CACOPHONY: GREAT CLASSICAL MUSIC

A few years back my Mum got me to buy her this for Christmas and I've finally got around to 'discovering' it for myself. It's powerful, intense and profound: Schubert's Fantasy for piano duet. I think you'll love it. [Listening time 25 mins - podcast 6', music 18')

Listen to the complete piece on Youtube, Apple Music or Spotify performed by the wonderful Maria João Pires and Ricardo Castro, which you can also buy as a download here, for a couple of quid. The official title is Fantasy in F minor for piano four hands, D.940

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One of my favourite things on TV in recent years has been Wolf Hall. Debbie Wiseman's haunting and memorable music captures all the tension, mood and atmosphere.

Music here on Youtube or Spotify both taken from the official soundtrack which you can buy at lots of places.

What do you think? I really want to know, so please tell me with a comment at Cacophonyonline.com.

You can support Cacophony here, by 'buying me a ko-fi'.

Please share the podcast with everyone you know - start by sharing this episode or the 100 second trailer!

Thanks for listening!

Everyone knows and loves Silent Night, right? But you probably haven't heard it sound quite like this. It probably won't actually give you nightmares, but it will certainly stay with you (Listening time 7mins: podcast 3', music 7').

And despite the bleak music, I do wish you a happy Christmas!

Music here with pictures, played by Starikov Stepan and Nail Mavliudov:

 or on Spotify or Apple Music, played by Daniel Hope and Alexei Botvinov, which you can also buy here as a download for less than £1.

Tell me what you think - is this a cacophony, a joke or a thought provoking masterpiece? Comment at cacophonyonline.com

If you'd like to support Cacophony, you can buy me a ko-fi here.

Please share our love of great music by sharing this episode and/or the trailer: www.cacophonyonline.com/trailer 

Thanks for listening!

If you want a change from Christmas pop, Christmas baroque is the way to go - here's a sparkling little gem from Arcangelo Corelli - a great 15 minute way to reset, reflect and energise - it manages all these things! (17 mins: podcast 3', music 14')

Music here on Spotify or Youtube with pictures.

Officially it's Concerto Grosso in G minor op.6 no.8 "Fatto per la notte di Natale"

Happy Christmas!

What do you think? I really want to know, so please tell me with a comment at Cacophonyonline.com.

You can support Cacophony here, by 'buying me a ko-fi'.

Please share the podcast with everyone you know - start by sharing this episode or the 100 second trailer!

Thanks for listening!

A bold statement from composer Carl Nielsen, that music IS life, who demonstrates it with a breathtaking symphony of awesome power and overwhelming optimism. The perfect piece for Cacophony's 100th episode. (50 mins: podcast 15', music 35')

Music here with pictures from the terrific Orquesta Sinfónica de Galicia conducted by Dima Slobodeniouk - and check out the lovey smile and wink from the oboe player at 5'50"!

or here on Spotify with the equally terrific Danish National Radio Symphony Orchestra and Michael Schønwandt. You can buy this as a download here.

I think Carl Nielsen looks like John Bercow, what do you think?

Please let me know what you think of Cacophony, this music, and lookalikes with a comment at Cacophonyonline.com

Please share this episode and also the 100 second trailer cacophonyonline.com/trailer

If you're able to support Cacophony financially we're very grateful. You can do that at ko-fi.com

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For Cacophony episode 99, I wanted to explore something deeply personal. Mahler's Symphony No.4 is one of the first pieces I discovered for myself and it moves me like very little else. Sometimes pained, sometimes playful, but most often sublime, the third movement takes you all the way to heaven, just by opening your heart. Listening time 33 mins (podcast 11', music 22')

Music here, on Youtube or Spotify with conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen (who conducted the performance I recorded off the radio back in the day) and the LA Philharmonic Orchestra. The solo singer in the last movement if you listen to that is Barbara Hendricks. You can buy a high quality download of the whole piece for the shockingly low price of £1.11 here!

What do you think of this brilliant piece? What do you think of Cacophony? Tell us with a comment at the website, Facebook or Twitter.

Please share this episode and the trailer!

If you'd like to support Cacophony with cash you can click here to 'buy us a Kofi"! 

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It's inexplicable to me, but Anton Bruckner's music has been dividing opinion since he started writing around 140 years ago. He goes in search of the meaning of life and comes back with... Marmite! Personally, I love it. There are few better noises than the transcendental climax of a Bruckner symphony. In this episode, it's the thrilling end of his 3rd. (Podcast 8', Music 13')

Music here with video or sound only on youtube or Spotify.

What do you think? I really want to know, so please tell me with a comment at Cacophonyonline.com.

You can support Cacophony here, by 'buying me a ko-fi'.

Please share the podcast with everyone you know - start by sharing this episode or the 100 second trailer!

Thanks for listening!

One of the closest [classical] things to electronic dance music, John Adams's Shaker Loops is one of my favourite things. Dreamy and reflective music mixed with thrilling dance music that leaves us ecstatic, maybe even transcendent!

Music here on Spotify or Youtube with the London Chamber Orchestra conducted by Christopher Warren Green in the classic recording I was given by my best school mate, Mark. You can buy it here in hi-quality download. 

If you like pictures, there's a video option too that's pretty good with nice lighting (for classical music videos anyway!)

What do you think? I really want to know, so please tell me with a comment at Cacophonyonline.com.

You can support Cacophony here, by 'buying me a ko-fi'.

Please share the podcast with everyone you know - start by sharing this episode or the 100 second trailer!

Thanks for listening!

Freethinking, inventive - quiet and mysterious one moment, giddy and playful the next, Debussy's préludes - short pieces for piano - are great escapes for your imagination!

Listening time 26 mins (podcast 9', music 17')

Music here on Spotify or Youtube with the excellent Jean-Efflam Bavouzet.

The pieces on the play list are:

1. Danseuses de Delphes (Dancers of Delphi)

5. Les collines d'Anacapri (The hills of Anacapri)

8. La fille aux cheveux de lin (The girl with the flaxon hair)

9. La sérénade interrompue (Interrupted serenade)

10. La cathédrale engloutie (The submerged cathedral)

You can buy a download of the pieces -  in top quality sound here

What do you think? Please tell me with a comment at Cacophonyonline.com.

You can support Cacophony here, by 'buying me a ko-fi'.

Please share the podcast with everyone you know - start by sharing the trailer!

Thanks for listening!

Powerful and moving, Lili Boulanger's cry From the Bottom of the Abyss (Psalm No.130) shows her deep commitment to her faith, and to her music-writing, in the face of major illness.

Diana Ambache, long-time champion of women composers, joins me to talk about Boulanger's short life, major talent and this subtle masterpiece for huge choir and orchestra. Listening time: 42 mins (18' podcast, 24' music)

Music here on Youtube or Spotify 

The recording I've chosen features Manchester's BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, the City of Birmingham Symphony Chorus and soloists Ann Murray and Neil MacKenzie, conducted by Yan Pascal Tortelier. 

What do you think? Tell me at Cacophonyonline.com.

You can support Cacophony here, by 'buying me a ko-fi'.

Please share the podcast with everyone you know - start by sharing the trailer!

Thanks for listening!