Einojuhani Rautavaara was a leading figure in contemporary music, and was best known for his enormously popular Symphony No. 7, "Angel of Light." Starting out as a practitioner of twelve tone music, Rautavaara eventually outgrew the strictures of serial composition and became more eclectic in his approach, adopting many styles in an essentially tonal idiom. The composer of 10 operas, eight symphonies, and myriad shorter works, Rautavaara was honored as the most significant Finnish composer after Sibelius, and he received numerous international performances of his later works, particularly Cantus Arcticus and Angel of Dusk.