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The best classical morning music

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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10 days left to listen

3 hours, 30 minutes

Last on

Thu 18 Jun 202609:30
BBC Radio 3

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Great classical music for your morning

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Music Played

  • Franz von Suppé

    Light Cavalry (Overture)

    Orchestra: Royal Scottish National Orchestra. Conductor: Neeme Järvi.
    • Suppe: Overtures and marches: Royal Scottish National Orchestra/Jarvi.
    • Chandos.
    • 1.

  • Sergey Rachmaninov

    Prelude in C sharp minor (5 Morceaux de fantaisie Op.3)

    Performer: Cécile Ousset.
    • Decca.

  • Matthew Coleridge

    And there was light

    Performer: Maxim Calver. Orchestra: Strings of Southern Sinfonia. Conductor: Rupert Gough.
    • CONVIVIUM RECORDS.

  • Benjamin Britten

    Jubilate Deo in C major

    Performer: Iain Farrington. Choir: Choir of St John’s College, Cambridge. Conductor: Christopher Robinson.
    • Britten: Rejoice The Lamb, Hymn to St. Cecilia: Choir of St John's College, Camb.
    • Naxos.
    • 10.

  • Pyotr Tchaikovsky

    Symphony No. 6 in B Minor, Op. 74, 'Pathetique': IV. Adagio lamentoso

    Conductor: Domingo Hindoyan. Orchestra: Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra.
    • Tchaikovsky: Souvenir de Florence & Symphony No. 6 ‘Pathetique’.
    • Onyx Classics.
    • 8.

  • Joseph Haydn

    Symphony no.47 in G major H.1.47 (3rd mvt)

    Ensemble: Il Giardino Armonico. Conductor: Giovanni Antonini.
    • Alpha.

  • Emilie Mayer

    Piano Concerto in B flat major (3rd mvt)

    Performer: Ewa Kupiec. Orchestra: Neubrandenburger Philharmonie. Conductor: Sebastian Tewinkel.
    • Capriccio.

  • Philip Wilby

    A Breathless Alleluia

    Performer: Black Dyke Band. Performer: Philip Wilby. Conductor: Nicholas Childs.
    • A Breathless Alleluia.
    • NAXOS.
    • 1.

  • Antonio Vivaldi

    Concerto in A minor 'con due violini obligati', RV 522

    Performer: Rachel Podger. Performer: Johannes Pramsohler. Ensemble: Brecon Baroque.
    • CHANNEL CLASSICS.

  • Arthur Bliss

    Pastoral

    Performer: Michael Collins. Performer: Michael McHale.
    • Michael Collins: British Clarinet Sonata Volume 1.
    • Chandos.
    • 5.

  • Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach

    Symphony in D Major, Wq. 176

    Ensemble: Arte dei Suonatori. Conductor: Marcin Świątkiewicz.
    • C.P.E. Bach: Berlin Symphonies I.
    • BIS.
    • 116.

  • Luise Adolpha Le Beau

    Cello Sonata Op.17 (3rd mvt)

    Performer: Steven Isserlis. Performer: Connie Shih.
    • HYPERION.

  • Giacomo Puccini

    Un bel dì, vedremo (Madame Butterfly)

    Singer: Melody Moore. Orchestra: The Gulbenkian Orchestra. Conductor: Lawrence Foster.
    • Puccini: Madama Butterfly.
    • PENTATONE.
    • 15.

  • Ralph Vaughan Williams

    Symphony no.2 'A London Symphony' (3rd mvt)

    Orchestra: Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor: Andrew Manze.
    • Vaughan Williams: Symphonies, vol.I.
    • ONYX.
    • 3.

  • Franz Liszt

    Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2 in C Sharp Minor

    Performer: Lang Lang. Music Arranger: Vladimir Horowitz.
    • Memory.
    • Deutsche Grammophon (DG).
    • 1.

  • Adolphe Adam

    Giselle, Act 2: No. 10c, Danse des Wilis (Arr. Büsser)

    Music Arranger: Henri Büsser. Orchestra: Philharmonia Orchestra. Conductor: Robert Irving.
    • Adam: Giselle (Arr. Büsser).
    • Warner Classics.
    • 14.

  • Johann Sebastian Bach

    J.S. Bach: The Art of Fugue, BWV 1080: Contrapunctus XIII

    Performer: Angela Hewitt.
    • Bach: The Art of Fugue, BWV 1080.
    • Hyperion.
    • 4.

  • John Tavener

    The Lamb

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

  • Heinrich Ignaz Franz von Biber

    Sonata a 6 for trumpet, violins, violas and bc

    Ensemble: The English Concert. Director: Andrew Manze.
    • Harmonia Mundi.

  • John Williams

    Jurassic Park (main theme)

    Orchestra: Studio Orchestra. Conductor: John Williams.
    • MCA Records.

  • Franz Schubert

    Des Baches Wiegenlied (Die schöne Müllerin)

    Singer: Roderick Williams. Ensemble: Carducci String Quartet.
    • Schubert: Die schöne Müllerin, Op. 25, D. 795 (Arr. for voice & string quartet b.
    • Signum Records.
    • 20.

  • Antonín Dvořák

    Serenade for Strings (5th mvt - finale)

    Orchestra: New Amsterdam Sinfonietta. Director: Candida Thompson.
    • CHANNEL CLASSICS.

  • Gabriel Fauré

    Apres un reve

    Music Arranger: Pau Casals. Performer: Sheku Kanneh‐Mason. Performer: Isata Kanneh‐Mason.
    • Decca.

  • Samuel Barber

    Knoxville: Summer of 1915

    Singer: Sylvia McNair. Orchestra: Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Yoel Levi.
    • Music of Samuel Barber.
    • Telarc.
    • 2.

  • Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

    Concerto no. 5 in D major K.175 for piano and orchestra - 3rd Mov

    Performer: Jean‐Efflam Bavouzet. Ensemble: Manchester Camerata. Conductor: Gábor Takács‐Nagy.
    • Mozart Piano Concertos Vol.5.
    • Chandos.

  • Ivo Antognini

    Come to me for chorus

    Choir: The Choir Of Trinity College, Cambridge. Singer: Helena Paish. Conductor: Stephen Layton.
    • HYPERION.

  • Matthew Locke

    The Flat Consort, Suite No 5 in A Minor

    Ensemble: Fretwork.
    • Matthew Locke: The Flat Consort.
    • Signum Classics.
    • 701.

  • Samuel Coleridge‐Taylor

    Nonet in F minor Op.2 (3rd mvt)

    Ensemble: Kaleidoscope Chamber Collective.
    • Samuel Coleridge-Taylor: Nonet, Piano Trio, Piano Quintet.
    • Chandos.
    • 3.

  • Joaquín Rodrigo

    Canario (Fantasía para un gentilhombre)

    Performer: Miloš Karadaglić. Orchestra: London Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor: Yannick Nézet‐Séguin.
    • Milos Karadaglic - Aranjuez.
    • Deutsche Grammophon.
    • 10.

Broadcast

  • Thu 18 Jun 202609:30
    BBC Radio 3