Joonas Kokkonen: Il Paesaggio (1987)

Joonas Kokkonen: Il Paesaggio (1987) Musica per orchestra da camera Basler Festival Orchestra Joonas Pitkänen, Conductor Don Bosco, Basel, Switzerland Scored for chamber orchestra, Il paesaggio (The Landscape) was to be Kokkonen’s last major work. It was commissioned by his home town of Järvenpää and inspired by the landscape round the nearby lake. Il paesaggio is the free-tonal, organically growing music consistent in its motif work typical of late Kokkonen. Towards the end are three motifs (marked ”Enigma” in the score) in homage to three other Järvenpää composers: Jean Sibelius (the unison orchestral motif E-A-Eb-B-Bb-E-Eb), Erik Bergman (the oboe motif E-Bb-E-G-A) and Paavo Heininen (the flute motif A-B-E-E). © Kimmo Korhonen, November 1998 (translated by © Susan Sinisalo, February 1999) Video and Sound: Filip Michał Saffray