Fifty years ago in Helsinki, the premiere of Joonas Kokkonen’s The Last Temptations marked the beginning of a remarkable flowering of contemporary Finnish opera. It helped that the central role of the 19th-century farmer and revivalist preacher Paavo Ruotsalainen was in the hands of the somber but charismatic basso Martti Talvela, renowned on international stages for roles like Boris Godunov and Wagner’s Gurnemanz. As the action commences, Paavo is near death, flashing back on the passions and personal losses that have troubled his earthly journey. By turns proud, cold, angry, cowardly, and hungry for recognition, he has been an imperfect bearer of a better gospel. Kokkonen, who was largely self-taught, couches Paavo’s story in music of austere beauty, graced by simple hymns. The rugged medieval fortress of Olavinlinna on the shores of Lake Saimaa seems just the setting for material of this description. Paavo’s current avatar is Mika Kares, a widely esteemed Finnish bass not likely to erase old-timers’ memories of Talvela, but we mustn’t live in the past. Silja Aalto appears as Riitta, Paavo’s first wife, calling the dying man “beyond the gate.” Johan Krogius sings Juhana, the couple’s son, whose early death in a tragic accident dealt his father’s faith a grievous blow. Ville Matvejeff conducts.