ESTONIAN SYMPHONIC MUSIC. THE FIRST CENTURY 1896-1996.
The modes are
often Mixolydian and Dorian: also display of pentatonic scales, harmonic major key,
natural minor and their peculiar modes. Themes and images may be exposed as
polytonal. The same theme is displayed in a hetero-phonic manner or different themes
combine even in different keys to accentuate the intensity of development.
In harmony the subdominant sphere is accentuated, cadences (if they occur) are
overwhelmingly plagal; the fourth connections are widely met both in tonal and atonal
harmony. This adds crispness and sobriety to the sound. Rhythms and metrics are often
taken from folk music; as a result, in connection with all means of expression, a genre
aspect: a festival, an entertainment, a play or pastoral scene, a funeral procession may
be displayed.
2
‘New winds in Estonian music’ Finnish Musical Quarterly 4 (1998): 31-35.
annaabi.ee 
