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Great classical music for your morning

Georgia Mann plays the best in classical music, 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 an orchestral masterpiece.

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18 days left to listen

3 hours, 30 minutes

Last on

Tue 19 May 202609:30
BBC Radio 3

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Music Played

  • Gioachino Rossini

    The Barber of Seville (Overture)

    Orchestra: Academy of St Martin in the Fields. Conductor: Neville Marriner.
    • Rossini: Overtures: Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, Marriner.
    • Philips.

  • Tomás Luis de Victoria

    O magnum mysterium

    Choir: The Cambridge Singers. Conductor: John Rutter.
    • Candlelight: Seasonal Reflections & Celebrations.
    • Collegium.
    • 2.

  • Ralph Vaughan Williams

    Norfolk Rhapsody No.1

    Orchestra: Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra. Performer: Stuart Green. Conductor: Paul Daniel.
    • Vaughan Williams: Symphony No.4: Bournemouth Symphony Orch/Daniel.
    • Naxos.
    • 5.

  • Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

    Piano Concerto no.23 in A major K.488 (3rd mvt)

    Performer: Mitsuko Uchida. Orchestra: English Chamber Orchestra. Conductor: Jeffrey Tate.
    • Mozart - The great piano concertos Vol.1.
    • Philips.
    • 2.

  • Philip Glass

    Akhnaten (Hymn to the Sun)

    Singer: Paul Esswood. Ensemble: Chor der Staatsoper Stuttgart. Orchestra: Orchestra of the Stuttgart State Opera. Conductor: Dennis Russell Davies.
    • Sony.

  • Domenico Scarlatti

    Sonata in G major, Kk.455

    Performer: Yuja Wang.
    • DG.

  • Igor Stravinsky

    Scherzo Fantastique, Op.3

    Orchestra: The Cleveland Orchestra. Conductor: Pierre Boulez.
    • DG.

  • Claude Debussy

    Jeux de vagues (La Mer)

    Orchestra: The Cleveland Orchestra. Conductor: Pierre Boulez.
    • Debussy: Nocturnes/La Mer/Jeux: Boulez.
    • Deutsche Grammophon.
    • 7.

  • Heinrich Ignaz Franz von Biber

    Partia VII in C Minor: Arietta variata

    Performer: Mónica Waisman. Ensemble: Harmonie Universelle. Director: Florian Deuter.
    • Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber: Harmonia artificioso-ariosa.
    • Accent.
    • 214.

  • Edvard Grieg

    4 Symphonic dances Op.64 (no.1)

    Orchestra: Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra. Orchestra: Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor: Edward Gardner. Conductor: Edward Gardner.
    • Grieg: Symphonic Dances.
    • Chandos.
    • 1.

  • Madeleine Dring

    Trio for flute, oboe and piano

    Performer: Nancy Ruffer. Performer: John Anderson. Performer: Helen Crayford.
    • Dutton.

  • Ludwig van Beethoven

    Symphony No 2 in D major, Op 36 (4th mvt)

    Orchestra: Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique. Conductor: Sir John Eliot Gardiner.
    • Beethoven: The Symphonies, John Eliot Gardiner.
    • Archiv Produktion.
    • 8.

  • Antonio Vivaldi

    Concerto in G minor, RV 156

    Performer: Midori Seiler. Orchestra: Academy for Ancient Music Berlin.
    • Vivaldi: Double Concertos: Academie fur Alte Musik Berlin.
    • Harmonia Mundi.

  • James MacMillan

    O Radiant Dawn

    Choir: The Sixteen. Conductor: Harry Christophers.
    • CORO.

  • Jean‐Baptiste Lully

    Phaëton (Overture)

    Ensemble: Les Talens Lyriques. Conductor: Christophe Rousset.
    • Phaeton - Lully.
    • APARTE.
    • 1.

  • Nicola Fago

    Alla gente a Dio diletta (Il Faraone Sommerso)

    Singer: Jakub Józef Orliński. Ensemble: Il Pomo d’Oro. Conductor: Maxim Emelyanychev.
    • Erato.

  • Frédéric Chopin

    Polonaise in A flat major Op.53 'Eroica'

    Performer: Martha Argerich.
    • Chopin: 26 Preludes Scherzo NR. 2 - Martha Argerich.
    • Deutsche Grammaphon.
    • 28.

  • Johannes Brahms

    Piano Quartet no.1 in G minor, Op.25 - 4th movt Rondo alla Zingarese

    Ensemble: Kaleidoscope Chamber Collective.
    • Brahms & Contemporaries, Vol. 3.
    • Chandos Records Ltd.
    • 8.

  • Francesco Geminiani

    Concerto Grosso no.11 in E major after Corelli

    Ensemble: Academy of Ancient Music. Conductor: Andrew Manze.
    • Geminiani: Concerti Grossi: Academy of Ancient Music.
    • Harmonia Mundi.
    • 18.

  • Franz Schubert

    Octet in F major, D.803 (3rd mvt)

    Performer: Emma Johnson. Performer: Chris West. Performer: Philip Gibbon. Performer: Michael Thompson. Ensemble: Carducci String Quartet.
    • Somm.

  • Pyotr Tchaikovsky

    Concert Fantasia in G major, Op 56

    Performer: Sir Stephen Hough. Orchestra: Minnesota Orchestra. Conductor: Osmo Vänskä.
    • Tchaikovsky; The Three Piano Concertos, Concert Fantasia.
    • Hyperion.
    • 4.

  • Henry Purcell

    Sound the trumpet (Come ye sons of art)

    Singer: Andreas Scholl. Singer: Christophe Dumaux. Orchestra: Accademia Bizantina. Conductor: Stefano Montanari.
    • Henry Purcell, O Solitude: Andreas Scholl/Accademia Bizantina.
    • Decca.
    • 2.

  • Dora Pejačević

    Symphony in F sharp minor, Op 41 (4th mvt, Allegro appassionato)

    Orchestra: German State Philharmonic of Rhineland-Pfalz. Conductor: Ari Rasilainen.
    • Dora Pejacevic Symphony.
    • CPO.
    • 004.

  • Johann Sebastian Bach

    Cello Suite No 2 in D minor, BWV 1008 (Courante)

    Performer: Yo‐Yo Ma.
    • J. S. Bach, The Cello Suites: Yo-Yo Ma.
    • Sony Classical.
    • 9.

  • Leonard Bernstein

    Prelude, Fugue and Riffs for clarinet and jazz orchestra

    Performer: Michael Collins. Performer: Peter Donohoe. Orchestra: London Sinfonietta. Conductor: Sir Simon Rattle.
    • The Jazz Album: London Sinfonietta/Rattle.
    • EMI.
    • 5.

Broadcast

  • Tue 19 May 202609:30
    BBC Radio 3