Of the actual national anthems, I don't know, but of the things that ought to be national anthems:
The Battle Cry of Freedom is the best, IMO. I truly love that song and it makes me love my country and my heritage. Plus it makes me want to kill Confederates, even if I get horribly wounded and die a terrible death in the attempt, so it's really good.
Of couse, among all the national anthems, that of the USA is the best. I often tried to give various harmonies to it and failed. The most impressive performance of the piece is that George Szell conducted Cleveland Orchestra for general production at Osaka when he landed at this eastern island in 1970. People said the Eroica symphony conducted by Szell was the best performance while he was staying Japan. Unfortunately, I've never listened to it. I'm waiting for the Sony Classical issues this live performance of Eroica some day.
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To me the best version was done by jimi henrdix at woodstock one can hear it on youtube.It sounded like variations on a theme to me.
Jamaica's anthem is one I long admire. Its lyrics were provided by Hugh Sherlock and the music was composed by Robert Lightbourne. It was adopted in 1962, the year of its independence.
OK, I should have been more specific, the allied occupational forces did forbid this after WW2, and by now the official hymn is verse no. 3. Nobody will put you in jail these days if you sing the first verse (although people may get funny ideas though).
There's also the rather funny 2nd verse about German women and German wine by the way.
And anyway, this entire thing is recycled from the Austrians, the original lyrics were "Gott erhalte Franz den Kaiser" (and no, this didn't refer to Franz Beckenbauer originally).
In my opinion, the best anthem is Russia's, with France at a very close second - they're powerful, simple, and, when arranged well, stupendously awesome.
Musically, many of the South American anthems are very interesting - operatic being the operative term there. In terms of being particularly moving to listen to, Iceland wins that contest for me. Actually, Iceland's could definitely pass for performance at a classical concert.
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