CACOPHONY: GREAT CLASSICAL MUSIC

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 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!

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 and desperation. It's all in German, but the only words you need to know are the numbers 1-7 (eins, zwei, drei, vier, fünf, sechs, sieben) and help - hilf! Spotify or Youtube links here.

There's a hyper-real movie version which is quite gruesome and almost manages to do Weber's requested special effects justice.

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!

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 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!

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 100 second trailer

- send us a little something at ko-fi.com

- subscribe/ review and keep listening!

Thanks for listening!

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!

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 the piece is: JS Bach: Cello Suite no. 1 in G, BWV1007

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!

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 Bandcamp played by the Iceland Symphony Orchestra conducted by Daníel Bjarnason.

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!

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 (Podcast, 11', music 51')

In 1982 Herbert von Karajan conducted An Alpine Symphony with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. It was the first thing to be put on cd, and those who know these things maintain that it's still one of the best:

Links here to performances on Youtube, Spotify and Apple Music . If you can, try to listen without adverts, which are particularly interrupting in this piece!

If you like to see huge orchestras in action, there are good films performances on youtube. I like the Oslo Philharmonic with Vasily Petrenko and the WDR Symphony and Semyon Bychkov.

Picture credit: Thanks to Melanie Stefan for providing the picture, it's the Alps in France, as seen from the Charmant Som in the Chartreuse Mountains.

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

- buy us a cuppa at ko-fi.com

- subscribe/ review and keep listening!

Thanks for listening!