# Do you have a preference for the nationality of musicians?



## mud (May 17, 2012)

Do you have a preference for the nationality of musicians?


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## clavichorder (May 2, 2011)

I don't really anymore. I used to want to pick a team, still do sometimes, but there so much to love in all the major nationalities of classical music. Sometimes I like the effortless sounding qualities that I perceive many of the great french composers to have, including even Berlioz, but then I'll want some density which is largely to be found in the Germanic composers along with just about everything else under the sun if you look for it, then maybe I'll want something more raw and will go to the Russians, and sometimes I flock to the sturdiness and interesting harmonies to be found in the English early music, and lastly, the 4 Czech nationalist composers along with all the classical and baroque ones, who wrote works I really like offer something unique. Those listed above are probably my favorites on the whole, although maybe I'm doing the Italians and Americans an injustice simply because I haven't listened to enough of them recently.


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## mud (May 17, 2012)

How about the nationality of recording artists?


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## science (Oct 14, 2010)

I really don't believe anyone could tell the nationality of instrumental musicians in a blindfold test.


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## mud (May 17, 2012)

science said:


> I really don't believe anyone could tell the nationality of instrumental musicians in a blindfold test.


How about basing it on who you listen to most or prefer by comparison?


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## mud (May 17, 2012)

I seem to have a preference for French musicians, myself.


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## moody (Nov 5, 2011)

mud said:


> How about the nationality of recording artists?


That's what I thought you meant.
I couldn't care less and find this a very strange question,either they make a good job of it or they don't!!


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## Hassid (Sep 29, 2012)

As Milstein said when asked about the difficulties of a work: well, you can play it, or you can't.
About composers, yes, I prefer Russians, Czechs and Frenchs.


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## Andreas (Apr 27, 2012)

A sub-section of my CD collection is made up of recordings made in East Germany during the Cold War period. Some wonderful performances by the Staatskapelle Dresden or the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra. They have been re-issued since the fall of the Berlin Wall, usually at a very low price.

I can't discern anything particularly socialist about the recodings, though, except for the sound quality: definitely not on par with capitalist western technology. Even the late 80s recordings were all still analogue.

Generally, though, nationality or ethnicity of musicians/composers makes no particular difference to me.


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## realdealblues (Mar 3, 2010)

I have often times done this with recordings. If I want to hear say Shostakovich I have often thought, "well who better to interpret a Russian composer but a Russian conductor & orchestra?" 

So, for Russian composers I'll often go for recordings from conductors like Rudolph Barshai or Kirill Kondrashin.

I've occasionally done that for other nationalities. But usually it's for the more "recent" composers.

Mozart, Beethoven and Bach were a long time ago obviously and things are not the same in their countries today as they were during their lifetimes.

But for more recent composers like say Shostakovich who were apart of WWII, many of the Russian musicians and Conductors and their families went through the same kinds of events as he did and perhaps they might understand a little more where he was coming from in his music. Maybe it makes no difference but in my mind it makes sense.


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## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

I think some composers are always going to be more synonymous with conductors and musicians of the same nationality, especially in relatively recent history if the works were written for/premiered by them and we have access to recordings. DSCH is a good case in point as there wasn't actually much scope for his works to be premiered outside the Soviet Union - whenever I think of his music artists like Mravinsky and the Leningrad PO, the Beethoven Quartet, Rostropovich, Oistrakh, Nikolayeva etc. are the ones that come to mind even if I haven't actually heard their recordings. It might be that in some cases their recordings (like anyone's elsewhere) are the most famous but it doesn't necessarily make them the benchmark any longer, presuming they were in the first place.


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## Aramis (Mar 1, 2009)

I do have such preference but I'm not going to write about it as there are plenty of flower-children just waiting to batter me for being primitive xenophobe with medieval prejudices, in the name of open-mindness, tolerance and equality.


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## cwarchc (Apr 28, 2012)

simple answer NO


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## Guest (Oct 26, 2012)

I do have a preference for the gender of musicians. But that's as may be.


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## Head_case (Feb 5, 2010)

mud said:


> Do you have a preference for the nationality of musicians?


Yes definitely. I always seem to gravitate to the ones with huge big lengthy unpronounceable names from obscure countries (these will not be on the map of course, since their boundaries move faster than my internet dongle pages).

I would tell you, but I can't pronounce them.


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## clavichorder (May 2, 2011)

I tend to trust the Russian pianists more, but if a pianist's playing is exceptional, I will notice regardless of nationality.


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## mud (May 17, 2012)

Interesting comments. The question is not meant to be sociological, but simply a reflection on your listening habits or whose performances you found to be inspired, and if this corresponds to their nationality.


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## mud (May 17, 2012)

I might even go so far as to say that they play with an accent (or a certain _je ne sais quoi_).


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## MaestroViolinist (May 22, 2012)

I know more Russian musicians than any other kind... Does that indicate a preference? Probably, although I had never thought about it before.


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## arpeggio (Oct 4, 2012)

Simple answer no.


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## moody (Nov 5, 2011)

clavichorder said:


> I tend to trust the Russian pianists more, but if a pianist's playing is exceptional, I will notice regardless of nationality.


But playing what?


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## StlukesguildOhio (Dec 25, 2006)

I don't think I've ever really thought about it. I am aware that certain countries may have produced more soloists, conductors, and orchestras of real merit than others... but I've never really sat about looking for a French singer or a Russian violinist for a specific work of music. I simply seek out the performers who have been recognized as among the best at a given repertoire or work by others (whose opinions I respect)... or whose performances I have greatly enjoyed.


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## aleazk (Sep 30, 2011)

I find germanic music too opaque for my taste sometimes, i.e., lack of color. I have a preference for colorful music, so I would say the french, for example.
Even in serialist pieces by Stockhausen vs Boluez, I find Stockhausen's music too direct, visceral and straight, while, on the other hand, Boluez's has certain kind of superficiality, decency and detachment.


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## jani (Jun 15, 2012)

Do you have a preference for the nationality of musicians?
No


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## mud (May 17, 2012)

StlukesguildOhio said:


> I've never really sat about looking for a French singer or a Russian violinist for a specific work of music.


Neither had I, it was something that occurred to me when I started this topic, after watching a couple of French soloists perform on different instruments; they had something in common that went beyond virtuosity, and I realized that the recordings I had purchased were often by artists of their nationality.


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## moody (Nov 5, 2011)

mud said:


> Neither had I, it was something that occurred to me when I started this topic, after watching a couple of French soloists perform on different instruments; they had something in common that went beyond virtuosity, and I realized that the recordings I had purchased were often by artists of their nationality.


I have to re-cap slightly.
When it comes to French melodies the singer really has to be French e.g Gerrard Souzay,Charles Panzera. Only they can get the language and nuances right. This after reading St.Lukes post who has sought out Souzay I believe.
Another music type that can only be attempted really successfully by native speakers is that of Neapolitan and Italian song.


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## BurningDesire (Jul 15, 2012)

Yes. They must hail from the province of Guudmyuzicka.


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## clavichorder (May 2, 2011)

moody said:


> But playing what?


Perhaps more specifically, I trust Emil Gilels more than anyone in playing any music from the early romantic to Rachmaninoff.


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## neoshredder (Nov 7, 2011)

Italians. Especially the ones ending with an i.  French are probably my second pick.


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## moody (Nov 5, 2011)

clavichorder said:


> Perhaps more specifically, I trust Emil Gilels more than anyone in playing any music from the early romantic to Rachmaninoff.


Yeshe did everthing well, but with a few exceptions such as him I don't think Russians were/are so good in German music..


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## moody (Nov 5, 2011)

BurningDesire said:


> Yes. They must hail from the province of Guudmyuzicka.


No,that's in Transylvania.


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## crmoorhead (Apr 6, 2011)

I don't have any preference for nationality of musicians directly. There may be a mild correlation, however, between artists of a particular nationality and those who specialise in the works of composers of the same nationality. On the whole, however, it never really affects my purchase decisions.


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