maestoso – Tempo I
Andante grazioso – Allegro vivace
Juhani Pohjanmies’ colossal Sonata for Organ reflects his character: it was always searching and always discovering. First performed by Pohjanmies himself in 1917, it remains one of the most ambitious Finnish organ compositions. It is also part of the first golden age of Finnish organ music. Previously, only Oskar Merikanto had composed concert music for the organ, but suddenly, in the second decade of the last century, young composers such as John Granlund, Fredrik Isacsson and Väinö Raitio – who can be heard in the concert – raised the organ to the status of an instrument on equal footing with other instruments. It is perhaps no coincidence that these compositions were written in the decade of Finland’s independence: the young composers wanted to show that Finland had a musical culture on a broad front. Why most of the works are still virtually unknown is at least due to the fact that some of their composers have been forgotten and that many of the works remain unprinted.
VILLE URPONEN is one of the best-known Finnish organists. After studying the organ and piano at the Sibelius Academy’s soloist department with Kari Jussila and Meri Louhos, he completed his organ studies in Amsterdam with Jacques van Oortmerssen. Urponen graduated with a doctorate in music in 2009.
Ville Urponen has performed in several European countries, Japan, South Korea, China and Russia and has played at numerous major music festivals at home and abroad. For example, in summer 2020 he played the opening concerts of the 20th anniversary concert series of the “Bach Organ” at St. Thomas Church in Leipzig and in January 2024 one of the opening concerts of the new Rieger Organ at Helsinki Music Hall.
Urponen has released several solo albums, acclaimed in international magazines, and he appears as an accompanist and orchestral musician on several recordings.
Ville Urponen is a lecturer in organ music at the Sibelius Academy. He is the artistic director of the Turku Organ Festival. Urponen is vice-chairman of the organ concert group at Helsinki Music Centre. In 2015, Urponen was awarded the itinerant award of the Organum Society, the oldest organ society in the Nordic countries, for his prominent and long-standing work for organ music.
The concert is arranged together with the Turku Cathedral Congregation.