142. In search of happy music: Arnold, English Dances
English folk music is often typically nostalgic and melancholy. Cacophony goes in search of happiness with Malcolm Arnold’s English Dances – pretty, witty and bright! (24mins)… Listen
141. Songs from a disappearing world: Vaughan Williams, Norfolk Rhapsody
Haunting and melancholy music from my hometown, Vaughan Williams’s Norfolk Rhapsody No.1 features the old songs of fisherman and the last days of a way of life. Like the local landscape it’s bleak but beautiful!
Total listening time 18 mins (podcast 7′, music 11′)… Listen
136. Where the walls of heaven are thin as a curtain: Simon Clark on Talbot, Path of Miracles
An epic and spiritual adventure for choir, Joby Talbot’s Path of Miracles captures the hope, the expectation and the moments of overwhelm (both positive and negative) of travellers on the ancient and still popular pilgrimage trail the Camino de Santiago (Way of St James).
Simon Clark, scientist, author and singer joins me to share his passion for the piece and guide us on a journey of musical and maybe spiritual fulfilment! Listening time: podcast 24 mins, music 62’… Listen
114. Direct to you from London: Urban Living, Shirley J Thompson
A mix of grit, swagger and persistence help us to make it through in the big city. Shirley Thompson’s Urban Living gives us all this plus, perhaps, a tinge of fear and some pheonmenal piano sounds in 7 minutes of [mainly] self-assured city beats. Listening time 12 mins (podcast 5′, music 7′)… Listen
113. London’s the place for me: Coates, London Suite
I’ve come over all nostalgic at the prospect of returning to London in a few days, so here’s a swaggering piece of escapism back to the heady optimistic days of the 1930s in Eric Coates London Suite. Listening time 21 mins… Listen
91. Songs of lost love and lost youth – Butterworth, A Shropshire Lad
I get floored every time by these six songs of lost youth, love and life written on the cusp of World War 1 by a young composer who didn’t make it through. Raw, simple and unforgettable. Listening time: 21 mins … Listen