FMQ 3/1992

This year [1992] Finland becomes 75. Our years of independence are being celebrated with exhibitions, speeches and commemorative gold coins. The country has changed in many ways since 1917, but the period which has so far attracted most attention in the celebrations has been the war. This is not surprising. For the generation of Finns born soon after the country gained her independence, the war has been the most dramatic event of their lives. Now, nearly fifty years after armistice, veterans' organizations are playing a very active role in the independence celebrations. The music of the war years is enjoying a revival, and there are even new songs being written about the veterans and their memories.

Barely having finished Joy, the last part of his orchestral trilogy to which his earlier works Kinetics and Marea also belong, and also the Piano Concerto, which is a synthesis of the three, Magnus Lindberg is already planning an “opera spectacle” for Brussels. He is also in the process of writing a large scale orchestral work for the BBC which will be premièred in November.