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The very best of classical music

Georgia Mann plays the best in classical music for your morning, with discoveries and surprises rubbing shoulders with familiar favourites.

Georgia Mann plays the best classical music for your morning, with discoveries and surprises rubbing shoulders with familiar favourites. Including the Playlister challenge: our regular listener-created sequence inspired by a different piece of music each day. Plus a new classical release in focus for Album of the Week.

1000 Playlister starter: listen and send us your ideas for the next step in today's musical journey. Text 83111 or email essentialclassics@bbc.co.uk.

1030 Album of the Week: an exciting new classical release in focus throughout the week.

1115 Playlister reveal: an uninterrupted sequence of music suggested by you in response to today's starter piece.

1200 Feast of a Piece: indulge your ears with a masterpiece.

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26 days left to listen

3 hours, 30 minutes

Last on

Monday09:30
BBC Radio 3

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Music Played

  • Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

    Symphony No 35 in D major, K 385, 'Haffner' (1st mvt)

    Orchestra: Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Sir Roger Norrington.
    • Mozart: Essential Symphonies Vol.VI: Radio-Sinfonieorchester Stuttgart/Norringto.
    • Hanssler Classics.

  • Benjamin Britten

    Young Apollo Op.16

    Performer: Peter Donohoe. Orchestra: City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Sir Simon Rattle.
    • EMI.

  • Isabella Leonarda

    Litanie della Beata Vergine Maria

    Ensemble: Cappella Artemisia. Director: Candace Smith.
    • Rosa Mistica. Musiche delle monache lombarde del '600.
    • Tactus.
    • 014.

  • Jean Sibelius

    Lemminkainen's Return (Lemminkainen Suite, Op.22)

    Orchestra: Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Hannu Lintu.
    • ONDINE.

  • Claude Debussy

    Lindaraja

    Performer: Katia Labèque. Performer: Marielle Labèque.
    • en Blanc et Noir - The Debussy Album.
    • Philips.
    • 016.

  • Johann Sebastian Bach

    Brandenburg Concerto No. 6 in B flat major, BWV1051: I. Allegro

    Orchestra: Le Concert des Nations. Director: Jordi Savall.
    • Bach: Brandenburg Concertos.
    • Alia Vox.
    • 17.

  • Alec Roth

    The Flower

    Choir: Ex Cathedra. Director: Jeffrey Skidmore.
    • SIGNUM CLASSICS.

  • Modest Mussorgsky

    A Night on the Bare Mountain

    Orchestrator: Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. Orchestra: Oslo Philharmonic. Conductor: Mariss Jansons.
    • Mussorgsky: Pictures at an Exhibition etc.: Jansons.
    • EMI Classics.
    • 16.

  • Heitor Villa‐Lobos

    Valsa da Dor

    Performer: Daniil Trifonov.
    • DEUTSCHE GRAMMOPHON.

  • Florence Price

    Symphony No 4 in D minor (2nd mvmt, Andante cantabile)

    Conductor: Yannick Nézet‐Séguin. Orchestra: The Philadelphia Orchestra.
    • Florence Price: Symphony No. 4 – William Dawson: Negro Folk Symphony.
    • Deutsche Grammophon (DG).
    • 2.

  • Joby Talbot

    Fool'd Paradise (Part 2)

    Orchestra: Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor: Christopher Austin.
    • Talbot: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland - Fool's Paradise.
    • Signum Classics.
    • 202.

  • Franz Schubert

    Impromptu in A flat major, D.899 no.4

    Performer: Maria João Pires.
    • Le Voyage Magnifique - Schubert: Impromptus: MAria Joao Pires.
    • Deutsche Grammophon.

  • Béla Bartók

    Divertimento Sz.113 (3rd mvt)

    Orchestra: c/o chamber orchestra.
    • BIS.

  • Manuel de Falla

    Danza lejana (Nights in the Gardens of Spain)

    Performer: Martha Argerich. Orchestra: Orchestra della Svizzera italiana. Conductor: Alexander Vedernikov.
    • Live from the Lugano Festival 2009, Martha Argerich and friends.
    • EMI Classics.
    • 2.

  • Francisco Tárrega

    Recuerdos de la Alhambra

    Performer: John Williams.
    • Spanish Guitar Music.
    • Sony Classical.
    • 16.

  • William Walton

    Granada - Prelude for orchestra

    Orchestra: London Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor: Bryden Thomson.
    • Chandos.

  • George Frideric Handel

    Music for the Royal Fireworks (Overture)

    Orchestra: B’Rock Orchestra. Conductor: Dmitry Sinkovsky.
    • Pentatone.

  • Edward Elgar

    Sospiri, Op 70 (arr. for violin and orchestra)

    Performer: Thomas Bowes. Music Arranger: Eleanor Alberga. Orchestra: Sinfonia Arcadiana. Conductor: Nicholas Fallowfield.
    • Elgar.
    • Rubicon.
    • 107.

  • Pyotr Tchaikovsky

    Manfred Symphony Op.58 (2nd mvt)

    Orchestra: Czech Philharmonic. Conductor: Semyon Bychkov.
    • Decca.

  • Antonín Dvořák

    Song to the Moon (Rusalka)

    Music Arranger: Jesse Diener-Bennett. Performer: Yo‐Yo Ma. Orchestra: The Knights. Conductor: Eric Jacobsen.
    • Golijov: Azul.
    • Warner Classics.
    • 102.

  • Ralph Vaughan Williams

    Oboe Concerto in A minor

    Performer: Nicholas Daniel. Orchestra: Britten Sinfonia.
    • HARMONIA MUNDI.

  • Antonio Vivaldi

    Nulla in mundo pax sincera, RV 630

    Singer: Elin Manahan Thomas. Orchestra: Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment. Conductor: Harry Christophers.
    • Eternal Light: Elin Manahan-Thomas.
    • Heliodor.
    • 3.

  • Robert Schumann

    Piano Quintet in E flat major, Op 44 (4th mvt)

    Ensemble: The Schubert Ensemble.
    • Schumann: Piano Quintet/Quartet: The Schubert Ensemble.
    • ASV.
    • 4.

  • Alice Mary Smith

    Andante

    Performer: Angela Malsbury. Orchestra: London Mozart Players. Conductor: Howard Shelley.
    • Alice Mary Smith: Symphonies: Malsbury, LMP, Shelley.
    • Chandos.
    • 5.

  • Erik Satie

    Gnossienne No 3

    Performer: Alexandre Tharaud.
    • Satie: Avant-dernieres pensees (Bonus Track Version).
    • Harmonia Mundi UK Limited.
    • 11.

  • Johann Strauss II

    Wiener Blut - waltz Op.354

    Orchestra: Vienna Johann Strauss Orchestra. Conductor: Jack Rothstein.
    • By The Beautiful Blue Danube: The Johann Strauss Orchestra.
    • Chandos.

Broadcast

  • Monday09:30
    BBC Radio 3