ESTONIAN SYMPHONIC MUSIC. THE FIRST CENTURY 1896-1996.
symphonies, mixed with other genres, sometimes turned into divertissements, light
entertainment, into collage etc. However, this register includes compositions that
Estonians have a right to be proud of and due to the industrious and meritorious work
of the conductor Neeme Järvi, have been popularised all over the world and has a firm
place in the musical production of the Twentieth century.
The symphony is not a worn out genre, it still synthesises many facets of human
nature, eternal polarised elements, the struggle between them and the differing results.
To deny a symphonic way of thinking and expression is to deny human feeling and
thought.
Several of the works named have proven their worth: “We have music in such
abundance that even if three fourths are not especially captivating, the remaining fourth
offers sufficient support to the soul. And that is a lot.”1
19082 Artur Lemba. First Symphony