Thread: Your Favorite Countries/Regions for Classical Music!

I allow you to choose more than one. Pick at most 3.

OMG WHAT HAVE I DONE???? I LEFT OUT RUSSIA! How do I undo that???? No, I can't undo.

Ok, "Other" ONLY counts as Russia. If you have another country you like, don't count them in, just name them below.

LOL! Ill wait for Russia to be added...

I voted Germany (for Bach and Webern in particular), France (for just about everyone post-Wagner), and "Other" to represent Northern Europe (particularly Finland, Estonia, those places; no Russia for me, sorry).

I remember at least two threads on this subject.

Originally Posted by Aramis

I remember at least two threads on this subject.

They're lost in the shuffle now, though. This is for update.

I think Spain and Latin America are as different as the UK and the USA, or almost so. No matter I wouldn't include them in my top three unless I can count Scarlatti as Spanish, and he wasn't.

I chose Germany / Austria, UK, and Russia / Other.

Not sure about Eastern Europe either. Does that include Dvorak, Liszt, and Chopin? Quite a broad range of styles and traditions. Also where is Scandinavia? Oh, never mind. I'm nit-picking.

Not going by the poll for now, my top 3 would be:

Russia
Germany/Austria - But this pains me to miss out some eastern european composers that are germanic in style.
France - purely for impressionism, Boulez and Messiaen

Prokofiev icon, Prokofiev in your sig, and you leave his country out of the choices!

It would have been more suiting if you had covered your error by saying something along the lines of "Since Russia is obviously the best place, this poll is for second best." Of course, it would have also been less funny.



Anyway, for me, the order would be:

Germany/Austria
Russia
Eastern Europe
Scandinavia/Finland
Italy
North America (USA, Canada)
France
Great Britain
Far East (Japan, China, Korea)
Latin America

Originally Posted by Huilunsoittaja

OMG WHAT HAVE I DONE???? I LEFT OUT RUSSIA! How do I undo that????

You can't. We can.

Originally Posted by Huilunsoittaja

Ok, "Other" ONLY counts as Russia. If you have another country you like, don't count them in, just name them below.

Based on the fact that no one specified a different region in their posts, we judged that the previous votes listed for "other" were all intended for Russia. If any weren't, whoever did so didn't read the "ballot proposition" carefully enough.

My pick:
1) Germany/Austria
2) Russia
3) Eastern Europe/Bloc
4) France
But where do I put Sibelius. Anyway to me sometimes there is little connection between music and a particular region. Is Tchaikovsky more Russian or Rimsky? Is Elgar quintessentially english or Delius(or Handel)?What about Chopin. Is his music more polish(eastern european!)or that of composer of Halka?Sorry I know the thread is not about any such connections. It's just that why would a particular region be our favourite? Why do i like the Karelia suite? Do I know anything about Karelia? This favourire region concept seems to belie the fact that regions are political,cultural, social entities whose shape has changed through history. We all seem to suffer from totalizing impulses. Something is GERMANIC or ENGLISH. To take the example from poetry, T.S Eliot was technically american but in poetry and essays always tried to prove that European civilization and culture is the bedrock of his poetry. Chopin wrote Mazurkas,Krakoviaks but lived in Paris.

But where do I put Sibelius. Anyway to me sometimes there is little connection between music and a particular region. Is Tchaikovsky more Russian or Rimsky? Is Elgar quintessentially english or Delius(or Handel)?What about Chopin. Is his music more polish(eastern european!)or that of composer of Halka?Sorry I know the thread is not about any such connections. It's just that why would a particular region be our favourite? Why do i like the Karelia suite? Do I know anything about Karelia? This favourire region concept seems to belie the fact that regions are political,cultural, social entities whose shape has changed through history. We all seem to suffer from totalizing impulses. Something is GERMANIC or ENGLISH. To take the example from poetry, T.S Eliot was technically american but in poetry and essays always tried to prove that European civilization and culture is the bedrock of his poetry. Chopin wrote Mazurkas,Krakoviaks but lived in Paris.

Sometimes, yes, but such composers are minority - Liszt, Handel perhaps.

Besides, it really depends what do you take for definition. Where the music comes from and where was written? To which cultural realm it belongs? For me it's latter and therefore answers to most of question you made are obvious.

Originally Posted by Aramis

Sometimes, yes, but such composers are minority - Liszt, Handel perhaps.

Besides, it really depends what do you take for definition. Where the music comes from and where was written? To which cultural realm it belongs? For me it's latter and therefore answers to most of question you made are obvious.

But is the culture of a particular region in a state of stasis so that we can essentialize something as polish or german? Dont you think that regional/national identities keep on shifting? The very concept of polishness in the 19 century was based on resisting russian imperialism and Bismarck's predatory eye. Yet at the turn of the century a writer of polish descent(his father was a freedom fighter) is highly confused about imperialist practices of the english and changes his polish name to an English one(Joseph Conrad).

Originally Posted by anshuman

But is the culture of a particular region in a state of stasis so that we can essentialize something as polish or german? Dont you think that regional/national identities keep on shifting? The very concept of polishness in the 19 century was based on resisting russian imperialism and Bismarck's predatory eye. Yet at the turn of the century a writer of polish descent(his father was a freedom fighter) is highly confused about imperialist practices of the english and changes his polish name to an English one(Joseph Conrad).

Example of Conrad doesn't change much, I already wrote that there are exceptions difficult to put anywhere. Composers you mentioned before are unquestionable though in their adherence. How can you ask about Sibelius, someone who wrote works like Finlandia and Tapiola and is so connected with his homeland? Tchaikovsky, who despite having some western academic influences still was clearly part of national music movement? And Chopin? Even his years in Paris make him more, not less Polish as Great Emigration (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Emigration) is strongly part of this culture.

1. Germany/Austria
2. UK/Ireland
3. Eastern Europe
4. Russia/Soviet Union
5. Scandinavia/Finland
6. France
7. USA
8. Italy
9. Australia/New Zealand
10. Latin America

Originally Posted by Aramis

Example of Conrad doesn't change much, I already wrote that there are exceptions difficult to put anywhere. Composers you mentioned before are unquestionable though in their adherence. How can you ask about Sibelius, someone who wrote works like Finlandia and Tapiola and is so connected with his homeland? Tchaikovsky, who despite having some western academic influences still was clearly part of national music movement? And Chopin? Even his years in Paris make him more, not less Polish as Great Emigration (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Emigration) is strongly part of this culture.

I did not question Sibelius's nationalism. It was just an expression of irritation as the existing categories only gave the 'other' option for Sibelius which in turn brought me to the question we are discussing. Well I guess what you see as an exception , I see as a tenuous and everchanging relation between the the artist and the regions they belong to. I'm in no way denying the existence og genuinely nationalistic or regional music.