Comfortably crossing cultural boundaries, Reena Esmail draws on both western and Indian , composer Reena Esmail draws on both western and Indian traditions to write distinctive music that is at home in both. Darshan is a terrific solo violin piece which transports us to a timeless state ad may even offer a glimps of the divine! Listening time 21mins… Listen
How is it that when an artist shares their pain we can all feel it? And how does listening to music full of suffering make us feel better? I don’t know how or why, but I know that it does. Dmitri Shostakovich knew all about war, loss, and suffering. His 8th string quartet is desperate but defiant and deeply moving, bleak but often beautiful and whilst it doesn’t provide any answers it somehow gives consolation to us all. Listening time 28 mins… Listen
We’ve all got pieces of music that instantly remind us of special times and places in our lives. What are yours I wonder? (Tell me!) We’re in Sri Lanka at the moment and, bizarrely, the piece of music we’ve heard more than any other in the last few months has been Beethoven’s perfect little piano piece, Für Elise, but perhaps not as we’re used to hearing it… Here’s the story of why, and how it’s in the ears of everyone Sri Lanka. (Listening time 8 mins: podcast 5′, music 3′)… Listen
Individual, passionate, soulful music rooted in the southern states, Florence Price’s Symphony No.1 was the first by a black woman composer to be played by a major US orchestra back in the 1930s. A Moment of History, but those ‘twin handicaps’ [her words] meant that her music has hardly been played since and we’ve been missing out on great music from a distinctive voice – it’s time to put that right! (Listening time 47 mins: podcast 8′, music 39′)… Listen
One of music’s ultimate mood improvers, Dvořák’s “Slavonic Dances” put a smile on everyone’s face. Not merely shallow dance tunes, this is music that shows us the warmest, most generous view of humanity. It’s no wonder everyone loves them! Listening time: 10.5′ podcast and up to 35′ music.… Listen
A bold statement from composer Carl Nielsen, that music IS life, who demonstrates it with a breathtaking symphony of awesome power and overwhelming optimism. The perfect piece for Cacophony’s 100th episode. (50 mins)… Listen
For ep99, I wanted to explore something deeply personal. Mahler’s Symphony No.4 is one of the first pieces I discovered for myself and it moves me like very little else. Sometimes pained, sometimes playful, but most often sublime, the third movement takes you all the way to heaven, just by opening your heart. Listening time 33 mins … Listen
One of the closest [classical] things to electronic dance music, John Adams’s Shaker Loops is one of my favourite things. Dreamy and reflective music mixed with thrilling dance music that leaves us ecstatic, maybe even transcendent! Listening time 32 mins (Podcast 7, Music 25′)… Listen
Freethinking, inventive – quiet and mysterious one moment, giddy and playful the next, Debussy’s préludes – short pieces for piano – are great escapes for your imagination! Listening time 26 mins (podcast 9′, music 17′) Music here with the excellent … Listen