Still for sale: Esa-Pekka Salonen’s Brentwood home

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Esa-Pekka Salonen, the outgoing music director of the L.A. Philharmonic, has already struck camp and moved the family base to London, but he is far from being free of the L.A. real estate market.

Several weeks ago, the Finnish conductor put his Brentwood home on the market and even came close to reaching a sale only to have it fall through, according to a sales agent close to the deal.

So last week, the house officially went back on the market. Current asking price: $4.1 million.

The white, two-story contemporary house was built in 1993 by Ted Tokio Tanaka, the L.A.-based architect whose firm’s projects include the LAX Gateway, the Bannings Landing Community Center and several notable private residences throughout Southern California.

The property originally consisted of a ranch-style house dating from the ‘40s or ‘50s, said Tanaka, who was commissioned by the then-owner (not Salonen) to add 3,000 square feet to the structure, transforming it into a modern house.

‘One of the most important things was to provide privacy -- the house is located on a corner lot so there is some street traffic,’ said the architect. He ended up creating a curved wall around the exterior that shields much of the property from view.

The current house sits on 0.21 of an acre and features nearly 4,700 square feet of living space, with six bedrooms and 5 1/2 baths. Inside, there is a floating staircase, 2 1/2 story windows and a wine room. Outside is a garden courtyard, swimming pool and a spa. (We’re told the spa bears an inscription from Jean Sibelius’ ‘Finlandia.’)

The house was purchased in 2002 for $1,516,000, according to public records. (Salonen lived in Santa Monica before to moving to Brentwood.)

No word if there have been any new offers for the house. A listing agent refused to give out more details. The L.A. Philharmonic said that it has no financial stake in the house and that it belongs to Salonen outright.

-- David Ng