Send us a text This week, Ollie and Damien go deep into Ollie's experiences as a recovering alcoholic... When did he start drinking? How did it make him feel? When did he decide that he needed to stop drinking? What is he doing to prevent drinking again? Later in the episode, your hosts give you a glimpse of how bands improvise to come up with riff…

This is the audio-only version for the old school soldiers. The Cacophony Sessions Podcast returns to dive deep into our favourite records of 2024! Featuring Dan Whitell's returning ragtag band of cohorts Jim, Martyn and Tom this year, please enjoy this year's definitive channel list from a year that some were more enthusiastic about than others. A…

Send us a text Welcome to episode one of The Cerberus Podcast! In this episode we meet your hosts, Damien Mackay and Ollie Morgan who talk a little about their background and give a brief overview of some of the things that you can expect from the show. Ollie gives a little info on his recent mental health diagnosis and later in the episode, Ollie …

Send us a text Cerberus Podcast.... Coming soon!!! If you would like to get in touch to provide feedback, ask questions or you would like to share your own experiences with mental health including substance dependence disorder or any of the other topics that we discuss, you can contact us by email at [email protected] or you can contac…

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 P…

Late as ever (it's still February... just) following a technological catastrophe The Cacophony Sessions presents the season four finale, and the closing episode of the regular podcast. Join Dan Whitell and his regular band of bastards Alex, Martyn, Tom and Jim as we finally deliver our top ten albums of 2023! Featuring the biggest Does It Slap ever…

A cool and funky wedding anniversary present - a 15 minute classic from the most famous composer alive, Stravinsky's Dumbarton Oaks is stylish, sophisticated and hugely enjoyable! Listening time 23 mins (podcast 8', music 15') Music here, played by the Ensemble InterContemporain conducted by Pierre Boulez, on Youtube, Spotify, and (links to the 1st…

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 …

#music #podcast #guitarsolo The Cacophony Sessions are back with their thoughts on greatest guitar solos of all time. Joining Dan Whitell on this episode are Alex, Tom and Martyn; each with two pics for a discussion on what makes a guitar solo work - and what doesn't. The playlist containing all of our picks (including Dan B's and Jim's in spite of…

Hot off the press! The wonders of modern tech allow us to enjoy Katharina Nohl's rhapsody for piano and orchestra, Spices, before it's even been performed by live musicians! And Katharina joins us to talk us through the recipe. Listening time 33 mins (podcast 15', music 18') The complete music here on Youtube. What do you think? Tell me with a comm…

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 …

We wind the clock back 20 years on this episode of The Cacophony Sessions as Dan Whitell runs down the Top 15 Songs of 2003 with contributions from Martyn, Jim, Alex and Tom. 15 picks each, scored out of ten - some using the IGN scoring system and others…not doing that. This episode ranks the top 15, although all 75 songs can be found in alphabetic…

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 …

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?…

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... Brazi…

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…

The second part of The Cacophony Sessions' discussion of all 25 Bond themes continues in 'You Only Bang Twice', in which Dan Whitell, Tom, Dan B and Alex critique the Bond themes of the 1980s to the present. If you missed the first part, you can listen to the audio or watch the video to catch up on the scores so far. A playlist of all the themes in…

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 20min…

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!…

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 epsiode, Inés Medina Fernández presents her choices of music from Spain, carefully chosen from accross the country and including including famous musi…

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 rel…

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 epsiode we hear top young composer, Sage Shurman, getting super excited - in a pretty chilled Californian kind of way - for both the World Cup football a…

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 hear from Katharina Nohl, founder of the Swiss Female Composers Festival, with her choices of music from Switzerland and how giving female …

Are you ready for our TWO PART James Bond Theme Special? You’d better be! Part One of The Cacophony Sessions Season 4 Episode 4 is here and features Dan Whitell with Alex, Dan B, Tom and Martyn as they chronologically rate each of the main themes from every James Bond movie. This part begins with the original 007 film Dr No from 1962 and takes us u…

By turns grand and genial with moments of great inventiveness and wit, Louise Farrenc's Nonet for wind and strings is a bit of magic! Listening time 37 mins (podcast 7', music 30') Music here on Youtube, Spotify, Amazon and Apple Musics (tracks 7-10) played by the Intercontinental Ensemble with tons of style and (unlike some of the other recordings…

Meeting his boss's insatiable desire for new content 'forced' [his word] Joseph Haydn to write original, inventive music that sounds as fresh and full of life today as when it was written. And he wrote so much great music that I only heard this piano trio for the first time this week - and it's wonderful stuff. Listening time 19 mins (podcast 6', m…

110 years ago in Paris, Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring caused a furore and changed music forever. Did the police have to be called? It's still a piece that shocks and stuns and is filled with something amazing every second. Listening time c45 mins (podcast, 12', Music 33') Music here on Spotify, Amazon and Apple Music played by the Junge Deutsche …

A rarity from Wales (a Welsh rare-bit?), Grace Williams's orchestral piece Penillion surprises, delights and has an epic grandeur. It's terrific stuff and I think you'll love it! Listening time 25 mins (podcast, 7', Music 18') Music here on Youtube played by the BBC National Orchestra of Wales conducted by Owain Arwel Hughes What do you think? Tell…

The Cacophony Sessions do another dive into the UK top 10 (for the week commencing 14/4/23) and several artists now find themselves in the crosshairs for the first time. And an old nemesis comes back to haunt us. Join Dan Whitell with Alex, Dan B and Tom for a heated discussion on pop music of today. In this month's episode you'll find Lewis Capald…

Another great, short piece, here's the first of Joan Tower's Fanfares celebrating risk-taking and adventurous women. This is both celebratory and substantial, plus a workout for brass and percussion. Listening time 8 mins (podcast 5.5', music 2.5') Listen to the music, Fanfare for the Uncommon Woman No.1, here on Youtube, Spotify, Apple Music or Am…

A short podcast about the shortest of pieces, yet Aaron Copland's Fanfare for the Common Man still packs a punch and seems to point to big issues. 'No taxation without representation'? Perhaps today's call should be 'No representatives (from the Head of State down) who don't pay their taxes!' Listening time c10 minutes (podcast 6', music 3') Listen…

Often on the edge, in life and music, Beethoven goes to extremes on the piano to show us the extreme depth of his feelings. His Appassionata Sonata is every bit as intense as its name suggests! Listening time 33 mins (podcast 10', music 23') Listen to the whole piece here, played by Maurizio Pollini on piano on Youtube, Spotify, Apple Music (this l…

Lost for 150 years and then, because it was so good, presumed to have been written by her brother, Fanny Mendelssohn's Easter Sonata for piano is passionate, intense, lyrical and dramatic... and the story of its rediscovery is no less compelling. Listening time c36 mins [11' podcast, 21 or 25' music] The complete music is here in the original 1970s…

April’s Cacophony Sessions Podcast is an episode in which Dan Whitell, joined by Tom, Martyn and Dan B, attempts to discuss the most famous band in pop music history. We have divided the conversation loosely into four parts - our favourite albums, songs, Beatles themselves and lastly covers of their songs. Undoubtedly full of controversial takes as…

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! Listening time 24 mins (podcast 6', music 18') Music here, played by the Queensland Symphony Orchestra conducted by Andrew Penny on Youtube, Spotify, Apple Music (tracks 1-8 English D…

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') Here's Joe Anderson, James ‘Duggie’ Carter and the Reverend Alfred Huddle: The music …

Packed with memorable Czech songs about pigeons, nightingales, love, life and unploughed fields, Vítěslava Kaprálová's Rustic Suite mixes countryside charm with the confident orchestral swagger of a 23 year old receiving acclaim in Paris and London. Music full of life and good tunes! Listening time 21 mins (music 16', podcast 5') The music is here,…

Small but perfectly formed, Germaine Tailleferre's Little Suite is seven minutes of innocent delight from a composer looking to escape from the trials of a difficult life. It may be short, but it's packed with memorable tunes and a joyous spirit. Irresistible! Listening time c14 minutes (podcast 7', music 7') It's not available commercially, but th…

Season Four of The Cacophony Sessions Podcast kicks off with our Album of the Year 2022 episode. Join Dan Whitell as well as Tom, Jim, Martyn and Alex as we collectively rank our favourite ten records of last year. This year's list features some previous favourites from our 2020 and 2021 lists, as well as some new bands; it's time to separate the n…

It's a riot of colour at the carnival in Stravinsky's wonderful ballet, Petrushka, with dancing (of course), puppets, romance (kind of), fighting, and a wild bear. It's got everything - even a French song about a woman's prosthetic limb, but you have to listen for an explanation...! Total listening time 48 mins (podcast 13', music 35') The music is…

Our final recording of 2022 is the season finale of The Cacophony Sessions Podcast. Dan joins Martyn, Jim, Alex and Tom for a deep dive into ten of our own personal favourites. From Funkadelic to Run-DMC to Nirvana to Insane Clown Posse, this eclectic discussion covers a variety of different genres and we've made a playlist available via Apple Musi…

Who doesn't love gazing at the sea? It's something that brings out the meditative in all of us as we stare at it and think deep thoughts. Claude Debussy didn't want us to think too hard - just to listen. In La Mer, he brings The Sea to us wherever we are, in all its beauty and wonder. Total listening time 36 mins (podcast 11', music 25') The music …

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 t…

Music that seems to conjure all the tastes, smells and senses of Spain - or my expectations of them (as someone who's hardly been there): Spanish dances for piano by Enrique Granados. Perfect music if you just want to feel warmer, but it's also an opportunity to bask (Basque? [sorry]) in some gloriously wistful melancholy that seems to underpin all…

Not the World Cup was a "glorious celebration of classical and world music" that ran alongside a small men's football competition in late 2022. Each team in each game of the football was represented by a short piece of (largely classical) music - 110 pieces in all from 107 composers (including 41 pieces by women): loads of great music and loads of …

An extraordinary, ambitious, blend of art and science, Johanes Kepler's Harmony of the World is a 17th century attempt to understand what the then known universe sounded like - on a planetary level! In the 1970s, using the latest technology Professors Willie Ruff and John Rodgers were able to make Kepler's Harmony into music - an extended piece of …

Welcome to another episode of The Cacophony Sessions Podcast, as we deliver our Top Ten Pop Punk Songs Ever! Join Dan Whitell, Tom, Martyn, Dan B, Jim and Al as we fight over the quality of the songs we’ve hand-picked and rated, and argue both for and against their places within the lineage of the genre. As well as an ever-heated discussion, we als…

Looking at this now from the perspective of 45 years singing - through the pandemic - it was so much simpler then! We were younger and no one cared about the jostling crowds - the more the merrier! We are still singing! This Christmas 2022 we have two live concerts coming up in Ottawa, Canada's Capital. Saturday Dec 10th at Southminster church 15 A…

This is a brief announcement to tell you about Not the World Cup of (largely) classical music, which is running during the football world cup as a complement or alternative. It's lots of fun and you can find it on the Cacophony Youtube or at cacophonyonline.com https://www.youtube.com/@cacophonypodcast Please listen, please vote, please share!…

Urbane sophistication mixes with poetry and drama in Clara Schumann's Piano Trio, her biggest piece from a small catalogue of great music. Better known in recent times as the wife of Robert Schumann, it was Clara who was an international star as the leading pianist of their day. It was composing, though, that brought her the greatest joy and her mu…