6. Kaija Saariaho – Du Cristal
Kaija Saariaho is an incredible Finnish composer, and this is a glorious piece of music. It really hails to its live electronics, but it mixes those with the orchestra. There are all these dense masses of sound, but it’s also so melodic. She’s still making music too. She had an opera performed at the Met in New York a few years ago [in 2016], and if was the first opera performed there by a woman since 1903. Since 1903! Isn’t that insane? That shows you there’s still stuff to be done. There are so many amazing women making music out there, and they need those platforms coming to them.
