National Anthems at Athens Olympics recorded in Slovakia

The 28th Olympic Games come to their end this weekend. And we know the names of the medal winners and we've seen the emotion on their faces as the music of their national anthems rings out across the stadium. But not too many of us knew that every note of every anthem at the Athens Olympics - came from Slovakia. The famous tunes were arranged by Slovak composer Peter Breiner who recorded them with the Symphonic Orchestra of the Slovak Radio. The manager of the orchestra, Marian Turner:

"Peter Breiner decided to do one basic recording project a year. These anthems are very famous and they are approved by governments. Then he continued with arranging new versions of new states. Thanks to the political situation in the world I think we have and we will have a lot of work."

The Slovak Radio Symphonic Orchestra has already recorded over 400 anthems. The owner of the Naxos company, Klaus Heinman, presented the idea of using these recordings to the organisational team of the Olympics in Athens. They were accepted as the latest recordings of the largest number of national anthems in the world.

On Wednesday, August 18, the Slovak anthem was played for the very first time in Athens this year. Elena Kaliska took the gold in water slalom after several years of bad luck, finishing fourth at important races. Many Slovaks noticed that the anthem played at the medal ceremony was arranged in a way that was close to folk music.

Slovak olympionics Pavel Hochschorner, Eva Kaliska, Michal Martikan and Peter Hoschorner, photo: CTK

"Mr Peter Breiner decided to do it in a very original way, not to copy the official Slovak version or the old Czechoslovak version. And of course he was inspired, it's a part of the history, every composer was inspired a little bit by the folklore music. He arranged it for a symphonic orchestra but it's a little bit faster, the anthem sounds a little bit more optimistic and not only so heroic or very serious so he made some more funny version."

The Slovak versions of anthems of the world could be heard not only at the Olympics but also at the recent football championship. So, does the manager of the Slovak Radio Symphonic Orchestra watch the international sport events because of the played anthems or the sport itself?

"Of course, when I watch the Olympics I watch it because of the sport event because this is the most interesting. All sportsmen and sportswomen are interested in winning, showing the best they can do and their best results. But of course I think every Slovak or every nation is proud to hear the national anthem as well when a sportsman or sportswoman is lucky enough to win."