The Finnish composer Rautavaara absorbed a variety of influences to create a characteristically warm musical language of some variety. He was a pupil of Merikanto in Helsinki and of Persichetti at the Juilliard School in New York before pursuing further study in Germany. He was the recipient of various awards, including the Sibelius Prize of the Wihuri Foundation.

Orchestral Music
Rautavaara’s very original Cantus arcticus includes recorded birdsong from the Arctic Circle, while his Third Symphony makes subtle and generally tonal use of a 12-note series. He described his First Piano Concerto as a post-modernist work in its expressiveness.

Piano Music
Rautavaara’s piano music shows similar originality, both in its sources of inspiration (including the pictorial and visual), and in its development.