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Celebrating classical greats

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

Ian Skelly 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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28 days left to listen

3 hours, 30 minutes

Last on

Wednesday09:30
BBC Radio 3

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Music Played

  • Hector Berlioz

    Hungarian March (from 'The Damnation of Faust')

    Orchestra: London Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor: Edward Gardner.
    • Berlioz: The Damnation of Faust.
    • London Philharmonic Orchestra.
    • 103.

  • Franz Schubert

    Andantino varie, D 823

    Performer: Paul Lewis. Performer: Steven Osborne.
    • Schubert: Piano Duets.
    • Hyperion.
    • 2.

  • Hubert Parry

    I was glad vers. for chorus and organ

    Performer: Choir of King’s College, Cambridge. Performer: James Lancelot. Conductor: Sir David Willcocks.
    • Warner.

  • Lili Boulanger

    Nocturne

    Performer: Janine Jansen. Performer: Itamar Golan.
    • Beau Soir: Janine Jansen/Itamar Golan.
    • Decca.
    • 7.

  • Ludwig van Beethoven

    Egmont, Op 84 (Overture)

    Orchestra: Chamber Orchestra of Europe. Conductor: Nikolaus Harnoncourt.
    • Teldec.

  • Kerensa Briggs

    Media Vita

    Choir: Pembroke College Girls' Choir. Conductor: Anna Lapwood.
    • SIGNUM.

  • Antonio Vivaldi

    Concerto in F major, RV.572 (Proteus, or The World Turned Upside-Down)

    Ensemble: La Serenissima. Director: Adrian Chandler.
    • Signum Records.

  • Frederick Delius

    The Walk to the Paradise Garden (A Village Romeo and Juliet)

    Orchestra: Hallé. Conductor: Mark Elder.
    • HALLE.

  • Michel Camilo

    Suntan

    Performer: Daniil Trifonov.
    • DG.

  • Camille Saint‐Saëns

    Odelette

    Performer: Emmanuel Pahud. Orchestra: Paris Chamber Orchestra. Conductor: François Leleux.
    • Mozart & Flute in Paris.
    • Warner Classics.
    • 3.

  • Alexander Borodin

    Polovtsian Dances (Prince Igor)

    Choir: London Symphony Chorus. Orchestra: London Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Richard Hickox.
    • Great Opera Choruses: London Symphony Chorus, LSO, Hickox.
    • I.M.P. Classics.
    • 9.

  • Owain Park

    Night Prayer

    Choir: Tenebrae. Conductor: Nigel Short.
    • When Sleep Comes: Evening Meditations for Voices & Saxophone.
    • Signum Records.
    • 10.

  • Igor Stravinsky

    The Soldier's Tale - The Little Concert

    Ensemble: The Cleveland Orchestra. Conductor: Pierre Boulez.
    • Stravinsky: Le Chant du rossignol: Boulez.
    • Deutsche Grammophon.
    • 11.

  • William Henry Harris

    Bring us, O Lord God

    Choir: Gabrieli Consort & Players. Conductor: Paul McCreesh.
    • The Road to Paradise.
    • DG.
    • 11.

  • Thomas Adès

    Adès: Dante, Pt. I "Inferno": III. The Ferryman

    Choir: Los Angeles Master Chorale. Conductor: Gustavo Dudamel. Orchestra: Los Angeles Philharmonic.
    • Thomas Adès: Dante.
    • Nonesuch.
    • 3.

  • Donna McKevitt

    Go To The Limits Of Your Longing

    • The Swimming Diaries.
    • Instant Karma Classics.
    • 7.

  • Johann Sebastian Bach

    Cello Suite No 1 in G major, BWV 1007 (Prelude)

    Performer: Jean‐Guihen Queyras.
    • HARMONIA MUNDI.

  • William Boyce

    Wherewithal Shall a Young Man

    Performer: Gary Cooper. Choir: Choir of New College Oxford. Conductor: Edward Higginbottom.
    • Boyce: Select Anthems.
    • CRD Records.
    • 2.

  • Nicole Murphy

    Spinning Top

    Performer: Amir Farid. Performer: Lachlan Bramble. Performer: Ewen Bramble. Ensemble: Benaud Trio.
    • Women of Note.
    • ABC.
    • 11.

  • Manuel de Falla

    El amor brujo: Pantomime, Dance of the game of love, Finale

    Conductor: Domingo Hindoyan. Orchestra: Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra.
    • Manuel de Falla.
    • Onyx Classics.
    • 24-26.

  • Ronald Binge

    The Water Mill

    Orchestra: Light Music Society Orchestra. Conductor: Vivian Dunn.
    • British Composers: Best of British.
    • Warner Classics.
    • 118.

  • Henry Purcell

    My heart is inditing (Z.30)

    Choir: Choir of Westminster Abbey. Conductor: Simon Preston. Orchestra: The English Concert.
    • Coronation Music For King James II.
    • Archiv Produktion.
    • 4.

  • Fanny Mendelssohn

    String Quartet in E flat major (4th mvt)

    Ensemble: Quatuor Ébène.
    • Felix & Fanny Mendelssohn: String Quartets Op. 13 in A minor, Op. 80 in F minor:.
    • Virgin.
    • 8.

  • Frédéric Chopin

    Nocturne in C sharp minor, Op.27 no.1

    Performer: Nelson Freire.
    • Nelson Freire: Chopin, The Nocturnes.
    • Decca.
    • 7.

  • Samuel Coleridge‐Taylor

    Petite Suite (La Caprice de Nanette)

    Orchestra: The New London Orchestra. Conductor: Ronald Corp.
    • British Light Music Classics, Vol. 4.
    • HYPERION.
    • 17.

  • Lucy Walker

    The St Martin's Service (Nunc dimittis)

    Performer: Stephen Farr. Choir: St Martin’s Voices. Conductor: Andrew Earis.
    • Lucy Walker: Choral Works.
    • Resonus Classics.
    • 6.

  • Joseph Haydn

    Trio in C major, H IV 1, 'London'

    Performer: Jean‐Pierre Rampal. Performer: Wolfgang Schulz. Performer: Gilbert Audin.
    • Haydn: London Trios: Rampal, Schulz, Audin.
    • Sony Classical.
    • 1.

  • Emmanuel Chabrier

    Habanera

    Orchestra: Orchestre national du Capitole de Toulouse. Conductor: Michel Plasson.
    • EMI.

Broadcast

  • Wednesday09:30
    BBC Radio 3