Musiche Ricercate project

“The music of any age depends upon the kind of musical instruments which that age possesses.”- J. Redfeld

1.) Short outline:

The MUSICHE RICERCATE project combines technology and visions of contemporary music on a contemporary instrument: the Utopa organ in Amsterdam. Inspired by György Ligeti's 11 piano etudes Musica Ricercata, eleven new etudes will be composed by a collective of young, radical composers who explore the new playgrounds of this hyper-organ through composition and improvisation. Why etudes? Etudes are the paradigmatic genre for preparing the human body to play an instrument, overcoming technical difficulties, and developing musical sensitivity to new sounds. This necessary reflection requires adapted musical notation. 5 etudes have been composed in 2025 which means that 6 are still to be composed. 

 2.) Vision:

The Musiche Ricercate project revolves around the theme of “avant-garde musical instruments” and their necessity for new music. It brings to light works that are inspired and informed by hypermodern musical instruments. Instrument making has always had a profound influence on new compositions and pushed sound to its physical limits. At the same time, composers advanced musical instrument making by making new demands. In this sense, the Musiche Ricercate project celebrates one of the most revolutionary and versatile composers who has significantly influenced the development of organ building in the 21st century. He was born just over 100 years ago: György Ligeti. His eleven piano études, with the eponymous title Musica Ricercata, are now being reimagined here, orchestrated on a hyper organ and expanded by eleven newly created études by a collective of improvisers and composers working in Switzerland and internationally. In 1951, Ligeti began experimenting with simple rhythmic and tonal structures in order to build a “new music” from scratch. He suddenly considered all the music he had known and loved until then to be irrelevant. Starting from the question “What can I do with a single tone, what with its octave, what with an interval, with two intervals, with certain rhythmic relationships?”, he set out in search of a completely new kind of music, initially using simple means. Such new, radical approaches are also the starting point for this project.

3.) What are hyperorgans?

By merging technology and musical practices, Musiche Ricercate creates a multi-part work of art on modern hyperorgans – they are both organs (an instrument declared a cultural heritage by UNESCO in 2017) and fully acoustic synthesizers – with thousands of pipes that can be controlled by state-of-the-art software. These instruments, often connected to the internet, can be played by people or computer protocols and can sound simultaneously in different locations using connected pipes, creating a vast sound spectrum that dissolves musical boundaries. Such a global instrument invites revolutionary forms of telematic music-making, teaching, and sharing. There are currently around a dozen such hyperorgans in Europe, often referred to simply as “wind-dynamic organs.” What they have in common is that they seek to expand fixed parameters such as organ wind, pitch at the touch of a key, and timbre via register pull, and make these parameters more accessible to organists through new interfaces, i.e., controls. They contain micro-magnets that enable various effects: variable wind supply, different attack durations, automatic transpositions, and sound coupling. These organs not only promote future music-making, but also traditional organ craftsmanship, as the new technologies enable sounds that are materially present in the organs and physically possible (even on historical instruments), but would not be accessible without these new interfaces and control options.

The following instrument features are seeked to be explored:

Sound repetition

Wind volume control

Sound blending

•       Delay on and off

•       Sostenuto

Determine tone colour per key

•       Free pipe combination per key

•       Free key combination per key

Determine sound dynamics per key

•       Free response control at the touch of a key

•       Free dynamics control at the touch of a key

And the following playing techniques and musical aesthetics:

·         New freedom of play, Liberated hands/feet

·         Infinite possibilities for orchestration (amplification of registers in certain ranges/pitches, combining any register, rediscovering each timbre with different wind pressure)

·         Active communication between machine and human as musical partners, machine music

·         Microtonality (more or less controllable)

·         Sound synthesis

New affordances of hyperorgan shall generate a new approach to organ sound art and sound perception by 1.) the actual handling of the physical instrument and by 2.) diving into new sonic spaces – thus also adopting the immaterial dispositions of the instrument.

“The study of instruments (…) could help resuscitate aesthetics in its radical, original sense: the science of perception and feeling.” – T. Patteson

Practical questions:

• How can I get to learn how the instrument works? 

An initial workshop on february 16th will be organized at Orgelpark for exactly this purpose. On march 9th and 30th composers will get individual working time at Orgelpark and individual support with the instrument.

• When can I work on my compositions?

At least half of the composition process could be done at Orgelpark, either at the instrument or in rooms during the three mentioned dates. The third date can be used to present the compositions as far as they are to the group.

• How much time does each composer get to work on the instrument? 

After the three dates are over, another three dates will be communicated to finalize the compositions. Individual working times will be organized.