Estonian pres. Twitter feud goes musical

TALLINN, Estonia, Jan. 22 (UPI) -- A Latvian-born composer said an Estonian orchestra will perform a piece based on the Estonian president's Twitter dispute with economist Paul Krugman.

Composer Eugene Birman said he disagrees with some media outlets classifying his work as an opera, but the "Nostra Culpa" piece will be comprised of two movements and will feature two voices, one representing Krugman and another representing President Toomas Hendrik Ilves, the Los Angeles Times reported Tuesday.

The piece, scheduled to premiere April 7 by the Tallinn Chamber Orchestra at the Estonian Music Days festival, is based on a blog post from Krugman in 2008 criticizing Estonia's economic situation and Ilves's response on Twitter.

Krugman's blog post on The New York Times' website described the country's economic situation as "better than no recovery at all, obviously -- but this is what passes for economic triumph?"

Ilves described Krugman's blog entry as "smug & snide gloating" at the expense of his country.

The title comes from one of Ilves' tweets.

"But yes, what do we know? We're just dumb & silly East Europeans. Unenlightened. Someday we too will understand. Nostra culpa," he wrote.