I have found out the answer to my own question. Evidently Rääts recomposed the work later on (as Henze did with his first symphony). At the Estonian Music Information Centre (emic.ee) the work is listed as Symphony No. 2, Op. 8/79 (1958/1987).
Indeed this symphony is very much like the 8th. One wonders how did the original version sound like. I cannot properly give comment to this symphony because of such different approach, similar to Rääts's other late opus. And since the 3rd symphony "returns" to the world of Shostakovich and more of Prokofiev it sounds almost like an alien.
This is a very nice piece with a distinctive voice that I'll be listening to many times over. But the voice sounds much more like the Rääts of the eighth symphony than the Rääts of the first or third symphony. So, is the piece really symphony 2 as stated, or is it a later piece mislabeled?
I have found out the answer to my own question. Evidently Rääts recomposed the work later on (as Henze did with his first symphony). At the Estonian Music Information Centre (emic.ee) the work is listed as Symphony No. 2, Op. 8/79 (1958/1987).
Indeed this symphony is very much like the 8th. One wonders how did the original version sound like. I cannot properly give comment to this symphony because of such different approach, similar to Rääts's other late opus. And since the 3rd symphony "returns" to the world of Shostakovich and more of Prokofiev it sounds almost like an alien.
Excellent
This is a very nice piece with a distinctive voice that I'll be listening to many times over. But the voice sounds much more like the Rääts of the eighth symphony than the Rääts of the first or third symphony. So, is the piece really symphony 2 as stated, or is it a later piece mislabeled?