How Do You Make a National Anthem?
Tom Service on the music, meaning and occasional madness of the world's national anthems. How are they chosen, what are they for and is the music any good? With Alex Marshall.
Tom Service on the music, meaning and occasional madness of the world's national anthems. How are they chosen, what are they for, and is the music any good?
He's joined by writer Alex Marshall, author of the book "Republic or Death, Travels in Search of National Anthems",and by soprano Elin Manahan Thomas who looks at why some of them are easier to sing than others...
Rethink Music, with The Listening Service.
Each week, Tom aims to open our ears to different ways of imagining a musical idea, a work, or a musical conundrum, on the premise that "to listen" is a decidedly active verb.
How does music connect with us, make us feel that gamut of sensations from the fiercely passionate to the rationally intellectual, from the expressively poetic to the overwhelmingly visceral? What's happening in the pieces we love that takes us on that emotional rollercoaster? And what's going on in our brains when we hear them?
When we listen - really listen - we're not just attending to the way that songs, symphonies, and string quartets work as collections of notes and melodies. We're also creating meanings and connections that reverberate powerfully with other worlds of ideas, of history and culture, as well as the widest range of musical genres. We're engaging the world with our ears. The Listening Service aims to help make those connections, to listen actively.
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Music Played
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Unknown
God Save the Queen
Performer: Band of HM Coldstream Guards. Music Arranger: Gordon Jacob.- The Pride of the Nation.
- Decca.
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Francisco Jos茅 Deballi
National Anthem of Uruguay (arr Peter Breiner)
Performer: Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra. Performer: Peter Breiner.- National Anthems Edition 3 [Peter Breiner].
- Marco Polo.
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Samuel Cohen
National Anthem of Israel - Hatikvah (arr Peter Breiner)
Performer: Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra. Performer: Peter Breiner.- National Anthems Edition 3 [Peter Breiner].
- Marco Polo.
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Trad.
National Anthem of Mauritania (arr Peter Breiner)
Performer: Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra. Performer: Peter Breiner.- National Anthems Edition 3 [Peter Breiner].
- Marco Polo.
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Claude鈥怞oseph Rouget de l鈥橧sle
La Marseillaise, arr. for double chorus and orchestra, arr Berlioz
Performer: Marcel Vanaud. Performer: Toulouse Capitole Choir and Orchestra. Performer: Michel Plasson.- EMI.
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Antonio Neumane
National Anthem of Ecuador - Salve, Oh Patria! (arr Peter Breiner)
Performer: Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra. Performer: Peter Breiner.- National Anthems Edition 3 [Peter Breiner].
- Marco Polo.
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Unknown
National Anthem of Micronesia (arr Peter Breiner)
Performer: Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra. Performer: Peter Breiner.- National Anthems Edition 3 [Peter Breiner].
- Marco Polo.
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Alexander Vasilyevich Alexandrov
The Russian National Anthem
Performer: The Alexandrov Red Army Choir And Orchestra.- The Alexandrov Red Army Choir And Orchestra 鈥庘 Live In Paris.
- Silva Classics.
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Rabindranath Tagore
The National Anthem of India - Jana Gana Mana
Performer: Begum Parveena Sultana.- Jana Mana Gana - A timeless creation.
- Sony.
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Unknown
The National Anthem of Bahrain - Bahrainona
- www.nationalanthems.info.
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Unknown
God Save the Queen arr Britten
Performer: London Symphony Chorus. Performer: London Symphony Orchestra. Music Arranger: Benjamin Britten.- Spectrum.
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James James
Land Of My Fathers (Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau)
Performer: Union. Featured Artist: the Llanelli Male Voice Choir.- World in Union.
- Columbia.
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Roy Williamson
Flower of Scotland
Performer: Morriston Orpheus Male Voice Choir.- The Sounds of Cardiff Arms Park.
- Discurio.
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Hubert Parry
Jerusalem
Performer: The Sixteen. Performer: Robert Quinney. Performer: Harry Christophers.- A New Heaven.
- UCJ.
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Edward Elgar
Land of Hope and Glory
Performer: 大象传媒 Symphony Chorus and Orchestra. Performer: James Loughran.- Highlights from Last Night of the Proms 1985.
- 大象传媒.
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Hiromori Hayashi
The National Anthem of Japan - Kimigayo
Performer: Member of the Choir of the University of Art. Performer: Tokyo.- Hosho Kuro Memories of Japan.
- Polydor.
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James James
Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau
Performer: Elin Manahan Thomas. -
James James
Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau
Performer: 5000 Voices at the Royal Albert Hall.- Souvenir of Wales.
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John Stafford Smith
The Star-Spangled Banner
Performer: Elin Manahan Thomas. -
Ludwig van Beethoven
Ode to Joy (From Beethoven Symphony no 9)
Performer: 大象传媒 Symphony Chorus. Performer: 大象传媒 Concert Orchestra. Performer: Stephen Jackson.- Ode To Joy.
- Virgin.
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Pau Casals
Hymn to the United Nations
Performer: Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra. Performer: Peter Breiner.- Complete National Anthems of the World.
- Marco Polo.
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Karlheinz Stockhausen
Hymnen - Region 3
Performer: Aloys Kontarsky. Performer: Alfred Alings & Rolf Gehlhaar. Performer: Johannes Fritsch. Performer: Harald Boj茅.- Hymnen.
- Stockhausen.
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Karlheinz Stockhausen
Hymnen - Region 4
Performer: Aloys Kontarsky. Performer: Alfred Alings & Rolf Gehlhaar. Performer: Johannes Fritsch. Performer: Harald Boj茅.- Hymnen.
- Stockhausen.
Broadcast
- Sun 5 Jun 2016 17:00大象传媒 Radio 3
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Tom Service poses a very simple question (with a not-so-simple answer).
Six of the world's most extreme voices
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How did the number 12 revolutionise music?
Why are we all addicted to bass?
Watch the animations
Join Tom Service on a musical journey through beginnings, repetition and bass lines.
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We like to think we can separate 鈥渘oise鈥 from 鈥渕usic鈥, but is it that simple?
Podcast
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The Listening Service
An odyssey through the musical universe, presented by Tom Service