Superpositio

by Jarkko Hartikainen

for three geographically separated organs, united by electronics

Description

The piece is written specifically for the 1957 Marcussen organ of the Nicolaïkerk in Utrecht, the Baroque organ of the Viitasaari church (Kangasalan Urkurakentamo 1989), and the 1864 Cavaillé-Coll of the L’abbaye de Royaumont. All the sounds used in the piece have been generated on these organs and then sampled onto a computer for simultaneous use. No manipulations have been made to the samples, in order to allow the three organs to truly sound together. In performance, only the organ of the concert venue is being played live, the two other organ parts are performed by the computer. The electronic part thus consists only of the sound of these organs, with an obvious exception at the very end. The piece can be considered site-specific for these three venues.

The title (the Finnish word for ‘superposition’) refers to quantum mechanics, where an electron can be in several places at once.

Instrumentation

org, electronics

Category

Works for Solo Instrument

Premiere

Age-Freerk Bokma, Utrecht, 6. September 2013, Viitasaari, 1 July 2014 and Royaumont, 7 September 2014

Commisioned by / dedications

Commissioned by Viitasaari Time of Music festival in cooperation with Gaudeamus Muziekweek and Fondation Royaumont under the auspices of the EU-funded Ulysses Network project Organ PLUS.

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Archive number

MF23162

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