Work of the Week – Edmund Finnis: The Landscape Wakes

By Christopher Peter
1 Feb 2026

Portrait of Edmund Finnis (dark hair, beard, black shirt) against a bright watercolor illustration. Features: hilly landscape at sunrise, winding river, and pink flower meadows. Atmosphere: peaceful morning.

Have you ever felt the world around us isn't static, but breathes, stretches, and comes alive? That landscapes aren't just backdrops, but living entities resonating with us? Edmund Finnis explores precisely this profound sensation. His new work, The Landscape Wakes, set for its world premiere on February 6, 2026, at the Bradley Symphony Center in Milwaukee, WI, USA, is far more than just music—it's a celebration of incessant awakening. The occasion is the annual "Composer Institute" of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, which champions emerging composers and provides Finnis with a grand stage. The renowned Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, led by Ken-David Masur, will bring this extraordinary piece to life.

The Earth's Heartbeat: A Composer in Tune with His Time

Born in England in 1980, Edmund Finnis is regarded as one of the most distinctive voices of his generation in contemporary music. His works, often praised for their delicate sonic aesthetics and emotional depth, regularly feature in the programs of leading orchestras and ensembles worldwide. He possesses that rare gift of packaging complexity in a way that truly touches the heart. One might call him a sound archaeologist, digging beneath the surface of the familiar for new forms of beauty. He doesn't shy away from tender passages but can also unleash powerful, almost raw energy. His music often has an almost hovering quality that captivates the listener.

A Trilogy of Perception: The Grand Finale

The Landscape Wakes marks the crowning conclusion of a ten-year journey—it's the final piece in a trilogy of orchestral works Finnis dedicated to our perception of the environment. How do we experience the world? How does it move, and how does it move us? In this final work, he seems to synthesize all these questions and elevate them to a new level.

Finnis himself envisioned a fascinating image while composing: the world continuously spinning on its own axis. And it was precisely this image—this eternal, gentle rotation—he wanted to capture musically. He speaks of lines and harmonies that twist and turn, always in motion. It's music designed to be both the "most agile" and "most powerful," as well as the "most tender" of the entire trilogy. One can almost feel how he views the orchestra as a living organism whose voices interlock like gears in a clockwork—or indeed, like continents on the globe.

Beyond a Fixed Place: The Universal Awakening

The beauty of the "landscape" in the title is its lack of specific location. It's not the Black Forest, nor the Scottish Highlands, but every landscape. A universal place familiar to us all, yet always surprising in its endless diversity. And the "awakening"? That's not a one-time event but a continuous marvel: the dawn, the renewal, ceaselessly repeating. It is the delicate hope that accompanies each new day, which Finnis captures in sound.

Especially in our fast-paced times, Finnis's music invites us to pause, reconnect with nature, and be inspired by its endless movement. A must for anyone who wants to know how the earth sounds when it dreams and awakens.