Composer Veljo Tormis, Who Helped Inspire Estonia To Independence, Dead At 86

While he has been overshadowed in the West by compatriot Arvo Pärt, Tormis is revered in his native land. Doubtless thinking of such works as the ferocious Curse Upon Iron and Litany to Thunder, leading Estonian conductor Tõnu Kaljuste once observed, “If Arvo Pärt’s music is heaven, then Veljo Tormis’s music is earth.”