Rieger-Orgelbau GmbH, Schwarzach, Austria, has completed a new organ for Musiikkitalo, Helsinki, Finland.
The façade was designed by Harald Schwarz together with Wendelin Eberle. One of these sculptural pipes serves as a wind channel, while all the others are real sounding pipes of the Violonbass 16′ register.
The organ in Musiikkitalo has 124 stops, distributed across an Orchestral division (Manual I, enclosed), the Great division (Manual II), Positiv (Manual III), the enclosed Récit (Manual IV), in addition to several floating divisions. This makes the instrument the largest concert hall organ in Europe.
The instrument, which is more than nineteen meters high, has been divided into different levels. At the bottom, in its own case, is the enclosed Orchestral section, which includes a complete string family and the Orchestral Pedal. Due to its position directly next to the stage and its specification, this Orchestral section is ideal for playing with ensembles and can be complemented by attractive colors such as Physharmonika, Celesta, or Glockenspiel from the floating divisions.
All other divisions are located behind a large general swell, a device that is ideal for concert hall organs. A conventional organ that is too loud when played with an orchestra, for example, can only be adjusted dynamically by reducing and changing the registration—but this means sacrificing the ideal tonal color. With a general swell, on the other hand, the ideal registration can be maintained and reduced or adjusted as a whole.
The Positiv and the Great on the second level form the tonal heart of the organ and are largely oriented towards the German Romantic sound, while the Récit is dominated by French symphonic Romanticism. Finally, the Pedal is located on level three. The organ gains additional power from the floating Solo and chamade reeds.
The organ is supplied with wind by six blowers located above and below the organ. It can be played via a mechanical console (on the right-hand side of the organ case) or via a mobile, electric console on the stage. This mobile console has three options for tone generation in that the playing action can be set to “on/off” mode, “proportional action,” or “tracker” mode.
The organ is featured on the cover of the January 2026 issue of The Diapason:
https://www.thediapason.com/content/cover-feature-rieger-musiikkitalo-helsinki
https://www.thediapason.com/content/january-2026
For information: www.rieger-orgelbau.com
https://musiikkitalo.fi/en/about-musiikkitalo/organ
Photos by Sakari Röyskö (Musiikkitalo)
