ESTONIAN SYMPHONIC MUSIC. THE FIRST CENTURY 1896-1996.
The First Symphony has its place both in Estonian musical history as a
memorial of war time and as the first Soviet-time orchestral composition. Eugen Kapp
wrote numerous symphonic pieces in the following years: the Second Symphony (The
Estonian, 1954),2 the Third Symphony (Spring, 1964),3 plus several overtures, suites,
1
First performed in Moscow, in the Hall of the Trade Unions, January 1943. The All-Union Radio
Symphony Orchestra was conducted by Sergey Gortshakov.
2
First performed by ERSO (Estonian Radio Symphony Orchestra), 13 Jan. 1956, conducted by Roman
Matsov.
3
Performed by ERSO, 9 Oct. 1975, conducted by Neemi Järvi.
and concertos. In his programmatic orchestral works he would proceed quite
traditionally. The composer usually expressed himself in a lyrical manner; strenuous
development, dramatic collisions in their deeper sense and weighty philosophic
conclusions are not typical of him.