As anyone who has watched the Olympics knows, national anthems all over the world have a certain sameness, even in countries such as Indonesia where the Western musical language is merely one among many. The biggest differences are found in the texts, and this Czech release missed a chance by not including them in the booklet, which is devoid of anything other than a tracklist. The titles are given in the original language and in English, except in a few cases where the English is missing (perhaps it's hard to find Lithuanian speakers in Prague), and the texts are generally available on the Internet, however. Beyond the disc's value as a reference item are its various small peculiarities and points of trivia. Did you know that the arrangement of
Beethoven's Ode to Joy used as the official anthem of the European Union was made by none other than
Herbert von Karajan? That the origin of God Save the Queen is unknown? Or that the national anthem of Finnish was originally written in Swedish? Each of these has its own interesting story and the variations in style among the anthems also has a few stories to tell. God Save the Queen was the first national anthem of all, and its style, and those of a few other early ones (including that of the United States, of course not recorded here), are rooted in popular song of the eighteenth century (or before). After that came a martial/Beethovenian period, with a large group of especially stirring pieces (try Il Canto degli Italiani, track 15) dating from the crucial 1840s decade. After that the fashion swung toward a quieter, more transcendent aesthetic that did not, in the cases of some of the Eastern European countries, foreclose the use of a minor key. The
Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra acquits itself perfectly adequately on a disc that may be the first to include the European Union Anthem, as well as those of its constituent states as of 2009.