"Angel of Light"
Rautavaara's international breakthrough came with his seventh symphony (1994), subtitled Angel of Light.
It is is a 38-minute work in three movements, composed in 1994 and premiered in Bloomington in 1995.
Despite its name the work has no 'programme'.
It is absolute music by a composer who has experienced powerful archetypal associations - so powerful that a pair of words provide the impetus for composition.
This work is an example of Rautavaara's Neo-Romantic late period with broad, soaring melodies and sonorities that are soft and rich yet tinged with autumnal nostalgia.