Cacophony

Maurice Ravel wanted his Piano Concerto to be lighthearted and brilliant, and not aim at profundity or at dramatic effects... and then wrote one of the most beautiful slow movements there is! Listen here or on Spotify    Please rate the podcast at: Apple podcasts     Please comment at cacophonyonline.com or the Facebook page  Please share and visit www.cacophonyonline.com

One of the great pieces of music for children, Peter and the Wolf by Prokofiev. Vanessa [7] loved this and is demanding repeat hearings, and I'm embarrassed at having resisted it so long... Music here: https://youtu.be/6Kpytem6nX4 or on spotify: https://spoti.fi/2ZrjlPu Listening time 31' total - but won't feel long at all! Please comment, share, subscribe visit cacophonyonline.com

When the organisers of the Paris Universal Exposition in 1889 invited gamelan players from Indonesia they introduced French composers to a whole world of new and exciting possibilities and a new direction in music.  Debussy led the way and his piano pieces Pagodas and Gardens in the rain are fabulous pieces of aural picture painting.   No separate music on this episode - it's in the podcast, played by François-Joël Thiollier, piano. The gamelan music is Ladrang Wilujeng, slendro manyura specially recorded for Cacophony by Southbank Gamelan Players, with thanks to Southbank Centre. Please comment, share and subscribe to the podcast. Visit cacophonyonline.com

If there's such a thing as an underrated Beethoven Symphony, it's this - his 8th. Short, punchy, joy-filled, playful, brilliant! This is the intro to the 2nd half of the piece. Total listen time - 15 mins Music here: https://youtu.be/9-f3iKeUJm4?t=777 or on Spotify: https://spoti.fi/31exMZA [tracks 3 & 4] Please like, comment, share and subscribe! Visit cacophonyonline.com

If there's such a thing as an underrated Beethoven Symphony, it's this - his 8th. Short, punchy, joy-filled, playful, brilliant! Music here: https://youtu.be/9-f3iKeUJm4 or here on Spotify: https://spoti.fi/31exMZA Please comment, like, share, subscribe to the podcast. Visit cacophonyonline.com  

Fabulous and fun singing from Rossini's Barber of Seville in honour of my first haircut in the hands of a 7 year old (and in tribute to my friends growing magnificent lockdown beards)! Music here, with pictures: https://youtu.be/-ipb9xbXSAY or here on Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2zKSnJH Please like, share, comment, subscribe to the podcast  Visit cacophonyonline.com

There are some pieces of music that everyone knows - Wagner's Wedding March is one - and then it turns out to be quite different in its original setting. Music here: https://youtu.be/_7Su2qPT_P0 or here on Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2YF3agY   Please comment, like, share, subscribe to the podcast visit cacophonyonline.com  

I love this movement from Mozart's 5th - and last - violin concerto, written to play himself, at the age of 19. It's elegant and sophisticated and then wild and free.  It's a great piece for a dance around your living room! Music here: https://youtu.be/KtkkD9maPSw?t=5960 Please listen, like, comment and share! Subscribe to the podcast and visit cacophonyonline.com 

I'm inspired to play this by the video game TrollFace Quest! ...where a little snippet of fanfare reminds me of Mahler's brilliant first symphony. Intro here, Music here: https://youtu.be/gexnIbK-pJA or here on Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2B5H3Ij Please comment on Facebook.com/cacophonyonline, subscribe to the podcast, share Visit cacophonyonline.com  

In music that was ground breaking and influential - especially to modern film composers - Gustav Holst takes us on a spectacular, mischievous and mysterious journey to Uranus and Neptune and asks the question what else is out there... Music here: https://bit.ly/2XPaIi7 or here on Spotify:https://spoti.fi/3cJF35O Please comment at Facebook.com/cacophonyonline, share, subscribe to the podcast Visit cacophonyonline.com

Modern yet timeless, Dynamic yet static, Hypnotic yet energising The brilliant combination of tuned percussion instruments and the genius of Steve Reich in his Mallet Quartet   Music here: https://youtu.be/uH9ku-52PUA or here on Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3eZJ4o4 Please like and comment on Facebook.com/cacophonyonline; subscribe to the podcast visit cacophony online.com

Simple pleasures in this episode: One of the most famous pieces of 'early' classical music is Pachelbel's Canon, here in two great versions including one for rubber chicken... Enjoy! Music here: https://youtu.be/CsXLv__jLok and here - a must watch: https://youtu.be/khOfSVULtsU, Courtesy of Twosetviolin Please comment, like, share, subscribe Visit cacophonyonline.com  

No haunted house would be complete without the soundtrack of organ music, right? The supreme example is Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D minor, but the films and TV only ever give us 10 seconds... ...crank up the volume so the floor trembles and don't get so scared you have to hide behind the sofa. Music here: https://youtu.be/Nnuq9PXbywA or here on Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3ePncvI Listen, like, comment, share and subscribe! cacophonyonline.com

The film may not have aged well but William Walton's music for Shakespeare's Henry V is a fresh as ever and some of it was written in the 1400s! Music here :https://youtu.be/RI6ChQJSCJI Or here on Spotify: to follow  Total listening time 20 mins Please like, comment, share  Cacophonyonline.com   

Samuel Coleridge-Taylor was a black mixed race Victorian/Edwardian Londoner. I've not heard his great music for Othello for 30 years, but have now found a brand new concert performance by the fab orchestra, Chineke! Music here: https://youtu.be/84HZ_fEwD9s [First 17mins of the video. Music plus intro podcast is 23 mins] Please like, share, comment at Facebook.com/cacophonyonline Subscribe to the podcast visit cacophony online.com

...Not for Vivaldi His summer is all oppressive heat, flies and sudden storms; brilliantly realised in music that's short, intense and too hot to handle. Music here: https://youtu.be/ZFDrumsjJMk?t=2128 (ending at 46'20" - it's a performance of the complete Four Seasons) or here on Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2zGclFH Please like and share or comment on facebook.com/cacophonyonline/ Subscribe to the podcast. Visit www.cacophonyonline.com

This is perhaps great classical music at its purest - intense, dramatic, invigorating, uplifting - Brahms 'Tragic Overture' Music here: https://bit.ly/2TRBq74 or here on Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3gCT0pq [17 mins intro and music] Please like on Facebook, comment, share! visit cacophony online.com

There's a big party at the palace for the prince and you're invited. So is Cinderella, but she's got a curfew... ...with terrific music from Prokofiev. Music here: https://youtu.be/Xs2Ffdt7e_c Music and intro = 31mins Give us a Facebook like, comment, share. Subscribe to the podcast Visit cacophonyonline.com

Mussorgsky's Night on Bare Mountain is an entirely different piece without the tidying up of his friends - raw, savage, gripping. Make sure you've listened to Episode 28 before this one (https://bit.ly/cil28) Music here: https://youtu.be/tu1no7hOlSs and here on Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2ZlUiPv Comment to let me know which version you prefer, like, share and please subscribe! cacophonyonline.com

Get swept away on magical adventures, and let Rimsky-Korsakov fire up your imagination with this music from Sheherezade - thrilling and uplifting! Music here: https://youtu.be/sATNiVGgwts and here on Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2ycsu4K Please listen, like, share! Visit cacophonyonline.com