The Finnish composer Joonas Kokkonen (1921-1996) was one of the most important personalities in Finnish music of the past decades. Among other things, he was active as a critic and held important positions at the Sibelius Academy and in the Finnish Composers Association. Kokkonen's greatest merit, however, lies in continuing the Finnish symphonic tradition after Sibelius in a period when the continued
… existence of the symphony (thanks in part to Sibelius's unforgettable achievements in this field) seemed questionable. For Kokkonen, however, the symphony represented a way of thinking on an architectural and philosophical level, which, according to Kokkonen, can be considered timeless. In his "first symphony" from 1960, Kokkonen uses the 12-tone technique in a modest and expressive way. Following this symphony, the Finnish press regarded Kokkonen as a "new comet in the musical sky of Finland, which may well become a permanent star". Kokkonen's "Four Symphonies", in combination with "Opus sonorum" and "Requiem", are played by the Lathi Symphony Orchestra conducted by Ulf Söderblom and Osmo Vänskä. (HJ) _more
