Jeremy Pound investigates the classical music of countries competing at the Games
Here’s what seemed like a good idea at the time. When the Olympic clock announced ‘100 days to go’, I had a thought: why not mark the lead up to the Games by choosing a piece of classical music from 100 different competing countries, and featuring one per day on Twitter? Could be fun…?
Colleagues agreed, and the atlas was dragged off the shelves. The rules were simple. To make things a little bit more challenging, each piece had to be written in the Western classical tradition – so no jazz, folk or pop – and national anthems were strictly banned. Plus, there had to be a sound clip of it on the web, so we could share it.
When it came to determining nationality, Olympic rules applied – someone was born in, hailed from or lived in a country – that qualified them to represent it.
And here, 100 days later, is how things panned out. There were some wonderful discoveries on the way – Iceland, Haiti and Algeria instantly spring to mind – while for some of the classical music ‘heavyweights’, we decided to look beyond the obvious. For each choice, simply click on the link to have a listen.
Of course, we didn’t cover all of the Olympic nations, as there are over 200 of them. So, if anyone from, say, Kiribati, Andorra or Papua New Guinea is put out that their country doesn’t get a mention, we can only apologise… And do feel free to send us a link!
100 (18 April)
Spain
Falla: El amor brujo
99 (19 April)
Canada
Mathieu: Rhapsodie Romantique
98 (20 April)
Armenia
Khachaturian: Piano Concerto
97 (21 April)
Iceland
Sveinbjörnsson: Piano Trios
96 (22 April)
New Zealand
Lilburn: Symphonies
95 (23 April)
Bulgaria
Tabakova: Whispered Lullaby
94 (24 April)
Guatemala
Samayoa: La Estatua Ridicula
93 (25 April)
Belgium
Obrecht: Missa Caput
92 (26 April)
Syria
Malek Jandali: Echoes from Ugarit
91 (27 April)
Japan
Takemitsu: Arc
90 (28 April)
Russia
Glazunov: Symphony No. 5
89 (29 April)
Montenegro
Jovan Milosevic: More, vrcaj konja, Cerim Abdul ago!
88 (30 April)
Bahamas
Cleophas Adderley: Missa Caribe
87 (1 May)
Monaco
Schreker: Prelude to a Drama
86 (2 May)
Bosnia
Dino Residbegovic: Concerto for Piano and Orchestra
85 (3 May)
Switzerland
Honegger: Rugby
84 (4 May)
South Africa
Joubert: Symphony No. 1
83 (5 May)
Latvia
Vasks: Plainscapes
82 (6 May)
Macedonia
Pande Shahov: In Struga
81 (7 May)
Argentina
Ginastera: String Quartets
80 (8 May)
Poland
Karlowicz: Eternal Songs
79 (9 May)
Panama
Roque Cordero: Rapsodia Panamena
78 (10 May)
Cyprus
Yannis Kyriakides: a conSPIracy cantata
77 (11 May)
Faeroe Islands
Sunleif Rasmussen: Skaerur Vindur
76 (12 May)
India
Shirish Korde: Tenderness of Cranes
75 (13 May)
Norway
Grieg: Holberg Suite
74 (14 May)
Philippines
Angel Matias Pena: Iyo Kailan Pa Man
73 (15 May)
Ukraine
Gliere: Harp Concerto
72 (16 May)
Chile
Orego-Salas: Clarinet Sextet
71 (17 May)
Turkey
Saygun: Violin Concerto
70 (18 May)
Hungary
Kodaly: Dances of Galanta
69 (19 May)
El Salvador
Carlos Colón Quintana: Overture for a Martyr
68 (20 May)
Ireland
Stanford: Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis in G
67 (21 May)
Uganda
Justinian Tamusuza: Ekkivvulu Ky Endere
66 (22 May)
South Korea
Unsuk Chin: Xi
65 (23 May)
Denmark
Langgaard: Music of the Spheres
64 (24 May)
Ecuador
Gerardo Guevara: Fiesta
63 (25 May)
Lithuania
Cui: Preludes, Op. 64
62 (26 May)
Iraq
Salem Abdul Karem: Qatar Symphony
61 (27 May)
Malaysia
Jessica Cho: Landscape
60 (28 May)
Italy
Respighi: Suite for Strings
59 (29 May)
Tunisia
Jalloul Ayed: Hannibal Barca Symphony
58 (30 May)
Venezuela
Castellanos: Santa Cruz de Pacairigua
57 (31 May)
Egypt
Omar Khairat: The Storm
56 (1 June)
Haiti
Justin Elie: Legende Creole
55 (2 June)
Czech Republic
Martinů: Symphonies
54 (3 June)
Nigeria
Samuel Ekpe Akpabot: Three Nigerian Dances
53 (4 June)
Moldova
Arkady Luxemburg: Spring Melodies
52 (5 June)
Lebanon
Naji Hakim: Theotokos
51 (6 June)
Holland
Röntgen: Symphony No. 3
50 (7 June)
USA
Ives: First Symphony
49 (8 June)
Nicaragua
José de la Cruz Mena: Rosalia
48 (9 June)
Malta
Camilleri: Malta Suite
47 (10 June)
Mexico
Moncayo: Huapango
46 (11 June)
Australia
Peter Sculthorpe: Quamby
45 (12 June)
Sweden
Stenhammar: First Piano Concerto
44 (13 June)
North Korea
Ahn Eak-tai: Korea Fantasy
43 (14 June)
Georgia
Kancheli: Symphony No. 1
42 (15 June)
Costa Rica
Gutierrez: Pavane
41 (16 June)
Singapore
Phoon Yew Tien: Ping-Diao
40 (17 June)
Bolivia
Chavarria: Alegrese la tierra
39 (18 June)
Taiwan
Shih-Hui Chen: 66 Times
38 (19 June)
Slovenia
Jakob Handl: Moralia
37 (20 June)
Brazil
Villa-Lobos: Bachianas Brasileiras
36 (21 June)
Austria
Haydn: Quartet Op. 33, No. 2, ‘The Joke’
35 (22 June)
Romania
Enescu: Violin Sonata No. 3
34 (23 June)
Luxembourg
Alexander Müllenbach: Dream Music
33 (24 June)
Azerbaijan
Fikret Amirov: Azerbaijan Capriccio
32 (25 June)
Colombia
Luis Antonio Escobar: Flute Concerto
31 (26 June)
Albania
Tish Daija: Over the Highland Pastures
30 (27 June)
Finland
Sibelius: The Wood-Nymph
29 (28 June)
Israel
Noam Sheriff: Psalms of Jerusalem
28 (29 June)
Lesotho
JP Mohapeloa: Nonyana Senyamafi
27 (30 June)
Serbia
Aleksandra Vrebalov: …hold me, neighbor, in this storm…
26 (1 July)
Paraguay
Agustin Barrios: La Catedral
25 (2 July)
Portugal
Cardoso: Requiem
24 (3 July)
Madagascar
François Bayle: Morceaux de ceils
23 (4 July)
Belarus
Isadore Freed: Invocation for organ
22 (5 July)
Thailand
Dnu Huntrakul: Tung Saeng Tong
21 (6 July)
Mongolia
E Choidog: Friendship Overture
20 (7 July)
Slovakia
Moyzes: Symphony No. 1
19 (8 July)
Tajikistan
Benjamin Yusupov: Cello Concerto
18 (9 July)
Germany
Brahms: Fourth Symphony
17 (10 July)
Hong Kong
Thomas Oboe Lee: Stabat Mater
16 (11 July)
Peru
Celso Garrido-Lecca: Cello Concerto
15 (12 July)
Greece
Skalkottas: 36 Greek Dances
14 (13 July)
Cuba
Leo Brouwer: Estudios Sencillos
13 (14 July)
Croatia
Ivo Josepovic: Ars Diaboli
12 (15 July)
Indonesia
Soe Tjen Marching: Angen
11 (16 July)
China
Tan Dun: Symphony 1997
10 (17 July)
France
Dupré: Prelude & Fugue in B major
9 (18 July)
Morocco
Maurice Ohana: String Quartets
8 (19 July)
Liechtenstein
Rheinberger: Organ Concerto No. 1
7 (20 July)
Bermuda
Gabriel Jackson: Sanctum Est Verum Lumen
6 (21 July)
Uruguay
José Serebrier: Second Symphony
5 (22 July)
Estonia
Arvo Pärt: Stabat Mater
4 (23 July)
Algeria
Marc Eychenne: Cantilene et danse
3 (24 July)
Sao Tomé & Principe
José Vianna da Motta: Valsa caprichiosa
2 (25 July)
Jamaica
Eleanor Alberga: Dancing with the Shadow suite
1 (26 July)
Britain
Vaughan Williams: A London Symphony
