Spine-tinglers for Halloween
They say the devil gets all the best tunes. If you’re looking for music at the scarier/ creepier/ spine-tingling end of the spectrum here are the episodes for you!… Listen
129. Hitting the sweet spot at sixteen: Mozart, Divertimento K.136
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. Listening time 20mins… Listen
128. Salute to the sun: Handel, Eternal source of light divine
Eternal source of light divine is three beautiful and brilliant minutes of Handel, as effective at setting us up for the day as any yoga routine (though you can do that too of course)! It’s a quietly awe-filled salute to the sun. Listening time 10mins… Listen
125. Ain’t no mountain high enough: Strauss, Alpine Symphony
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 62mins.… Listen
124. Heading North by Southwest with Willie Ruff: Strayhorn, Suite for The Duo
Brilliant and meaningful, North by Southwest may have been the initial name for Billy Strayhorn’s Suite for The Duo, a brilliant, late work for horn and piano: it’s a title that suggests confusion and conflicting ideas about the dying composers direction of travel. It’s a great piece: virtuosic but raw and written with a total understanding of both horn and piano and what they can do.
It’s a longer episode than normal because (amazingly) I was able to speak with Willie Ruff, the horn play for whom it was written. Willie, now in his nineties, joined me from his home in Alabama and he talked about his life and career, the Mitchell-Ruff duo, Strayhorn and how Suite for The Duo came to life. (37 mins)
… Listen
123. Emptiness and space: Sculthorpe, Kakadu
Heat, danger, emptiness and space. Plenty of all of this in Peter Sculthorpe’s excellent Kakadu – inspired by northern Australia but featuring universal themes of humanity, life, death, and timelessness. Listening time c22 mins… Listen
122. The height of passion? Haydn, Symphony No.49
It’s not about that sort of passion, but this symphony La Passione is intense, dark, thrilling, and one of Haydn’s best! Listening time c30 minutes (podcast 5.5′, music 23′)… Listen
119. Dancing into Immortality: Prokofiev, Romeo & Juliet
So much more than just a famous TV theme tune, Prokofiev’s music for Romeo and Juliet is full of intensity, drama, passion, wit and the occasional brilliantly pure dance number. Simultaneously draining and energising it’s a fabulous demonstration of the sheer power of music. I love it. Listening time 41 mins.… Listen
118. Songs from the greatest ever musical! Bernstein, West Side Story
Bernstein’s Symphonic Dances from West Side Story (Cacophony ep.117) features the driving funky rhythms at the expense of the wit, poetry and driving funky rhythms of the song numbers… so this episode features four of my favourites. Listening time 22 mins.… Listen