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Bring peace to your day with soothing classical music

Calming classical music to inspire focus and set you up for the day ahead. Presented by broadcaster, author and counselling psychologist Dr Sian Williams.

Calming classical music to help you focus and set you up for the day ahead. Presented by broadcaster, author and counselling psychologist Dr Sian Williams.

Featuring gently unfurling melodies and gorgeous harmonies in music by composers including Vivaldi, Imogen Holst, and Vaughan Williams, and a chance to Find Your Focus for the morning through the music of Poppy Ackroyd. Sian finds a magical soundworld in woodland while out to Take a Breath following a burst of rain, and Professor Catherine Loveday explains why piano music can be particularly calming and help us to concentrate.

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3 hours

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Saturday09:00
BBC Radio 3 Unwind

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Music Played

  • Pyotr Tchaikovsky

    Andante Cantabile from String Quartet No 1 in D major, Op 11

    Conductor: Matthias Bamert. Orchestra: BBC Philharmonic Orchestra.
    • Chandos.

  • Elias Parish Alvars

    Concerto for 2 Harps and Orchestra in D minor, Op 91 (2nd mvt)

    Performer: Emmanuel Ceysson. Performer: Xavier de Maistre. Conductor: Hannu Lintu. Orchestra: Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz.
    • Claves.

  • Antonio Vivaldi

    Concerto for Strings in G minor, RV 152 (2nd mvt)

    Conductor: Pavel Lyubomudrov. Orchestra: Metamorphose String Orchestra.
    • Halidon.

  • Alexander Scriabin

    Prelude in B flat major, Op 11 No 21

    Performer: Julius Asal.
    • DG.

  • Matthew Coleridge

    Requiem Motets (No 3, 'Take Him, Earth, for Cherishing')

    Performer: Maxim Calver. Choir: Choir of Royal Holloway. Conductor: Rupert Gough.
    • Convivium.

  • Poppy Ackroyd

    Weightless

    Performer: Poppy Ackroyd.
    • One Little Independent.

  • Ralph Vaughan Williams

    The Lark Ascending

    Performer: Tasmin Little. Conductor: Sir Andrew Davis. Orchestra: BBC Philharmonic Orchestra.
    • Chandos.

  • Emahoy Tsegué-Maryam Guèbrou

    Ballad of the Spirits

    Performer: Katia Labèque.
    • DG.

  • Imogen Holst

    The Unfortunate Traveller (3rd mvt, 'Interlude')

    Conductor: Douglas Bostock. Orchestra: South-West German Chamber Orchestra Pforzheim.
    • CPO.

  • Sara d’Ippolito Reichert

    Bella di Papa

    Performer: An Tran.
    • Prima.

  • Mel Bonis

    3 Danses, Op 82/2 (No 3, Sarabande)

    Conductor: Rumon Gamba. Orchestra: BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra.
    • Chandos.

  • Franz Liszt

    Schlummerlied von C M von Weber mit Arabesken, S 454

    Performer: Michael Kaykov.
    • Naxos.

  • Edward Elgar

    As torrents in summer

    Choir: The Rodolfus Choir. Conductor: Ralph Allwood.
    • Signum.

  • Johann Sebastian Bach

    Clavierbuchlein, Book III, BWV508 (Bist du bei mir?)

    Conductor: Leonard Slatkin. Orchestra: BBC Symphony Orchestra.
    • Chandos.

  • Patrick Hawes

    After the Rain

    Performer: Patrick Hawes. Ensemble: Duke Quartet.
    • Signum.

  • Frank Bridge

    Three Orchestral Pieces, H 18 (No 2, 'Chants d'esperance')

    Conductor: Richard Hickox. Orchestra: BBC National Orchestra of Wales.
    • Chandos.

  • Lavinia Meijer

    Are You Still Somewhere?

    Performer: Lavinia Meijer.
    • Sony.

  • Johannes Brahms

    Piano Concerto No 1 in D minor, Op 15 (2nd mvt)

    Performer: Emmanuel Despax. Conductor: Miho Kawashima. Orchestra: BBC Symphony Orchestra.
    • Signum.

  • Astor Piazzolla

    5 Pieces (2nd mvt, 'Romantico')

    Performer: Gerald Garcia.
    • Naxos.

  • Luís de Freitas Branco

    Suite Alantejana No 1 (2nd mvt, Intermezzo)

    Conductor: Álvaro Cassuto. Orchestra: National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland.
    • Naxos.

  • Joseph Haydn

    Symphony No 86 in D major, Hob I:86 (2nd mvt, Capriccio)

    Conductor: Ádám Fischer. Orchestra: Danish National Chamber Orchestra.
    • Naxos.

  • Philip Glass

    Dead Things (arr for solo piano)

    Music Arranger: Michael Riesman. Music Arranger: Nico Muhly.
    • Grand Piano.

  • Francis Poulenc

    Petites voix, FP 83 (No 1, 'La petite fille sage')

    Choir: The Gesualdo Six. Conductor: Owain Park.
    • Hyperion.

  • Dora Pejačević

    2 Nocturnes, Op 50 (No 2)

    Performer: Hannah Watson Emmrich.
    • Deux-elles.

  • Samuel Barber

    Adagio for strings

    Conductor: Sir Simon Rattle. Orchestra: Berlin Philharmonic.
    • Warner Classics.

  • Charles Villiers Stanford

    Six Elizabethan Pastorals, Set 1, Op 49 (No 6, 'Phoebe')

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

  • Alexis Ffrench

    Sö

    Performer: Alexis Ffrench.
    • Sony.

  • Robert Schumann

    Six Studies in Canonic Form, Op 56 (No 1)

    Conductor: Paul Mann. Orchestra: BBC Symphony Orchestra.
    • Toccata.

  • Karl Goldmark

    Violin Concerto, Op 28 (2nd mvt, Air)

    Performer: Sueye Park. Conductor: Valentin Egel. Orchestra: Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin.
    • BIS.

  • Vicente Lusitano

    Praeter rerum seriem

    Choir: Marian Consort. Conductor: Rory McCleery.
    • Linn.

  • Florence Price

    Symphony No 4 in D minor (2nd mvt)

    Conductor: Yannick Nézet‐Séguin. Orchestra: Philadelphia Orchestra.
    • DG.

  • Ronald Binge

    Madrugado

    Conductor: Ernest Tomlinson. Orchestra: Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra.
    • Naxos.

Broadcasts

  • Wed 2 Sep 202609:00
    BBC Radio 3 Unwind
  • Saturday09:00
    BBC Radio 3 Unwind