A subtle extremist, in his Symphony no.51 Haydn throws down some extraordinary challenges to his horn players - can they beat the ‘immutable forces of nature’? Listening time 30 mins (podcast 9′, music 21′) Music here on YouTube, Spotify and [with links to first movement only] on Apple and Amazon played by The English Concert, conducted by Trevor Pinnock. They're playing on 'period instruments' which Haydn would recognise including valveless natural horns played by Anthony Halstead and colleague. You can buy the recording as a download from Presto music (on its own or with a whole bunch of oth ..read more

Pianist Rolf Hind introduces one of the epics of piano music. A heady mix of virtuoso composing and devout faith, Olivier Messiaen's 20 reflections on the infant Jesus, Vingt regards sur l'infant Jésus, brings us a two-hour deep dive of awesome power and beautiful stillness. Listening time 38 mins (plus music 2hrs 8') Music here on Youtube, played live in concert by Rolf Hind. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2W34IlnsDX8&t=4521s] Be quick and go see Rolf play this at Durham Cathedral. Visit Rolfhind.com for more information on our excellent guest! What do you think? Tell me with a comment ..read more

It's Cacophony… at the Women’s Football World Cup! A glorious celebration of music from around the world, all written by women, and chosen specially for Cacophony by leading female musicians. In this episode we turn to Canada, where Melissa Hui's selection is typically diverse with living composers who are first nations, Canadian born and immigrant. Melissa brings her thoughtfulness and insight to a playlist that might challenege our perceptions, but will leave us satisfied. Listening time: podcast 26mins, music playlist 31 mins The complete music is available in the YouTube playlist. You ..read more

It's Cacophony… at the Women’s Football World Cup! A glorious celebration of music from around the world, all written by women, and chosen specially for Cacophony by leading female musicians. We shift the focus to England, with Roxanna Panufnik's choice of rich and satisfying pieces from a line up of stellar composers.   Listening time: podcast 20mins, music playlist 23 mins The complete music is available in the YouTube playlist.   You can discover more about Roxanna Panufnik on her website: https://roxannapanufnik.com What do you think? Leave a comment or easy voice-message at ..read more

Always entertaining the crowds, Haydn brings up his 50 with typical style (before settling down for 50 more symphonies). Not a famous piece but well worth a listen! Listening time 27 mins (podcast 9', music 18') Music here on Youtube, Spotify, Amazon and Apple Musics  played by the Swedish Chamber Orchestra conducted by Béla Drahos. You can buy the recording as a download from Presto music: https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/7926758--haydn-symphonies-volume-27   What do you think? Tell me with a comment at www.cacophonyonline.com! I'd love to hear from you!   Ch ..read more

It's Cacophony… at the Women’s Football World Cup! A glorious celebration of music from around the world, all written by women, and chosen specially for Cacophony by leading female musicians. Elena Kats-Chernin presents her choices of music from Australia - composers who all work hard and write music of vitality, invention, intensity and often fun! Listening time: podcast 24mins, music playlist 25 mins The music is available in the YouTube playlist   What do you think? Leave a comment or easy voice-message at Cacophonyonline.com The Women's World Cup of Classical Music is underway at ..read more

It's the Women’s World Cup of Classical Music! And it's THE FINAL! USA vs Republic of Ireland Complete music here: hthttps://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLCXUbmBaA9OoRjafAn_k1zTnHR8cH9qyj Please listen to the music and then: vote here: https://forms.gle/XJoU1Vr3MfWraQL48   Voting open NOW   Please share the podcast widely, by telling people you know and getting them to listen and vote! If you want to explore further, there are podcast interviews with some of our curators at cacophonyonline.com or wherever you listen to Cacophony. And if you're able to, you might like to ..read more

Maja S K Ratkje joins Cacophony at the Women's World Cup to explore the fun and joy of writing music and choose pieces by her Norwegian colleagues. But there must be something in the Norwegian water, as there's the same tiny inspiration for several of the composers! The complete pieces on Maja's list can be heard here: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLCXUbmBaA9Orpqp5R5jfX-LzBIjoUeRim Listening time 31 min (podcast 18', music, 13')   Discover more about Maja and her music at her website: https://ratkje.no and check out more of Cacophony's conversations with female composers. W ..read more

It's Cacophony… at the Women’s Football World Cup! A glorious celebration of music from around the world, all written by women, and chosen specially for Cacophony by leading female musicians. This episode features music from the Netherlands and Marion von Tilzer's choices of music that gets us more connected. We'll hear how, when a performer is relaxed, it can be like being in the audience...or writing the music afresh, and why the Netherlands is famous for painters...but not composers... Listening time: podcast 21mins, music playlist29 mins The complete music is available in the YouTube ..read more

It's Cacophony… at the Women’s Football World Cup! A glorious celebration of music from around the world, all written by women, and chosen specially for Cacophony by leading female musicians. Singer, Gabriella di Laccio is our guide to music by women from Brazil - a melting pot of traditions and cultures that ends up with music that sounds... Brazilian! Listening time: podcast 27mins, music playlist 20 mins The complete music is available in the YouTube playlist.   You can discover more about Gabriella di Laccio on her website: https://www.gabrielladilaccio.com; Donne - Women in ..read more