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Classical music for focus or relaxation

Half an hour of back-to-back classical music, including works by Hamilton Harty, Steve Reich, Henry Purcell and Pauline Hall.

Unwind at the end of a busy day with half an hour of back-to-back classical music, beginning with a nod towards the recently wintry weather from the "Cold Genius" in Purcell's "King Arthur". Sink into the lush harmonic world of Francis Poulenc with a section from his setting of "Stabat Mater", and Pauline Hall's impressionistic response to poetry by Verlaine. Hamilton Harty's orchestration of a popular traditional Irish melody will have you humming the familiar tune, and then take to the air with the flight scene from the film "The English Patient". Steve Reich's duet for two violins provides some fresh air, and the sequence draws to a sublimely beautiful close with a piano quartet by Robert Schumann.

Producer: Helen Garrison

30 minutes

Last on

Wed 25 Feb 202619:00
BBC Radio 3

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Music Played

  • Henry Purcell

    What pow'r art thou (King Arthur)

    Singer: Stephen Varcoe. Orchestra: English Baroque Soloists. Conductor: Sir John Eliot Gardiner.
    • Purcell - King Arthur.
    • ERATO.
    • 18.

  • Francis Poulenc

    Stabat Mater, FP 148: III. O quam tristis (Live)

    Lyricist: Jacopone da Todi. Conductor: Mariss Jansons. Orchestra: Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra. Choir: Bavarian Radio Symphony Choir.
    • Pärt, Poulenc & Stravinsky: Works for Choir & Orchestra (Live).
    • BR-Klassik.
    • 203.

  • Pauline Hall

    Ariettes oubliées (Verlaine Suite)

    Orchestra: Norwegian Radio Orchestra. Conductor: Christian Eggen.
    • Norway in Music: Pauline Hall.
    • Simax.
    • 003.

  • Trad.

    The Londonderry Air

    Orchestrator: Sir Hamilton Harty. Orchestra: Ulster Orchestra. Conductor: Bryden Thomson.
    • Harty: The Children of Lir etc. - Holmes/Harper/Ulster Orchestra/Thomson.
    • Chandos.

  • Gabriel Yared

    The English Patient (music for the film); Rupert Bear

    Orchestra: Academy of St Martin in the Fields. Conductor: Harry Rabinowitz.
    • Fantasy.

  • Steve Reich

    Duet

    Performer: Daniel Hope. Performer: Simos Papanas. Orchestra: Kammerorchester Basel.
    • My Tribute to Yehudi Menuhin.
    • DG.
    • 5.

  • Robert Schumann

    Piano Quartet in E flat, Op.47 (3rd mvt)

    Performer: Isabelle Faust. Performer: Antoine Tamestit. Performer: Jean‐Guihen Queyras. Performer: Alexander Melnikov.
    • Schumann: Piano Quartet - Piano Quintet.
    • harmonia mundi.
    • 3.

Broadcast

  • Wed 25 Feb 202619:00
    BBC Radio 3

Music to help you focus

Music to help you focus

Discover the best classical music for study, inspiration and relaxation.