Helped by an Angel: Rautavaara's Symphony No. 7, Angel of Light

Rautavaara's Seventh Symphony had a tangled route to success. It was commissioned by the Bloomington Symphony Orchestra, an amateur group hoping to receive a short easy work to celebrate their twenty-fifth anniversary. Rautavaara had other ideas. He produced a four-movement symphony with the main theme based on musical pitches derived from the letters in the orchestra's name. The group was not too pleased but did their best. After a nearly completely overlooked premiere in Indiana, Rautavaara changed the symphony's title to Angel of Light. He also approved an unusual publicity campaign of a competition of a painting of an angel that would be used on the cover of the CD recording. That helped it earn a Grammy Award Nomination in 1995, the year of its first performance, and a Cannes Classic Award in 1997.