Cacophony

A short podcast about the shortest of pieces, yet Aaron Copland's Fanfare for the Common Man still packs a punch and seems to point to big issues. 'No taxation without representation'? Perhaps today's call should be 'No representatives (from the Head of State down) who don't pay their taxes!' Listening time c10 minutes (podcast 6', music 3')   Listen to the whole piece here, played by the San Francisco Symphony  conducted by Michael Tilson Thomas on Youtube, Spotify, Apple Music and Amazon music  You can buy the piece as a high-quality download from Presto music.     What do you think? Tell me with a comment at Cacophonyonline.com! I'd love to hear from you!   If you’d like to support Cacophony there are easy, great, ways: – help with the costs of running it (and me) with a one-off contribution  or with a regular payment at ko-fi.com: https://ko-fi.com/cacophonyonline – share this episode with someone you know – share the 100 second trailer: http://cacophonyonline.com/trailer – subscribe/ review and keep list

Often on the edge, in life and music, Beethoven goes to extremes on the piano to show us the extreme depth of his feelings. His Appassionata Sonata is every bit as intense as its name suggests! Listening time 33 mins (podcast 10', music 23') Listen to the whole piece here, played by Maurizio Pollini on piano on Youtube, Spotify, Apple Music (this links to mvt 1 and you need tracks 23,24,25) and Amazon music (also mvt 1 and you need tracks 7,8,9) You can buy the piece as a high quality download from Presto music. Thanks to Vanessa Thomas for this episode's artwork!   What do you think? Tell me with a comment at Cacophonyonline.com! I'd love to hear from you!   If you’d like to support Cacophony there are easy, great, ways: – help with the costs of running it (and me) with a one-off contribution  or with a regular payment at ko-fi.com: https://ko-fi.com/cacophonyonline – share this episode with someone you know – share the 100 second trailer: http://cacophonyonline.com/trailer – subscribe/ review and keep liste

Lost for 150 years and then, because it was so good, presumed to have been written by her brother, Fanny Mendelssohn's Easter Sonata for piano is passionate, intense, lyrical and dramatic... and the story of its rediscovery is no less compelling. Listening time c36 mins [11' podcast, 21 or 25' music]   The complete music is here in the original 1970s recording by Eric Heidsieck on Spotify, Youtube, Amazon and Apple Music I think I prefer this more recent rendition by Sofya Gulyak on Youtube, taken from a 2013 BBC Radio 3 broadcast. What do you think? Tell me with a comment at cacophonyonline.com! I'd love to hear from you! If you want to play the piece yourself you can download the music for free from Dr Angela Mace Christian's website!   Here, you can listen to Cacophony's recent episodes on Clara Schumann's piano trio or the 16 year old Felix Mendelssohn inspired by Shakespeare.   If you’d like to support Cacophony there are easy, great, ways: – help with the costs of running it (and me) with a one-off cont

English folk music is often typically nostalgic and melancholy. Cacophony goes in search of happiness with Malcolm Arnold's English Dances - pretty, witty and bright! Listening time 24 mins (podcast 6', music 18') Music here, played by the Queensland Symphony Orchestra conducted by Andrew Penny on Youtube, Spotify, Apple Music (tracks 1-8 English Dances Set 1 op.27 and Set 2, op.33) and Amazon (tracks 1-8). You can buy a whole cd (also including the other 'national'(and Cornish!) dances as a high quality download here The Dvořák Slavonic Dances talked about in this episode were covered previously on Cacophony. What do you think? Tell me with a comment at Cacophonyonline.com! I'd love to hear from you!   If you’d like to support Cacophony there are easy, great, ways:   – help with the costs of running it (and me) with a one-off contribution  or with a regular payment at ko-fi.com: https://ko-fi.com/cacophonyonline   – share this episode with someone you know   – share the 100 second trailer: http://cacophonyon

Haunting and melancholy music from my hometown, Vaughan Williams's Norfolk Rhapsody No.1 features the old songs of fisherman and the last days of a way of life. Like the local landscape it's bleak but beautiful!  Total listening time 18 mins (podcast 7', music 11') Here's Joe Anderson, James ‘Duggie’ Carter and the Reverend Alfred Huddle: The music is here on Youtube, Spotify Apple Music and Amazon., played by The Hallé conducted by Mark Elder (and it's available to buy as a high-quality download from Presto Music ). What do you think? Let me know with a comment at cacophonyonline.com. I'd love to hear from you!   If you’d like to support Cacophony there are easy, great, ways: – help with the costs of running it (and me) with a one-off contribution  or with a regular payment at ko-fi.com – share this episode with someone you know – share the 100 second trailer – subscribe/ review and keep listening!   The picture credit goes to William Norris - who's visited King's Lynn as a tourist more recently than me!  

Packed with memorable Czech songs about pigeons, nightingales, love, life and unploughed fields, Vítěslava Kaprálová's Rustic Suite mixes countryside charm with the confident orchestral swagger of a 23 year old receiving acclaim in Paris and London. Music full of life and good tunes! Listening time 21 mins (music 16', podcast 5')   The music is here, played by the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra conducted by Marko Ivanovic on Youtube, Spotify, and links to the album (where you want tracks 1-3) at Apple Music and Amazon.   What do you think? Let me know with a comment at cacophonyonline.com. I'd love to hear from you!   If you’d like to support Cacophony there are easy, great, ways: – help with the costs of running it (and me) with a one-off contribution  or with a regular payment at ko-fi.com – share this episode with someone you know – share the 100 second trailer – subscribe/ review and keep listening! Thanks for listening!

Small but perfectly formed, Germaine Tailleferre's Little Suite is seven minutes of innocent delight from a composer looking to escape from the trials of a difficult life. It may be short, but it's packed with memorable tunes and a joyous spirit. Irresistible!  Listening time c14 minutes (podcast 7', music 7') It's not available commercially, but this Youtube video has an excellent performance from the Orchestre philharmonique de Radio France with conductor Mikko Franck. Enjoy it? Let us know with a comment at cacophonyonline.com Maurice Ravel's Mother Goose, mentioned in this episode, featured in Cacophony some time ago and it's here. Please share Cacophony with your friends and social circle! If you'd like to support us more directly you can make a one-off or regular financial contribution at ko-fi.com   Thanks for listening!  

It's a riot of colour at the carnival in Stravinsky's wonderful ballet, Petrushka, with dancing (of course), puppets, romance (kind of), fighting, and a wild bear. It's got everything - even a French song about a woman's prosthetic limb, but you have to listen for an explanation...! Total listening time 48 mins (podcast 13', music 35') The music is here in full, played by The Cleveland Orchestra conducted by Pierre Boulez - a master of clarity and excitement on Youtube, Apple Music and Amazon. What do you think? Let me know with a comment at cacophonyonline.com. I'd love to hear from you!   The recording linked above is available to buy as a high-quality download from Presto Music (where it seems to be cheaper by track than to buy the whole album). If you’d like to support Cacophony there are easy, great, ways: – help with the costs of running it (and me) with a one-off contribution  or with a regular payment at ko-fi.com – share this episode with someone you know – share the 100 second trailer – subscribe/ r

Who doesn't love gazing at the sea? It's something that brings out the meditative in all of us as we stare at it and think deep thoughts. Claude Debussy didn't want us to think too hard - just to listen. In La Mer, he brings The Sea to us wherever we are, in all its beauty and wonder. Total listening time 36 mins (podcast 11', music 25') The music is here in full, played by The Hallé Orchestra (from Manchester, UK) conducted by Mark Elder on Youtube, Spotify, and links to the album at Apple Music and Amazon. The recordings linked above are available to buy as high-quality downloads from Presto Music for under GB£5! This episode's title is a line borrowed from an epic poem by Spike Milligan.   What do you think? Let me know with a comment at cacophonyonline.com. I'd love to hear from you!   There are more great episodes featuring the sea at Cacophony. Check out episodes: 29, 63 and 81 for music by Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov, Benjamin Britten and Ethel Smyth. Also, the previous episode, 136, which takes us on a j

An epic and spiritual adventure for choir, Joby Talbot's Path of Miracles captures the hope, the expectation and the moments of overwhelm (both positive and negative) of travellers on the ancient and still popular pilgrimage trail the Camino de Santiago (Way of St James). Simon Clark, scientist, author and singer joins me to share his passion for the piece and guide us on a journey of musical and maybe spiritual fulfilment! Listening time: podcast 24 mins, music 62' Music here on Youtube, Spotify, Apple Music and Amazon.   f you like to see your singers in action, there's a live concert video performance on Youtube here. Path of Miracles was commissioned and premiered by the choir Tenebrae and their conductor Nigel Short. Their recording and performances remain the 'benchmark' for this increasingly popular piece. You can buy the above recording as a cd or high-quality download here, direct from the choir. The text is a mix of ancient Latin and early European languages (often taken from religious writings or m

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 day. Listening time 12 mins plus music 25'. The music is here in full, played by Alicia de Larrocha on Youtube, Spotify, and links to the album on Apple Music and Amazon. Alicia de Larrocha was one of the great interpreters of Spanish music. These pieces haven't been recorded by many pianists, but de Larrocha did more than once. The recordings linked above are available to buy as high-quality downloads from Presto Music. You can also get her earlier recording (pretty much as good, maybe with slightly less good sound) a

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 learnt - about music, about how we listen and how it makes us feel. Listening time 41 mins. Here's a Youtube playlist of our favourite things of all from Not the World Cup and a playlist of everything that was clipped in the episode.   What do you think? Let me know with a comment at cacophonyonline.com. I'd love to hear from you!   You can learn more about Lev Parikian, his books, gigs, writing, nature projects, etc., at: https://levparikian.com and also on Substack & Twitter.   It's a fluid conversation but things b

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 Records, an explainer-for-aliens of earth and its people, currently somewhere in interstellar space! Prof Ruff tells the story with Dr Simon Clark alongside me to explain the science and what it all means. There's more from the great Willie Ruff on his website Listening time: 25mins+ (podcast 23', Harmony of the World up to 45') Harmony of the World is here on Youtube.   There's a comprehensive website on the Voyager missions which includes loads of interesting information on the Gold Record: https://voyager.jpl.nasa.go

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!  

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 only:) Apple Music & Amazon Music played by the Beaux Arts Trio. You can buy this classic recording as a download here. There are plenty of other recordings but notably in the last few weeks one from tip-top violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter and friends. If you like the piece, check it out too. She emphasises the drama over the classy ease and sophistication.   What do you think? Let me know with an easy voicemail or comment at Cacophonyonline.com, Facebook or Twitter, if it still exists!   If you'd like to support Cacoph

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 or comment at Cacophonyonline.com, Facebook or Twitter.   If you'd like to support Cacophony there are easy, great, ways: - share this episode with someone you know - share the 100 second trailer - send us a little something or make a regular payment at ko-fi.com - subscribe/ review and keep listening!   Thanks for listening!  

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 Kleiber. If you like it, you can buy it as a high quality download here.    I don't generally like hacking big chunks from an opera, but the Wolf's Glen scene is quite something and worth a listen on its own. It's 15 or so minutes: Caspar goes down to the glen, summons Samiel (some sort of satanic spirit) and makes the deal for the bullets. Max comes to join him - he's fearful and plagued by a vision of Agathe, Caspar somehow convinces him to stay and the seven bullets are forged in the magic fire amid increasing terror

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 and Apple Music with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra and Pierre Boulez. If you like it, you can buy it as a high quality download here. It's the Six Pieces for orchestra, op.6 If you like to see your performers then the Berlin Phil played this at the BBC Proms in London a few years back conducted by Simon Rattle and you can watch it here on Youtube. (It's 1:32:00 to 1:44:40) (The whole concert is excellent and takes us on a Wagner-Strauss-Schoenberg-Webern-Berg Journey)   What do you think? Let me know with an easy vo

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 Gábor Takács-Nagy. If you like it, you can buy it as a high quality download here for about £3.  If you like to see your performers having a great time, at the same time as playing with total commitment and verve, check out the Norwegian Chamber Orchestra with Pekka Kuusisto on YouTube video.   What do you think? Let me know with an easy voicemail or comment at Cacophonyonline.com, Facebook or Twitter.   If you'd like to support Cacophony there are easy, great, ways: - share this episode with someone you know - share the

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 by Robert King. If you like it, you can buy a recording as a high quality download here. The whole album is terrific.   What do you think? Let me know with an easy voicemail or comment at Cacophonyonline.com, Facebook or Twitter.   If you'd like to support Cacophony there are easy, great, ways: - share this episode with someone you know - share the 100 second trailer - send us a little something at ko-fi.com - subscribe/ review and keep listening!   Thanks for listening!