The world-famous Finnish pianist and conductor Olli Mustonen (b. 1967) has cancelled the biography written of his life by Matti Suurpää, the former publishing manager of Tammi Publishers, who is also an expert in classical music.
"The recording of the interviews [with Mustonen himself and with a number of other musicians] started off smoothly enough, but once we reached the writing stage it turned out rather soon that there was no reason to continue our cooperation", Mustonen commented last night, while preparing for a concert in Oulu.
The pianist and the writer ended up in a strong disagreement about the standard and the scope of the book just before it was due to be published last autumn.
Mustonen's decision to put aside the completed book came as a big surprise to Suurpää, who had been writing the 250-page work - for publication by Otava - for three years. Moreover, Mustonen had read the first version of the book and merely suggested a couple of changes, after which Suurpää had corrected the manuscript accordingly.
Judicially, the shelving of the work does not cause any problems. Under copyright law Olli Mustonen is entitled to make decisions concerning the interviews.
