Galina Ustvolskaya

Galina Ivanovna Ustvolskaya ( ) (17 June 1919 – 22 December 2006), was a Russian composer of classical music.

Known as 'the lady with the hammer', her music has been described as demanding "everything from the performer", uncompromising in her trademark textured homophonic blocks of sound. Ustvolskaya created her own unique style, characterized by unusual combinations of instruments that created highly specific tone clusters and textures and her large dynamic ranges.

A highly private person, she chose to live her life largely outside of the public eye, rarely conducting interviews as she found it unpleasant to talk about her own music. In her lifetime, she only approved 21 of her works for performance. Provided by Wikipedia