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Rudolf Baršai: I once heard Jaan Rääts' string concert on Moscow radio and I immediately started to like it. Immediately, without postponing the matter, I wrote a letter to Jaan Rääts. Soon the score of the Estonian composer was in my hands and we immediately started practicing it.
Jaan Rääts' concert attracted our attention with many qualities. It is an exceptionally lively work, sunny from the first to the last note, and truly rich in melody. It can be seen that the author is well acquainted with Estonian folk songs and skillfully uses their motifs in his works. Jaan Rääts' concert has many values. For example, we were most impressed by the language of the work, which reflects a good knowledge of various instruments, including the violin.For the first time, our orchestra played the Jaan Rääts Concert in Leningrad.We also invited the author to this concert. The Leningradians accepted the work with great warmth, and I and all the musicians enjoyed getting to know the composer. We also played Jaan Rääts' concert in other cities of the USSR with great success. The foreign performance of Jaan Rääts' concert took place in Paris. French newspapers highlighted the brightness of concertos melodies. Recently, our orchestra returned from a two-month tour to England and America. The music audience of these countries also warmly received Jaan Rääts' work, in New York we even had to repeat this demand of the audience. Jaan Rääts is currently writing a new work for our orchestra and we are waiting impatiently another meeting with the work of a talented Estonian composer. (Rudolf Baršai, 1964) |