JOY (2024)

3(Picc.)2(Eng. Hn.)2(Eb Clar.)2(Cbsn) 4331 13 Hp Org Strings

It was humbling to be asked to compose for the Helsinki Music Centre’s new organ, an instrument brought to life by a generous gift from the late composer Kaija Saariaho. From the start I imagined a piece in which the organ was a constant, but non-soloistic presence, like the weather or nature. Early sketches featured both pictorial associations with nature—in this case the dramatic mountain landscapes of western Canada—as well as abstract thematic processes. Thoughts of important composer colleagues lost in recent years brought a mournful, elegiac dimension. However, I remembered once asking Kaija which emotional state she found most difficult to express musically. She’d smiled warmly and answered, “JOY.”

As these thoughts and images grew more diverse and conflicting, the music became more abstract. The piece seemed to want to be about itself and to encompass the world, a duality recalled from an oft-quoted discussion between Mahler and Sibelius about the nature of symphonism. Despite swearing many years ago that I’d never write a symphony—much less an ode to joy—I realized that I was doing just that.

The form is a single, constantly evolving span, opening with a clangor of bells and an expectant atmosphere, as the voices of the orchestra and organ awaken. The music surges forward in a sudden torrent, flowing into a toccata-like scherzo that veers wildly between jagged and lyrical, before climbing into the heights and dissolving. A slow buildup of still, monumental chords and a melancholy, chorale-like organ solo follow, settling into a grieving tone as the organ accompanies the unison string section in a gentle, sighing song. The sighs grow ever deeper as the music slowly opens outward into a dancing, life-affirming rush. The slow final section returns to material from the introduction, with a repetitive, consoling harmonic figure slowly layered into a cortège-like procession. Under it all the organ holds an unchanging chord, quite literally pulling out all the stops.

I am deeply grateful to Susanne Kujala for guiding me through writing for an instrument that wouldn’t exist until I’d (almost) finished the music. After some hands-on experimentation in Germany and Finland, I largely forsook technical specs and just wrote music, trusting that Susanne would find the right voices from this immense gift to Finnish music. I am also indebted to Escape to Create in Seaside, Florida, for their gift of time and space in the early stages of the project.

JOY was commissioned by the Finnish Broadcasting Company Yle, and premiered in May 2024 by the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra under its chief conductor, Nicholas Collon.