It’s NOT the World Cup of (largely) Classical Music:

This is the playlist of all the games in Group B.
Each team in each game in round one of the football World Cup represented by a [short] piece of music, the pieces matched up like they’re the games and then people listen and voted… winners at the bottom.

Game 1

  1. England (Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, Dance from Othello)
    Iran (Hussein Dehlavi, Djam-e Djahaan-Nama from Bijan & Manijeh)
  2. USA (John Williams, Olympic Fanfare and theme)
    Wales (Karl Jenkins, Paladio – allegretto)

You can find more on Cacophony on the Coleridge-Taylor and John Williams here:

Game 2:

  1. WALES – Paul Mealor: Ubi Caritas
    IRAN – Mona Matbou Riahi: Void
  2. ENGLAND – William Walton: Henry V Suite, Charge and Battle
    USA – John Adams: Short ride in a fast machine

There’s more from the Cacophony podcast on the Walton and Adams here:

Game 3:

  1. WALES – Grace Williams: Ballad No.1
    ENGLAND – Anna Clyne: Masquerade
  2. IR IRAN – Narges Dehghani plays traditional Kamancheh music
    USA – Reena Esmail: Darshan

There’s a Cacophony episode on the Esmail

RESULTS

  1. England drew with Iran
  2. Wales bt USA
  3. Wales bt Iran
  4. USA drew with England
  5. Wales bt England
  6. USA by Iran

WALES and USA qualify for round 2.