ESTONIAN SYMPHONIC MUSIC. THE FIRST CENTURY 1896-1996.
Joining
several smaller phrases has shaped the matter-of-fact pace.
The Third Symphony sounds atonal in a specific way, there are quite a number
of tonal moments, also “pure” chords, mostly shadowed by dissonance, yet Rääts is
avoiding tonal centres. Harmony is directed as if by intuition, some gestures from
Prokofiev’s idiom may be detected. Polyphony is used mostly in the shape of the linear
and contrasting subsidiary lines. In the score oboes are left out, the alto saxophone is
added. The basic group is made up of strings, playing nearly all the time.
The ground pillars are quarter and eight notes. Complicated rhythmic patterns
are absent; they simply are not adjustable to the style. So the entire metric picture is
somewhat stiff. Such a hard rhythmic frame inevitably leads to inner impoverishment
of the music. Rääts appreciates classical form schemes, but in his hands their contents
and development are unaccountable
annaabi.ee 
