CACOPHONY: GREAT CLASSICAL MUSIC

87. Dancing in the Dark? Anna Clyne: This Midnight Hour

Come on the fantastic - and fantastical - musical adventure that is Anna Clyne's This Midnight Hour. You'll be thrilled, excited, maybe a bit scared, ultimately consoled... or maybe not... What does this great music do to you?

 

Music here on youtube with video, or listen here on Spotify.

Listening time 19 mins (podcast 5', music 12-14').

 

Please let me know what you think of This Midnight Hour and of this episode of Cacophony by leaving a comment.

The Baudelaire poem which inspired Clyne can be found on this fab page.

If you want to buy a recording you can get a high quality download for £1.98 here, or elsewhere!

 

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86. Beethoven at the theme park? Symphony No.4

Exhilarating and fun, Beethoven's fourth symphony is like one of the best days out. This is Beethoven in the best of moods and relishing what's possible. It's a joyful ride!

 

Music here on Youtube or Spotify. 

Listening time 43 mins (podcast 11', music 32')

 

What do you think? Let us know with a comment at Cacophonyonline.com

 

If you like it, why not buy a download? You can get that here for less than a pound, or elsewhere. Cacophony doesn't make and money from it, but the musicians will make much more than through streaming. You can support Cacophony here.

 

85. Soul Solutions: Beethoven's healing balm: String Quartet op132

This is a new discovery for me - and it's deeply wonderful. Beethoven's late string quartet song of thanks: written as he recovered from severe illness, it's music that heals and restores our mind and soul.

 

Music here on Youtube, beautifully filmed and played by the Danish String Quartet. 

Or on Spotify with the fab Takacs Quartet.

Listening time: 31 mins (Podcast 12', music 17/19')

If you liked this (or didn't) please tell me with a comment at cacophonyonline.com

If you want to buy a recording of this piece you can get a high quality FLAC download here for only 13p which is still more than the quartet get through Spotify! [Details: Beethoven: String Quartet No. 15 in A minor, Op. 132, Track 3: Heiliger Dankgesang e. Genesenden an die Gottheit, in der lydischen Tonart!]

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84. Pump up the volume (and everything else)! Beethoven, Coriolan

Why is Beethoven - perhaps - the greatest composer of them all? One thing he does is expand everything - the volume goes up to 11 and down to almost nothing. Also he cared deeply, about music and humanity. In his Coriolan Overture he makes us care about an obscure Roman general intent on [self-]destruction... and it's electrifying.

Listening time 14 mins (Podcast 6', Music 8')

 

Music here with pictures on youtube, or here on Spotify

 

If you want to buy a recording you can get the Spotify recording here as a download in highest quality FLAC for a mere 13p! This is not an affiliate link, I just want to point you to a really good recording and even at 13p, the artists make more money than if we keep streaming.

 

Please help Cacophony by telling us what you think! Leave a comment here, at Cacophony's website.

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If you're enjoying Cacophony and want to help, you can support us, by 'buying me a ko-fi'!

 

Come back for more and thanks for listening!

83. A perfect parting gift: Bartók, Piano Concerto no.3

After three years 'vegetating' in New York, Béla Bartók produced a handful of late great pieces. A dying man's birthday gift to his wife, his life-affirming, often easygoing and playful last piano concerto is, perhaps, my favourite concerto of all time...

Listening time 35 mins (Podcast 11', Music 24')

 

Music here with pictures on youtube, or here on Spotify

 

If you want to buy a recording you can get the Spotify recording here as a download . This is not an affiliate link, I just want to point you to a really good recording. It's played by Jean-Efflam Bavouzet. FLAC gives the highest sound quality.

 

Please help Cacophony grow, and develop in the way you'd like, by doing some of these things:

Tell us what you think with a comment at Cacophony's website.

Subscribe to the podcast, rate it and share it widely!

 

If you're enjoying Cacophony and want to help, you can support us, by 'buying me a ko-fi'!

 

Thanks for listening!

 

82. Love is the Drug: Wagner, Tristan & Isolde

When Tristan & Isolde take a magic love potion it's not exactly happy ever after. Love wins in the end, it's just they're both dead. Passionate, overwhelming, transformative music from Richard Wagner sends them on their way and leaves us all in a state of transcendent bliss. 

Listening time 30 mins (Podcast 11', Music 19')

Music here on Youtube and Spotify.

 

The Youtube video from the Orchestra National de Lille starts and end with music by Sibelius: the melancholy Valse Triste to start and then, after the Wagner, the beyond fab Symphony No.3, which gets the Cacophony treatment in episode 54.

 

Please help Cacophony grow, and develop in the way you'd like, by doing some of these things:

Tell us what you think with a comment at Cacophony's website.

Subscribe to the podcast, rate it and share it widely!

 

If you're enjoying Cacophony and want to help, you can support us, by 'buying me a ko-fi'!

 

Thanks for listening!

81. Politics, protest and a bit of opera - Ethel Smyth, The Wreckers

Democracy and our rights, that earlier generations fought and went to prison, to obtain are fragile and always need to be looked after closely. Ethel Smyth's life and music serve as a good reminder to us all that we need to be ready to stand up and make our voices heard in order to make change happen. 

Listening time 19 mins (Podcast 11', Music 8')

Music here on Youtube

 

The lower banner in the picture reads "It appears that your demands are just". Shakespeare innit? (it's from Henry IV part 2)

The words to the very from the March of the Women are: 

Shout, shout, up with your song!
Cry with the wind, for the dawn is breaking;
March, march, swing you along,
Wide blows our banner, and hope is waking.
Song with its story, dreams with their glory
Lo! they call, and glad is their word!
Loud and louder it swells,
Thunder of freedom, the voice of the Lord!

 

Please help Cacophony grow and develop in the way you'd like by doing some of these things:

Leave a comment to tell us what you think at Cacophony's website.

Subscribe to the podcast, rate it and share it widely.

 

If you're enjoying Cacophony and want to help, you can support us, by 'buying me a ko-fi'!

 

Thanks for listening!

 

 

80. Life's still a rollercoaster baby - Tchaikovsky, Symphony No.4 [Part 2/2]

Battered, bruised but not broken, Tchaikovsky's emotional rollercoaster ride continues... Does this ride finish with squeals of terror or delight? 

 

You may want to listen to episode 79 before this (but it's not essential)

 

Listening time: 34 mins (Podcast 10', music 24')

Episode 2 music here on Youtube  or Spotify (but start at track 2).

Whole piece here on Youtube or Spotify

 

Did you enjoy this? Please help Cacophony grow and develop in the way you'd like by doing some of these things:

Leave a comment to tell us what you think at Cacophony's website.

Subscribe to the podcast, rate it and share it widely.

If you like this piece, you can buy it here or elsewhere in top quality download (FLAC is ‘lossless quality’, MP3 is compressed, so might  loose some impact). This isn't an affiliate link, I just want to make sure you get a great recording, by the always brilliant Budapest Festival Orchestra and conductor, Iván Fischer. The artists get almost nothing via youtube/Spotify...

If you're enjoying Cacophony and want to help, you can support us, by 'buying me a ko-fi'!

 

Thanks for listening!

 

79. Life's a rollercoaster: Tchaikovsky, Symphony No.4 [Part 1/2]

The song goes that life is a rollercoaster, baby, and few can give us all the emotional ups and downs as well as Tchaikovsky. The first part of this ride is stormy, turbulent, passionate and full of loss and yearning, as Tchaikovsky is battered by what fate and life throws at him. As the other song [almost] goes: He gets knocked down, but he gets up again!

Listening time: 31 mins (Podcast 12', music 19')

Music here on Youtube (first 19 mins only) or Spotify.

 

Did you enjoy this? Please help Cacophony grow and develop in the way you'd like by doing some of these things:

Leave a comment to tell us what you think at Cacophony's website.

Subscribe to the podcast, rate it and share it widely.

If you like this piece, you can buy it here or elsewhere in top quality download (FLAC is ‘lossless quality’, MP3 is compressed, so might  loose some impact). This isn't an affiliate link, I just want to make sure you get a great recording, by the always brilliant Budapest Festival Orchestra and conductor, Iván Fischer. The artists get almost nothing via youtube/Spotify...

If you're enjoying Cacophony and want to help, you can support us, by 'buying me a ko-fi'!

 

Thanks for listening!

 

78. A modern masterpiece for choir - James MacMillan: Miserere

Punchy, gut-churning and wow-inducing: Miserere by Scottish composer James MacMillan reflects deep religious faith and 1000 years of church music tradition, with music to move all of us, regardless of belief.

 

Music here on Youtube or Spotify. (Listening time 16 mins: podcast 4', music 12')

 

Please help Cacophony grow and develop by doing some of these things:

 

Leave a comment to tell us what you think at Cacophony's website.

 

Subscribe to the podcast, rate it and share it widely.

 

If you like this piece, you can buy it here or elsewhere in top quality download for a couple of quid (FLAC is ‘lossless quality’, MP3 is compressed, so might  loose some impact). This isn't an affiliate link, I just want to make sure you get a great recording, it's by The Sixteen. The artists get almost nothing via youtube/Spotify...

If you're enjoying Cacophony and want to help, you can support us, by 'buying me a ko-fi'!

 

Thanks for listening!