NEW RECORDINGS

Pekka Kuusisto's New Album for Moominvalley TV Series

January 28, 2025

2 MIN READ

Released on the Gutsy Animations label, the album features favorite music from the Finnish-British TV series

Violinist Pekka Kuusisto was involved in writing the music for the internationally acclaimed Finnish-British TV series Moominvalley, produced by Gutsy Animations and first premiered in 2019. A disc of music from the show has recently been released, also on the Gutsy Animations label.

The music for the show began life as a collaboration between Kuusisto and composer Samuli Kosminen in 2017, with Jarmo Saari coming on board to take over from Kuusisto in 2019. The music illustrates the various settings encountered by the characters, from the homely Moominhouse and Moominvalley to a lighthouse island, a volcano, storms, the Northern Lights, treasure hunts, circus performances, and through the seasons.

The style of the music blends Kuusisto's classical background with elements of folk and pop music, retaining a strong sense of Nordic identity throughout in its evocation of Tove Jansson's characters. Kuusisto follows in the footsteps of his father Ilkka Kuusisto, who in the 1970s composed the Moomin Opera in the 1970s in collaboration with Jansson.

The album is available on a range of streaming services here.

"The music for Moominvalley was designed to be played on instruments you might imagine finding in the Moominhouse," Kuusisto said. "A harmonium, a soft-toned upright piano, a violin, and a mandolin were part of the process from the beginning, along with Samuli’s imaginative array of percussion instruments, ranging from pots to suitcases. In animation, music plays a significant role in highlighting the emotions of the characters. The work was intense, sometimes challenging, and involved sleepless nights, but the opportunity to resonate with Tove Jansson’s world made it all worthwhile."

"It has been a great privilege to create music for the series alongside exceptionally talented individuals like Pekka and Jarmo," said Samuli Kosminen. "There wasn’t a single instrument in my studio that I couldn’t spontaneously hand over to them, hit ‘record,’ and ask them to play. The results were always astonishing. Assembling and arranging this album with Jarmo has been an incredible journey through these Moominvalley memories and all the music we’ve come to love so much."