Elis Pehkonen

Summary

‘I felt I had to write tougher, cutting-edge music because that's what everybody else was doing.’

It was inconceivable not to interview for this book as many of the ‘big name’ British composers as possible. But for each of them there are tens of others who are less well known and who persevere with their work unaided by publishers, managers, agents or recording companies. Together they form the majority of British composers – in numbers if not necessarily in influence – and because few are invited to talk publicly about their music I felt it important to interview some of them.

Elis Pehkonen (not to be confused, as he may sometime be, with Aulis Sallinen, Joonas Kokkonen or Jouni Kaipainen) agreed readily to my request – ‘not for kudos’, he explained, ‘but because Murray Schafer has been a big influence on my thinking’. Nevertheless, he repeated a number of times his gratitude for being asked to contribute to this book. On each occasion I assured him that, although he may make few headlines, his contribution is valuable for a number of reasons, not the least of which is the fact that every composer is an individual in terms of outlook, experience and aims. And in his own case there's the important issue of localism.

For more than twenty-five years he has lived and worked in Suffolk and has developed a comprehensive knowledge and understanding of local musical life – much of which is non-professional despite the large number of performers and composers who live in the region. In practical terms it's strongly influenced by audience demographics, by the distance between concert venues (many of which are rural churches) and by the region's relative lack of public transport; and Pehkonen is clear about the need to programme events that local people will be prepared to attend rather than what might be thought good for them.

As if to illustrate this, visiting his home involves driving down a winding and apparently ever-narrowing lane deep in the Suffolk countryside and looking for what seems to be the last cottage in the village. When I went there to interview him in September 2011 his warm, chatty and hospitable wife led me through the garden, which contains palm trees and other exotic plants, to the enviably large wooden studio where he works. Inside were ordered rows of carefully filed scores, parts and recordings of his music.