Do you actively hear the country of origin in composers' music?

Yes, I do. Particularly with English/Scottish. American and Russian music. This is a generalisation, I know and it doesn't apply to all music by all composers from all of those countries. But could Appalachian Spring or some of Roy Harris or Virgil Thompson be anything other than American. And Vaughan Williams anything other than English. But, against that, Lennox Berkeley can sound more French than English. There are passages in Glazunov and Gretchaninov which make you sit up and say 'ah yes, that's Russian'!. Janacek, of course, is famous in hos operas for purposely sounding Czech by following, we are told (I don't speak a word of the language) the natural speech rhythms of is country.We tend to put clichés to this feeling - French music is 'fastidious'. American 'full of wide open spaces'. English 'folksy' or 'bucolic', Russian 'full of Slavonic despair', German 'teutonic thoroughness or heaviness' etc. I'm sure there is far more to it than that. I haven't had a chance to read the article you refer to (it's late - or early - here, depending on your viewpoint, and I'm insomniac, so need to come back to it when I'm wider awake). However, clearly there are pieces which are bound to sound of their origin, because of their very nature - a set of local dances, for example, but I know your question goes beyond that.

Then, of course, we have the composer who tries to sound alien - Mozart with his 'Turkish' music, Bantock trying to sound Eastern in Omar Khayyam and Scottish in some of his symphonies and tone poems, Bax, Irish. And, of course, Ravel, Spanish, Tchaikovsky, Italian. We were listening to a piece by the Hungarian, Dohnanyi the other day - his American Rhapsody, a tribute to the US, when both my wife and I exclaimed 'but that sounds English!!

All in all a totally fascinating subject.

Not the be all and end all but I think one thing that certainly helps is as so much of this music was before we were able to record it's actually the music that is past down rather than a recording. Therefore the full orchestral music we here is usually very well recorded compared to say Mo-Town hits of yesteryear which in comparison sound grainy and compressed. We maybe listening to music written a couple of hundred years ago but it's recorded by fanatics modern philharmonic orchestras at the best recording studios in the world. Fantastic 24bit 192 recordings sounds huge, detailed and expansive. Also I think the music is more timeless then as fashion didn't change as often as it does today in contemporary culture. Oscar Wild once noted 'fashion is a form of ugliness so intolerable that it has to be changed every 6 months' some music now is fantastic but there is allot of 'bubble gum' rubbish out there too. Music then wasn't about instant gratification and wasn't so much about 'a time'. These days we define music by the decade, I can't imagine they differences were so extreme back then before the ages of internet, radios and television. People heard their music live and would pay to make an evening of it or somebody would be playing a piano at a drinking house perhaps copying the music of the great composers of the day. It's for these reasons that music would change so fast. Today the kids listen to Radio 1 (pah pah pah) where radio bosses impose A.) B.) and C.) songs on most of the day time presenters where by a category A.) has to be played X times over X period of time. Kids today don't buy albums any more, they just download the single and listen to the same songs over and over again until they're are sick of it. It's intense listening for shorter periods of time and then they're on to the next thing. They are not going to dust off a Pink Floyd Record and sit down and listening to it in it's entirety with a fine Scotch now are they? Shame. Also a lot of Classical music has less vocals which also acts to make them more timeless and also all the instruments used are still relevant today. Orchestral instruments have always been around and always will be, compared to say synthesisers which may have sounded ultra modern the 80's but soon people move on and what once sounded modern then very much becomes 'of a time' and 80's tunes sound retro and dated.

Thank you for your question. When I listen to music, I listen to its musical content .I don't so much hear its musical ethnicity. ( although some composers do write very patriotic songs with their own musical style and signature. Smetana and Chopin i.e ( correct me if I am Wrong!, Albeniz, Rachmaninoff and Piazolla are such composers.

When I listen to Russian music it feels Russian.I am able to distinguish it- most of the time.

The same goes for traditional Chinese and Japanese Music, I guess a lot of it has to do with its Modal scale,and instrumentation and language and how to fit its syllable into their songs.

As for French and German, Sometimes I feel it, sometimes I don't feel the country of origin. But Every composer has its own style, So when I hear Chopin or Strauss I can tell.

But when I hear Dvorak's Largo( From the New World Symphony), I can feel the composers inspiration which came from the Spiritual Songs. From his Largo though, I could not tell that he came from Prague and moved to America.

Sometimes I think it depends on the composer's intention to reveal the musical identity and the way he is influenced by his musical surroundings.

When I hear the Austrian National anthem as composed by Haydn, I could not tell that it was Austrian music.

But when I heard the Romanian National anthem I guess that it came from Russia.

That reminds me, Some of Mozart's works do have the influence of Italian Opera and the Mannheim Symphonic Orchestra.

And a lot of great composers were influenced by Bach and have that Bachian style, counterpoint and imitation, Mozart, Brahms , Haydn and Mendelssohn are some examples.

Another composer, Scarlatti do have some Spanish influence in his keyboard work. Scarlatti was born in Portugal but moved to Spain.

When I hear Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsody, I don't know what is so ' Hungarian ' about it.

Although some composers like Bizet, wrote Carmen with an entirely Spanish feel, even though Bizet has never been to Spain.

It really depends on the composer and the piece of music. Many, if not most, well-known composers have written pieces that were intended to evoke images of foreign lands. The easy pickin's to cite here are Tchaikovsky "Nutcracker" Russian Dance (yup that works for him) Chinese Dance (hey, that ain't Russian) and Arabian Dance (again away from his hometown feel.)

Sometimes with music that isn't specifically intended to portray other places you might decide origin based on the melody, harmonic style, the instrumentation, or some other je ne sais quoi.

Sometimes yes, and sometimes no however being familiar with certain composers and their nationality and also being familiar with the way they orchestrate is probably why I said sometimes yes. So maybe my answer should be no. Brahms music is easy to recognize and I know he is German. I do not go the other way around and say "this is German music, so it must be Brahms".

I regularly get a 'Russian vibe' - but no other country. Not sure why. It is quite fun when you're listening to a piece you haven't heard before and you're able to pinpoint the country correctly. It's like a mini achievement =]

Yes I know what you mean. I can almost smell italian food every time I hear a Paganini piece written for violin and guitar

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z-E0_drCO6U