Music that seems to conjure all the tastes, smells and senses of Spain - or my expectations of them (as someone who's hardly been there): Spanish dances for piano by Enrique Granados. Perfect music if you just want to feel warmer, but it's also an opportunity to bask (Basque? [sorry]) in some gloriously wistful melancholy that seems to underpin all six of these pieces. Somehow it's not a melancholy that makes one feel sad - it seems as uplifting and nourishing as the warm sun on a cold winter's ...
Jan 20, 2023•12 min•Ep. 167
Not the World Cup was a "glorious celebration of classical and world music" that ran alongside a small men's football competition in late 2022. Each team in each game of the football was represented by a short piece of (largely classical) music - 110 pieces in all from 107 composers (including 41 pieces by women): loads of great music and loads of new discoveries. I got together with my friend the conductor and writer Lev Parikian to pick some highlights and talk about a few of the things we lea...
Jan 14, 2023•41 min•Ep. 166
An extraordinary, ambitious, blend of art and science, Johanes Kepler's Harmony of the World is a 17th century attempt to understand what the then known universe sounded like - on a planetary level! In the 1970s, using the latest technology Professors Willie Ruff and John Rodgers were able to make Kepler's Harmony into music - an extended piece of electronica, hypnotic and thought provoking. Launched to great acclaim, Harmony of the World was then included on the famous Voyager spacecraft Gold R...
Jan 10, 2023•23 min•Ep. 165
This is a brief announcement to tell you about Not the World Cup of (largely) classical music, which is running during the football world cup as a complement or alternative. It's lots of fun and you can find it on the Cacophony Youtube or at cacophonyonline.com https://www.youtube.com/@cacophonypodcast Please listen, please vote, please share!...
Nov 29, 2022•2 min•Ep. 164
Urbane sophistication mixes with poetry and drama in Clara Schumann's Piano Trio, her biggest piece from a small catalogue of great music. Better known in recent times as the wife of Robert Schumann, it was Clara who was an international star as the leading pianist of their day. It was composing, though, that brought her the greatest joy and her music is full of deep inspiration and honesty. Listening time 38 mins (podcast 13', music 25') Music here on Youtube , Spotify and (links to track 1 onl...
Nov 20, 2022•13 min•Ep. 163
Brand new old music in this episode: a great forgotten symphony by a composer forgotten for around 150 years, Emilie Mayer. It's memorable, tuneful and inventive - a real discovery! Listening time 48' total (podcast 13', Music 35') Music here on Youtube , Spotify and Amazon Music played on a brand new recording by the NDR Radiophilharmonie Orchestra conducted by Jan Willem de Vriend. You can buy this brand new recording as a download here . What do you think? Let me know with an easy voicemail o...
Nov 10, 2022•13 min•Ep. 162
Terror, excitement and delight - all there in handfuls as Carl Maria von Weber takes us into the depths of the forest for a folk tale of magic, sorcery, love, good and evil. One of my long time favourites and a brave new world for German opera in Der Fresichütz (" The Free-shooter" ). Are you brave enough to go down to the woods today? Listening time, c20mins (podcast 9', music 10') Performances here on Youtube , Spotify , Amazon and Apple Music with the Dresden Staatskapelle conducted by Carlos...
Oct 30, 2022•9 min•Ep. 161
At a time when everything seemed on the brink and the old ways no longer looked fit for purpose, Anton Webern was part of a musical revolution - giving us new ways of hearing music and seeing the world. His six pieces for large orchestra are whole worlds compressed into a few minutes of bleak beauty, terrifying dissonance and even more disturbing silence. It's compelling. Listening time 22 mins (podcast 9', music 13') Performances here on Youtube , Spotify , (and links to track 1 of 6 on) Amazon...
Oct 21, 2022•9 min•Ep. 160
Mozart's music is brilliant, right? Even people who claim to know nothing about music say that. Well, it's true! In this Divertimento the 16 year-old Mozart really hits the spot with a piece of perfection, delight and joie de vivre. It's one of the pieces where Mozart moves from young prodigy to straight out master. Listening time: 20 mins (podcast 5', music 14') Performances here on Youtube , Spotify , (and links to track 1 of 3 on) Amazon and Apple Music with Manchester Camerata conducted by G...
Oct 10, 2022•5 min•Ep. 159
Perhaps the shortest music that will ever feature on Cacophony, Eternal source of light divine is three beautiful and brilliant minutes of Handel, setting us up for the day as effectively as any yoga routine (though you can do that too of course)! It's a quietly awe-filled salute to the sun. Listening time: 10 mins (podcast 6', music 4') Performances here on Youtube , Spotify , Amazon and Apple Music sung by Iestyn Davies, with Crispian Steele-Perkins on trumpet and The King's Consort conducted ...
Sep 30, 2022•5 min•Ep. 158
In his Cello Suites, JS Bach catapulted the instrument into the solo spotlight and discovered new worlds of sound and possibilities, full of riches to explore. Nominally it's dance music but its depth and beauty bring us stillness and solace. Listening time: 25 mins (podcast 7', music 18') Performances here on Youtube , Spotify and Apple Music (whole album link) played by the wonderful David Watkin. If you like it, you can buy a recording as a high quality download here . The proper title for th...
Sep 20, 2022•7 min•Ep. 157
Carrying a fragile flower whilst walking a tightrope. Finding the balance between beauty and chaos. Being pulled along by forces outside of our control. On Cacophony we talk about 'diving into great music': Anna Thorvaldsdottir's Metacosmos might be the biggest dive yet - into a black hole! Universal and yet personal, her music is distinctive, compelling, moving and profound. Listening time: 23 mins (podcast 9', music 14') Performances here on Youtube (with video), Spotify , Apple Music and Band...
Aug 30, 2022•9 min•Ep. 156
With the wonders of our imagination and some great music to help, all things are possible - so let's enjoy the views from the top of a mountain: leaving the house (or even getting out of bed) is entirely optional. Richard Strauss takes us over the top (in every sense) in his epic, excessive, exuberant Alpine Symphony , with great views and plenty of thrills but also moments that inspire deeper contemplation on the glories of nature. It's a trip you don't want to miss. Listening time: 62 mins (Po...
Aug 20, 2022•11 min•Ep. 155
Brilliant and meaningful, North by Southwest may have been the initial name for Billy Strayhorn's Suite for The Duo , a brilliant, late work for horn and piano: it's a title that suggests confusion and conflicting ideas about the dying composers direction of travel. It's a great piece: virtuosic but raw and written with a total understanding of both horn and piano and what they can do. It's a longer episode than normal because (amazingly) I was able to speak with Willie Ruff, the horn player for...
Aug 10, 2022•26 min•Ep. 154
Heat, danger, emptiness and space. Plenty of all of this in Peter Sculthorpe's excellent Kakadu - inspired by northern Australia but featuring universal themes of humanity, life, death, and timelessness. Listening time c22 minutes (podcast 6', music 16') Music here: on Youtube , on Spotify or Apple Music played by the Queensland Orchestra, conducted by Michael Christie with William Barton on didgeridoo. You can buy this recording as a download here (though you have to buy a whole album, but this...
Jul 30, 2022•6 min•Ep. 153
It's not about that sort of passion, but this symphony La Passione is intense, dark, thrilling, and one of Haydn's best! Listening time c30 minutes (podcast 5.5', music 23') Music here: on Youtube , live in concert with video, on Spotify or Apple Music (Apple Music is a link to the first track only, sorry) played by Il Giardino Armonico, conductor, Giovanni Antonini. You can buy this recording as a download here . What do you think? Let me know with an easy voicemail or comment at Cacophonyonlin...
Jul 20, 2022•5 min•Ep. 152
One of my favourite joyful but heavyweight quick fixes, Robert Schumann's original Symphony no.4 is an intense and inventive stream of consciousness full of light and life. It's a thrill. Shame Schumann didn't see it that way... Listening time c35 minutes (podcast 10', music 25') Music here: on Youtube , Spotify or Apple Music (Apple Music is a link to the first track only, sorry) played by the brilliant Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique (from London!) conductor, John Eliot Gardiner. The l...
Jul 11, 2022•10 min•Ep. 151
Another forgotten gem from a late 18th century woman composer, Marie Emmanuelle Bayon Louis's overture to d'Épine is boisterous and brilliant. You can listen to the piece here played by the excellent and stylish Academy of Ancient Music. Listening time 11 minutes (podcast 5', music 6') What do you think? Let me know with an easy voicemail or comment at Cacophonyonline.com , Facebook or Twitter. If female French composers are your thing check out others on Cacophony, Lili Boulanger (featuring an ...
Jul 01, 2022•6 min•Ep. 150
So much more than just a famous TV theme tune, Prokofiev's music for Romeo and Juliet is full of intensity, drama, passion, wit and the occasional brilliantly pure dance number. Simultaneously draining and energising it's a fabulous demonstration of the sheer power of music. I love it. Listening time 41 minutes (podcast 11', music 30') There's a mistake: Tybalt is Juliet's cousin, not her brother. Oops! There goes my GCSE English grade! Here are complete performances of Prokofiev's 2nd suite fro...
Jun 21, 2022•10 min•Ep. 149
Bernstein's Symphonic Dances from West Side Story ( Cacophony ep.117 ) features the driving funky rhythms at the expense of the wit, poetry and driving funky rhythms of the song numbers... so this episode features four of my favourites. Listening time 22 minutes (podcast 7', music 15') Here are complete performances of my choices on Youtube and Spotify from the soundtrack album of Steven Spielberg's 2021 movie. What do you think? Let me know with an easy voicemail or comment at Cacophonyonline.c...
Jun 10, 2022•7 min•Ep. 148
I played this over a week ago and still the tunes dance around inside my head - it's the jazz- and latin-fuelled brilliance of the Symphonic Dances from Leonard Bernstein's smash hit musical, West Side Story - perhaps the greatest musical there is? Let me know! Listening time 34 minutes (podcast 10', music 24') Complete performances of the music on Youtube (filmed concert performance with The Orchestre philharmonique de Radio France, conducted by Mikko Franck), Spotify and Apple Music (Royal Liv...
May 30, 2022•9 min•Ep. 147
I'm no fan of horror films - too scary for me - but, in any case, nothing really scares us more than the thoughts in our heads! I do love scary music though and Béla Bartók wrote the best. Music for strings, percussion and celesta is unusual, gripping, terrifying and thrilling. It's also brilliant at clearing my mind of any 'unneccessary' thinking. Listening time 40 mins (podcast 11', music 29'). Listen to the complete music, played by the awesome Budapest Festival Orchestra, conducted by Iván F...
May 11, 2022•11 min•Ep. 146
When Haydn came to London he was treated like a superstar: wined and dined by the great and good, and his concerts were the hottest ticket in town. The 'Miracle' Symphony, no.96, was Haydn's first written for Londoners and is designed to win us over with its charms. Music to put a smile on our faces and a spring in our step! Listening time c32 mins (podcast 10', music 22') Click here for complete performances of the Symphony on Youtube , Spotify or here . What do you think? Let me know with an e...
May 02, 2022•10 min•Ep. 145
A mix of grit, swagger and persistence help us to make it through in the big city. Shirley Thompson's Urban Living gives us all this plus, perhaps, a tinge of fear and some pheonmenal piano sounds in 7 minutes of [mainly] self-assured city beats. The only performance of the music I can find is here, on Soundcloud, played by the Shirley Thompson Ensemble. Listening time 12 mins (podcast 5', music 7') What do you think? Let me know with an easy voicemail or comment at Cacophonyonline.com , Faceboo...
Apr 25, 2022•5 min•Ep. 144
I've come over all nostalgic at the prospect of returning to London in a few days, so here's a swaggering piece of escapism back to the heady optimistic days of the 1930s in Eric Coates London Suite. Listening time 21 mins (podcast 7’, music, 14’) Music here on youtube , Apple Music or Spotify , conducted by John Wilson, who's unbeatable at this sort of thing, with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra. What do you think? Let me know with an easy voicemail or comment at Cacophonyonline.com , Facebook o...
Apr 10, 2022•7 min•Ep. 143
Bursting full of life, Ravel’s music for this everyday love story of shepherd meets goatherd meets Greek god of nature is dreamy, sensual, and downright thrilling, all delivered in glorious orchestral technicolor. Meet Daphnis & Chloé ! Listening time: 25 mins (podcast 9', music 16 Complete music is here on Spotify or Apple Music played by the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France conducted by Myung-Whun Chung. (Start at Track 16 on Apple Music.) Music here on Youtube with pictures but (n...
Mar 31, 2022•9 min•Ep. 142
Comfortably crossing cultural boundaries, composer Reena Esmail draws on both western and Indian traditions to write distinctive music that is at home in both. Darshan is a terrific solo violin piece which transports us to a timeless state and may even offer a glimpse of the divine! Listening time 21 mins (Podcast 9', Music 12') Music on Youtube (video performance), Spotify or Apple Music ( Bihag and Charukeshi ) What do you think? Let me know with an easy voicemail or comment at Cacophonyonline...
Mar 22, 2022•9 min•Ep. 141
Shakespeare reaches people across the world with his insights into our shared humanity and his plays have inspired countless composers to write music - providing their own way for us to connect to Shakespeare, each other and ourselves. Tchaikovsky’s The Tempest overture gives us a torrential storm, a big love theme that beats Romeo & Juliet , and one of the most atmospheric, goose-bump-inducing beginning and end to any piece of music. And almost no one knows it at all! Listening time 33 mins...
Mar 10, 2022•9 min•Ep. 140
How is it that when an artist shares their pain we can all feel it? And how does listening to music full of suffering make us feel better? I don't know how or why, but I know that it does. Dmitri Shostakovich knew all about war, loss, and suffering. His 8th string quartet is desperate but defiant and deeply moving, bleak but often beautiful and whilst it doesn't provide any answers it somehow gives consolation to us all. Listening time 28 mins (podcast 8', music 20') Music here youtube , and the...
Mar 01, 2022•8 min•Ep. 139
We've all got pieces of music that instantly remind us of special times and places in our lives. What are yours I wonder? (Tell me!) We're in Sri Lanka at the moment and, bizarrely, the piece of music we've heard more than any other in the last few months has been Beethoven's perfect little piano piece, Für Elise, but perhaps not as we're used to hearing it... Here's the story of why, and how it's in the ears of everyone Sri Lanka. (Listening time 8 mins: podcast 5', music 3') Apologies for the ...
Feb 20, 2022•5 min•Ep. 138
