ESTONIAN SYMPHONIC MUSIC. THE FIRST CENTURY 1896-1996.
chosen. An ever-deepening expressionistic spirit may be recognised; mourning,
depressive moods, sharp contrasts, unexpected exclamations of distress, long-lasting
tensions. As a firm anchor in his Third Symphony a popular choir-melody from the
Estonian National Awakening appears: Sind surmani (I Hold You Dear, My Homeland,
music by Aleksander Kunileid, based on a poem by Lydia Koidula).
From the music of Tamberg, a certain greater and unavoidable need to poeticise life, the joy of
being a man and also the dark sides of that, glow forth… a yearning to take wings, anxiety and
grief about the possibility that the power of imagination may be lost, human feeling may grow
weary and dull. This music is like a hymn to the beauty of simple things and hope that neither
bitterness nor tension remain in the end.1
1
Evi Papp. On the author’s evening of Tamberg. Sirp ja Vasar 16 May 1987.
annaabi.ee 
