Esa-Pekka Salonen's first large scale orchestral work is this Concerto for saxophone and orchestra ('...auf den ersten blick und ohne zu wissen...') which dates from 1980-81 when he was undertaking an extended period ofstudy in Milan with Niccolò Castiglioni. The title of the piece comes from Kafka's The Trial which Salonen felt expressed something about the imaginary world that this piece inhabits.