Abroad

It may sound somewhat perverse, but to my mind some of the most dramatic Norwegian landscapes that I have seen seem to be recreated in music by the Finnish composer Sibelius; to my ear his music is nature's landscapes without human assistance - great glaciers gouging their course through towering mountains.

There is an entertaining CD from Naxos featuring Berwald's tone poems.

Moving east from Scandinavia, we come to the Baltic States and Russia. One of the most famous of Estonian composers is Arvo Part. Probably his most heard piece is Spiegel im Spiegel - mirror in the mirror which was the last piece he wrote in estonia before moving to the west. The piece is deceptively simple; a slow three note theme on piano with solo violin over the top.

With the wide range of Russian music available, it would not be fair to limit choice to just one or two pieces. Although the first movement of Shostakovich's Seventh Symphony Leningrad would make a wonderful soundtrack, I must insist that no-one uses this for a holiday video (or if you do, then please don't invite me to watch it- all 26 minutes on one scene!).

There are so many "Russian" pieces to choose from that sometimes we forget that much of what we may term "Russian" is not actually "Russian" at all. A typical example of this is music by the Tiblisi born composer Aram Khachaturian. The music he composed for the ballet Spartacus achieved international recognition after someone at the BBC thought that music for an Ancient Roman Empire setting would be the perfect choice to illustrate an old sailing ship. What a ridiculous thought! And today one has only to hear a few bars for the words "Onedin Line" to come to mind.
A song by the team of Kurt Weill and Ira Gershwin Tschaikowsky lists many Russian composers in a rapid fire order which just cries out for Danny Kaye's quick fire delivery. Incidentally one of the composers mentioned in the list is Dukelsky who is probable better known by his Americanised name of Vernon Duke.

Moving westwards brings us to Poland and there is more to Polish music than just Chopin. It may well be that some of the names don't trip off the tongue, but there are rich fields to explore here.
Looking at Polish 18th Century composers throws up a few discoveries: Oginski wrote a famous Polonaise for orchestra (It was his uncle who was the engineer behind the Baltic-Black Sea Canal). Zywny also wrote a Polonaise and has the distinction of being the last composer listed in the R.E.D catalogue (but for how long, since the only recording listed is in very short supply). Pekiel wrote Three Polish Dances - three short pieces termed solemn, dignified and merry which conjure up images of the Rynek in Krakow. Of more recent vintage is music by the present day film composer Zbigniew Preisner including his haunting Requiem for my Friend written for the Polish film director Kieslowski. A more modern piece is by Woyciech Kilar - his September Symphony was inspired by the events of September 11th 2001.
In recent months I have discovered a CD of Polish 19th Century Orchestral music which includes pieces by Kurpinski, Dobrzynski, Moniuszko, Zelenski and Noskowski on Accord ACD019. Most of this article is concerned with Summer holidays, but should you go to Poland at Christmas time then I suppose that the CD from Naxos - Lutoslawski's collection of 20 Polish Christmas Carols would fit the bill nicely.

It's easy to drift westwards towards the lands of famous European composers. Bohemia may be lacking in the coastline immortalised by Shakespeare, but it has produced some fine composers: Antonio Rosetti (despite his Italianate sounding name) was a contemporary of Mozart from the region; Erich Korngold, probably the father of Film Music as a genre, was born in Brno and of course there was one of the most famous conductors of the early part of the 20th Century ( but nowadays chiefly known for his composing) Gustav Mahler.
Of course, some people may be thinking of the music of Bedrich Smetana and his suite Ma Vlast in particular; the most famous of these Vltava represents the River Vltava which flows through Prague (some may refer to this as the Moldau, but I see no reason to use a German name here). There was a case a few years back of a concert ending with Wallenstein's Camp by Smetana. The work was listed in the programme under its German title Wallensteins Lager and this caused many people to walk out - not, I hasten to add, in disgust - but they thought the concert was sponsored by a brewery and that the night was over.

To find one piece to represent Italy is an impossible task. I suppose the first choice would be the music of Vivaldi or Monteverdi, but what about the range of Italian opera. Are we to ignore Verdi, Puccini, Rossini etc? Where are Respighi's three Roman pieces - The Pines of Rome, The Fountains of Rome and Roman Festivals?

Spain is an easy choice. What could be more Spanish than Chabrier's Espana, Bizet's Carmen or Ravel's Bolero or Rapsodie Espagnole?. Quite a lot, as it happens. All of these pieces were written by Frenchmen, so we'll have to disqualify them. There are some fine composers from Spain to be found on Naxos; Gurudi is one composer worth investigation, there is a fine collection of Preludes and Choruses from Zarzuelas by composers virtually unknown in this country; Barbieri, Caballero, Chapi, Chueca, and Gimenez.
Of course, Spanish influence extends far beyond the Iberian Peninsula; there are Spanish works from South America which we can draw on. One case is that of the composer Torrejon y Velasco - it was his opera La Purpura de la Rosa which was the first opera to be performed in the New World. I attended the Sheffield University UK Premiere run of this a few years back directed by Andrew Lawrence-King.
A CD from Hyperion Moon, Sun & all things has Baroque Music from Latin America performed by Jeffrey Skidmore and Ex Cathedra. There are expectations that this CD will follow on from their previous CD New World Symphonies.
In a similar vein is Harmonia Mundi's Missa Mexicana and, on the Channel Classics label, Florilegium's Bolivian Baroque - this last comes with a free DVD detailing the recording.

France has been mentioned briefly en passant and I suppose the obvious choices have to be Debussy, Ravel, Saint-Saens. It is strange to think that Berlioz was active when he was; think of the Symphonie Fantastique and it seems incredible that this dates from a mere three years after the death of Beethoven. One interesting CD La Chasse du cerf - Hunting Music from 18th Century France is on Warner's excellent Apex label and features music by Morin, Mouret, Corrette and Rameau.
There are many other French composers who I've not listed, so apologies to devotees of Lully, Massenet, and the rest.

Germany and Austria have been represented by so many composers that it's hard to know where to start. Bach (family), Beethoven, Brahms, Bruckner, Biber, Benatzky, Berg, Braunfels, - I'm sure I've missed a few more B's and I've not touched on the other letters.
Slightly off the beaten track is the CD of Bohemian Brass, which although it might be Czech musicians, still sounds like a German Oompah band to most ears.

Australia At first glance Australia would have nothing to offer, but since so many Europeans went out there, logic would suggest that it is not a cultural desert. A recent discovery earlier this year proves that there is culture there to be found.
I first came across the Choral Symphony by Carl Vine by accident (I transposed two numbers when ordering another item and the symphony arrived) but it is a very imaginative work, well worth investigating as those who have bought it will agree.

You will by now have noticed that I'm not recommending anything from the far Asian mainland, nor anything about Antarctica (although RVW has done a good job there already)!