There is often a subtle, but real, link between nationality or geography and the performer of a given piece of music. The subject is fraught with contradictions, however, and few generalisations have seemed so tenuous or fragile.

Thus, I admired greatly the Wiener Oktett recordings of Schubert and Mendelssohn last week because, to me, they sounded so right. In the same way, I admire Schnabel, Erdmann, Ney, Kempff, Backhaus and Fischer in the piano music of Schubert and Beethoven ... because they sound right. As do Gilels, Kogan and Rostropovich in the Tchaikovsky piano trio. As do Furtwängler (especially), Knappertsbusch et al in Bruckner. Grumiaux, Ferras et al in Franco-Belgian music. Sammons in the Elgar violin concerto. The Busch Quartet and Chamber Orchestra in the music of Bach, Beethoven and Schubert. The Russians -- Oistrakh, Kogan, Vengerov, Repin, and others -- in the Shostakovich violin concerto. Klemperer in Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms, Bruckner and Wagner; Russians performing Russian music; Austro-Germans performing German music; Franco-Belgians performing French music; even the English performing English music (often helped by near-neighbours such as Bernard Haitink, Janine Jansen and Simone Lamsma). Not to mention Czechs in Czech music ... and so on.

Exceptions, of course, prove the rule. My favourite players for the Bach unaccompanied sonatas and partitas this year are Lara St. John (Canadian), Nathan Milstein (Russian) and Oscar Shumsky (American). For the Shostakovich violin concerto, I favour Leila Josefowicz (Canadian) and maybe at the moment Julia Fischer (German). For the Paganini violin concerto, Leonid Kogan (Russian). However, on the other hand, my main preferences for recordings of the Beethoven violin concerto are, in random order: Erich Röhn, Wolfgang Scheiderhan, Adolf Busch, and Georg Kulenkampff. And, after all, if players are confined to the composers of their home regions, it does not leave American, Japanese and Chinese artists much to play in the way of great music. Imagine Hilary Hahn sentenced to a life of playing George Gershwin, Charles Ives, Samuel Barber and Leonard Bernstein!
The link between "Homeland" and instinctive empathy is a somewhat mystical one. My ears, however, tell me that it is often a very real link even when language is set aside (as in Lieder and opera, native language speakers usually have a very real head-start over the competition). And, yes, the Chinese Tianwa Yang does seem to have a certain empathy with the music of the Spaniard Sarasate. As do the Finns and Nordics in the music of Sibelius.