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A feast of great 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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4 days left to listen

3 hours, 30 minutes

Last on

Fri 6 Mar 202609:30
BBC Radio 3

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Music Played

  • Ottorino Respighi

    Prelude (The Birds)

    Orchestra: Orpheus Chamber Orchestra.
    • Respighi: Ancient Airs and Dances: Orpheus Chamber Orchestra.
    • Deutsche Grammophon.
    • 1.

  • William Walton

    Sinfonia Concertante (3rd mvt)

    Performer: Kathryn Stott. Orchestra: Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor: Vernon Handley.
    • RCA.

  • Tomás Luis de Victoria

    O vos omnes

    Choir: Westminster Cathedral Choir. Conductor: David Hill.
    • HYPERION.

  • Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

    String Quintet in C major K.515 (4th mvt)

    Performer: Quatuor Ébène. Ensemble: Antoine Tamestit.
    • Mozart: String Quintets K. 515 & 516.
    • ERATO.
    • 4.

  • Camille Saint‐Saëns

    Havanaise Op.83

    Performer: Sarah Chang. Orchestra: The Philadelphia Orchestra. Conductor: Wolfgang Sawallisch.
    • EMI.

  • William Bolcom

    The Garden of Eden: II. The Eternal Feminine

    Performer: Marc‐André Hamelin.
    • Bolcom: The Complete Rags.
    • Hyperion.

  • Dora Pejačević

    Symphony in F sharp minor Op.41 (3rd mvt)

    Orchestra: BBC Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Sakari Oramo.
    • Chandos.

  • Felix Mendelssohn

    Symphony No 2 'Lobgesang': V. Ich harrete des Herrn

    Singer: Jone Martínez. Singer: Eri Sawae. Ensemble: Bach Collegium Japan. Conductor: Masaaki Suzuki.
    • Mendelssohn: Symphony No. 2, Op. 52, "Lobgesang".
    • BIS.
    • 107.

  • Johann Sebastian Bach

    Partita No 1 in B flat major for keyboard, BWV 825: Gigue

    Performer: Igor Levit.
    • Igor Levit: Bach - Partitas.
    • Sony Classical.
    • 6.

  • Franz Schubert

    Symphony no.5 in B flat major, D.485 (4th mvt)

    Orchestra: North German Radio Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Günter Wand.
    • Gunter Wand: The last recording - the last interview.
    • RCA Red Seal.
    • 04.

  • Anonymous

    Like as the Lark within the Merlion's Foot

    Performer: Pierre Gallon.
    • After Dark: A Midnight Fantasia.
    • harmonia mundi.
    • 101.

  • Sergey Prokofiev

    Symphony No 5 (2nd mvt)

    Orchestra: Berliner Philharmoniker. Conductor: Herbert von Karajan.
    • Prokofiev: Symphony No. 5 in B-Flat Major, Op. 100 / Stravinsky: The Rite of Spr.
    • Deutsche Grammophon (DG).
    • 2.

  • Joseph Haydn

    Keyboard Concerto in F major, H XVIII 3 (3rd mvt)

    Performer: Jean‐Efflam Bavouzet. Orchestra: Manchester Camerata. Conductor: Gábor Takács‐Nagy.
    • Haydn: Piano Concertos.
    • Chandos.
    • 3.

  • Wilhelm Fitzenhagen

    Perpetuum mobile

    Performer: Leonid Gorokhov. Performer: Colin Stone.
    • OLYMPIA.

  • Ralph Vaughan Williams

    5 Variants of 'Dives and Lazarus'

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

  • Leokadiya Kashperova

    Symphony in B Minor (2nd mvt)

    Orchestra: Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin. Conductor: Anna Skryleva.
    • Kashperova: Piano Concerto in A Minor, Op. 2 & Symphony in B Minor, Op. 4.
    • CapriccioNR.
    • 105.

  • Oliphant Chuckerbutty

    Paean

    Performer: James Culp.
    • Organ Music by Ketèlby, Callahan, Culp, Campra, Mcamis, Dubois, Rowley, Sowerby,.
    • GUILD.
    • 11.

  • Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

    La Finta giardiniera (Overture)

    Orchestra: Concentus Musicus Wien.
    • Mozart : Overtures - Elatus.
    • Warner Classics International.
    • 12.

  • Scott Joplin

    Fig Leaf Rag

    Performer: Joshua Rifkin.
    • Nonesuch.

  • Franz Liszt

    A Faust Symphony (conclusion)

    Lyricist: Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. Singer: Kenneth Riegel. Choir: Tanglewood Festival Chorus. Orchestra: Boston Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Leonard Bernstein.
    • Liszt: A Faust Symphony, S.108.
    • DG.

  • Antonio Vivaldi

    Concerto in C major RV 537 for 2 trumpets (1st mvt)

    Performer: Håkan Hardenberger. Performer: Reinhold Friedrich. Orchestra: I Musici.
    • Philips.

  • William Grant Still

    Mother and Child (Suite for violin and piano)

    Performer: Sterling Elliott. Performer: Gabriele Strata.

  • Franz Schubert

    Gott ist mein Hirt D.706

    Choir: Norwegian Soloists' Choir. Performer: Ingrid Andsnes. Conductor: Grete Pedersen.
    • BIS.

  • Igor Stravinsky

    Symphony in E flat, Op 1 (2nd mvt)

    Orchestra: Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor: Dmitri Kitayenko.
    • Stravinsky: Symphony in E-Flat Major and Suites Nos. 1 & 2.
    • Oehms Classics.
    • 102.

  • Giuseppe Verdi

    Aïda, Act 1: "Se quel guerrier io fossi... Celeste Aida"

    Singer: Jonas Kaufmann. Orchestra: Orchestra of the Academy of Santa Cecilia. Conductor: Sir Antonio Pappano.
    • Verdi: Aida.
    • Warner Classics.
    • 3.

  • Ludwig van Beethoven

    Symphony No 4 in B flat major

    Orchestra: Gewandhaus Orchestra. Conductor: Riccardo Chailly.
    • DECCA.

  • Frédéric Chopin

    Nocturne in D flat Op.27 No.2

    Performer: Dinu Lipatti.
    • PHILIPS.

  • Élisabeth Jacquet de La Guerre

    Violin Sonata No. 1 in D Minor: V. Aria

    Performer: Emmanuel Resche. Performer: Myriam Rignol. Performer: Thomas Dunford. Performer: William Christie.
    • HARMONIA MUNDI.

  • Richard Strauss

    Freundliche Vision (5 Lieder, Op 48)

    Performer: Seong‐Jin Cho. Lyricist: Otto Julius Bierbaum. Singer: Matthias Goerne.
    • Im Abendrot: Songs by Wagner, Pfitzner, Strauss.
    • Deutsche Grammophon (DG).
    • 17.

  • Sergei Rachmaninov

    Piano Concerto No 2 in C Minor (3rd mvt)

    Performer: Vladimir Ashkenazy. Orchestra: London Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: André Previn.
    • Rachmaninov: Piano Concertos Nos. 1-4; Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini.
    • DECCA.

Broadcast

  • Fri 6 Mar 202609:30
    BBC Radio 3