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Journeys in Space-Time 4
The New Wave

“Western” classical music is not just western. Apartment, Docklands, Melbourne VIC

Outside influences made their way into Western music long before the contemporary interest in the music of other cultures.

Increased encounters with other cultures, through colonialisation and travel, generated much interest in other forms of “classical” music. These foreign sounds often seeped back into the European musical mainstream.

However, as you can see from the list below, many of the composers of the newer nation states also chose to write ‘classical’ music in the European tradition. Often they were heavily influenced by the European models they inherited, yet many have managed to forge a new, national sound identity, often by drawing on local folk music.

Here is a selection of better-known classics that span the continents, even reaching the poles...

South-Eastern European

  • Bartók – Roumanian Folk Dances
  • Enescu – Romanian Rhapsody (No. 1) in A major, op.11 no.1
  • Skalkottas – Greek Dances – Ipirotikos

    • Middle East/Central Asia

  • Borodin – In the Steppes of Central Asia
  • Rimsky-Korsakov – Scheherazade, op.35 – 3. The Young Prince and Princess
  • Saint-Saens – Samson et Delilah – Bacchanale

    • USA

  • Copland – Rodeo – Buckaroo Holiday
  • Gershwin – Porgy and Bess – Summertime
  • Sousa – March, ‘The Stars and Stripes Forever’

    • Central America

  • Copland – El Salon Mexico
  • Revueltas – Sensemaya
  • Gershwin – Cuban Overture

    • South America

  • Ramirez – Misa Criolla – Gloria
  • Ginastera – Estancia – Danzas del ballet, op.8 - 1. Los trabajadores agricolas
  • Villa-Lobos – Bachianas Brasileiras No. 5 – Aria

    • Asia

  • Debussy – Estampes – 1. Pagodes. Modérément animé
  • Rimsky-Korsakov - Sadko – A Song of India
  • Tan Dun – Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon – Title Music

    • Australia

  • Sculthorpe – Kakadu
  • Sculthorpe – Small Town
  • Edwards – Maninyas Violin Concerto – 3rd Movement

    • Africa

  • Fanshawe – African Sanctus – 1. African Sanctus

    • Arctic & Antarctica

  • Raautavaara – Cantus Arcticus (Concerto for Birds and Orchestra) – The Bog
  • Vaughan-Williams – Symphony No.7, ‘Sinfonia Antartica’ – 3. Landscape. Lento

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