CACOPHONY: GREAT CLASSICAL MUSIC

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...

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, co...

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...

...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...

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.co...

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

Give yourself a fright with a witches party on Bald Mountain! Scary stuff: Music here:  https://youtu.be/52iOdAVU4C8 or here on Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2Tenwfk Please listen, like, share subscribe on iTunes or your favourite podcast provider! Visit cacophonyonline.com

Hard to play, a lot of fun, a huge noise! John Adams sums up his own music nicely and this is a modern great to leave you uplifted and exhausted. Music here: https://youtu.be/5LoUm_r7It8 and here on Spotify:  https://spoti.fi/2Z04UmY Like, share, comment and subscribe Visit cacophonyonline.com  

This is punchy music that still swings and sings and sends an energising message of optimism and generosity of spirit... though the composers claims would have been more modest. Music here: https://youtu.be/LXgeRS4i4ME And here on Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2T1WWWy   Please like, share, subscribe, comment Visit cacophonyonline.com      

I love the fun and exuberance of this movement from Beethoven's 'first' Piano Concerto.   For Beethoven, playing the piano at the first performance would have been the least of his worries.  Music here:  https://youtu.be/BF7pmimzjBs?t=1580 . 3rd Movement starts at 26'20" but the whole thing is fab if you have the time. and here on Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3dInLXN Please listen, like, comment, sha...

This is a personal discovery for me. The slow movement of this piano sonata by Schubert is so simple, beautiful and moving, I want to share it with everyone. The music's included in the podcast for this one, so don't turn off before it plays! The pianist is Jeno Jando.    Please listen, comment, like, share, subscribe. Visit cacophony online.com

This great piece is slightly schizophrenic - is it a serious piece of music over-run by people having fun, or a fun piece that's occasionally trying to be serious? Ligeti was showing his love for Romania, but the Soviet Hungarians weren't impressed.... Music here: https://youtu.be/Y3Q1t9wMgms and on Spotify here:  https://spoti.fi/2La29Hr Please listen, like, comment, share and subscribe to the po...

The Soviet authorities banned the last of Ligeti's excellent and entertaining Six Bagatelles for wind quintet - too dangerous and subversive. Were they right? Music here on film - highly recommended: https://youtu.be/txMWXvD8kL4 and here:  https://spoti.fi/2WxMx5R Total listen time 17' Please listen, like, comment, share, subscribe Visit cacophony online.com

The composer Handel knew what the people wanted - and it was normally more Handel. Here’s a piece written to go in the interval of a Handel show!  Emotional, passionate, invigorating. Music here: https://youtu.be/htDf0bpFIys And here:  https://spoti.fi/3fwQkt1   Total listen time 20' Please listen, like, comment, share, subscribe Visit cacophony online.com

I was going to play something quiet... and then came across this Handel's Fireworks Music. It's brilliant - these performances are raw, raucous and exuberant and it's more fun than this great piece has ever been. Music here with pictures (recommended!):  https://youtu.be/fNqJ8mED1VE or (noise only) here:  https://spoti.fi/2YmPokG Total listen time 20' Please listen, like, comment, share, subscribe...

This actually might be the best thing ever: the end of Beethoven's 7th Symphony. Intro in the pod, music here:  https://youtu.be/ikb-2XRcQdk  here on Spotify:  https://spoti.fi/35tS4OP  or here, with pictures:  https://youtu.be/-4788Tmz9Zo,  4th movement starting at 34'00 It's a piece so full of relentless energy it almost belongs in a nightclub. You'll either be bouncing around or feel pinned to...