Isle of Bliss

This work is a fantasia written for orchestra based on Aleksis Kivi’s interpretation of an idea of a peaceful island, a haven – as the name of the piece suggests. Rautavaara has described the creative process as follows: “Once the form of the work begins to take shape, the music follows its own, ‘genetic’ prescription, the dictates of the material itself. Nevertheless, it proceeds in a way analogous to the poem itself: from a vitalic and high-spirited beginning through dreamy, static passages arriving once more at an optimistic note and ending with Kivi’s ‘purple sunrise at morning’.”