George Crumb, a composer who offered his own musical language using a wide range of instruments, human sounds, and the traditions of Asia and his native Appalachia, died Sunday at his home in Media. He was 92, writes Vivien Schweitzer for The New York Times.

Crumb wrote colorful and concise works ranging in mood from peaceful to nightmarish.

He was still composing through his 90th birthday, premiering a new piece for percussion quintet.

 “The apocalypse itself seemed to be evoked in the new Kronos-Kryptos piece, whose third movement has four bass drums going full tilt at the same time,” wrote Philadelphia Inquirer critic David Patrick Stearns.

His best-known work is “Black Angels” from 1970, his reaction to the Vietnam War and an early example of his imaginative eclecticism.

The first movement was frightening enough to be on the soundtrack of the movie, The Exorcist.

His orchestral piece, “Echoes of Time and the River,” which requires that small groups of musicians move around the stage in scored patterns and directions, won a Pulitzer Prize in 1968.

He created a series of American Songbooks in the 2000s featuring hymns, popular tunes, and African American spirituals.

Read more in The New York Times about the life of composer George Crumb.