Main content
This episode will be available soon

A feast of great music

Georgia Mann plays the best classical music for your morning, 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.

To listen on most smart speakers, say "Ask BBC Sounds to play Essential Classics”.

3 hours, 30 minutes

Last on

Today09:30
BBC Radio 3

More episodes

Previous

Celebrating classical greats

Next

Your perfect classical playlist

See all episodes from Essential Classics

Music Played

  • Aram Khachaturian

    Lezghinka (Gayaneh)

    Orchestra: Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Kirill Karabits.
    • ONYX.

  • Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

    Piano Sonata in C Major, K. 545 (2nd mvt)

    Performer: Mitsuko Uchida.
    • Mozart: Piano Sonatas Nos. 15 & 16; Rondo in A minor.
    • PHILIPS.
    • 2.

  • Antonio Vivaldi

    Concerto in C major for 2 oboes, 2 violins, bassoon & orchestra, RV 557

    Orchestra: Les Musiciens du Prince‐Monaco. Conductor: Gianluca Capuano.
    • NAIVE.

  • Jonathan Dove

    Seek Him that maketh the Seven Stars

    Performer: Jeremy Filsell. Choir: Tenebrae. Conductor: Nigel Short.
    • SIGNUM.

  • Dmitri Kabalevsky

    Colas Breugnon Op.24 (Overture)

    Orchestra: Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra. Director: Vasily Petrenko.
    • Khachaturian, Mussorgsky, Shchedrin etc..
    • Onyx.
    • 01.

  • Florence Price

    Tip-Toe to the Cookie Jar (At Our House, No 3)

    Performer: Kirsten Johnson.
    • Guild.

  • Gabriel Fauré

    Le papillon et la fleur

    Music Arranger: Matthew Knight. Ensemble: Septura.
    • Music for Brass Septet, Vol. 5.
    • Naxos.
    • 501.

  • Franz Schubert

    Nachtviolen (Dame's Violets), D.752

    Performer: Roger Vignoles. Singer: Elizabeth Watts.
    • RCA.

  • Gustav Mahler

    Symphony No. 6 in A Minor: II. Andante Moderato

    Orchestra: Berlin Philharmonic. Conductor: Kirill Petrenko.
    • Mahler: Symphonien 1–10.
    • Berliner Philharmoniker Recordings.
    • 2.

  • John Ireland

    A Downland Suite (3rd mvt, Minuet)

    Orchestra: City of London Sinfonia. Conductor: Richard Hickox.
    • Chandos.

  • Christopher Churcher

    Wonder

    Choir: Somerville College Choir, Oxford. Conductor: Will Dawes.
    • Churcher: Moonrise.
    • Resonus Classics.
    • 1.

  • Jessie Montgomery

    Starburst

    Music Arranger: Jannina Norpoth. Orchestra: The Knights.
    • FLIGHT: Migration Music Part 2.
    • Rising Sun Records.
    • 4.

  • Jean Sibelius

    Valse triste, Op 44

    Orchestra: Boston Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Colin Davis.
    • Colin Davis: The Boston Legacy.
    • DECCA ELOQUENCE.

  • Johann Hermann Schein

    Allemande in D minor (Banchetto musicale No 2)

    Ensemble: Hespèrion XXI. Director: Jordi Savall.
    • EMI.

  • Johann Strauss II

    Die Fledermaus (Overture)

    Orchestra: Bavarian State Orchestra. Conductor: Carlos Kleiber.
    • Deutsche Grammophon.

  • Johannes Brahms

    String Quartet in C minor, Op 51 No 1 (2nd mvt)

    Ensemble: Leonkoro Quartet.

  • Johann Pachelbel

    Fugue in C major

    Performer: Matilda Lloyd. Performer: Richard Gowers.
    • CHANDOS.

  • Richard Strauss

    Whipped Cream Suite: Dance of the Little Pralines

    Orchestra: Orchestre de la Suisse Romande. Conductor: Jonathan Nott.
    • Strauss, Debussy & Ligeti.
    • PENTATONE.
    • 6.

  • Leslie Bricusse

    Pure Imagination (From "Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory" Soundtrack)

    Composer: Anthony Newley. Conductor: Walter Scharf.
    • Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory (Music From The Original Soundtrack Of The P.
    • Geffen.
    • 7.

  • Vincent Youmans

    Tea for two

    Performer: Lise de la Salle. Music Arranger: Art Tatum.
    • When Do We Dance?.
    • Naive.

  • Francis Poulenc

    Les Biches - suite (Rondeau)

    Orchestra: National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland. Conductor: Jean-Luc Tingaud.
    • Poulenc: Les biches Suite, Les animaux modèles Suite & Sinfonietta.
    • Naxos.
    • 101.

  • Fanny Mendelssohn

    May 'Spring Song' (from Das Jahr)

    Performer: Claire Huangci.
    • Alpha Classics.

  • Giacomo Puccini

    Vogliatemi bene (Madama Butterfly)

    Singer: Mirella Freni. Singer: Luciano Pavarotti. Orchestra: Vienna Philharmonic. Conductor: Herbert von Karajan.
    • DECCA.

  • Pablo de Sarasate

    Navarra, Op.33

    Performer: David Oistrakh. Performer: Igor Oistrakh. Orchestra: Gewandhausorchester Leipzig. Conductor: Franz Konwitschny.
    • DG.

  • Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

    Concerto in C major for flute and harp K.299 (2nd mvt)

    Performer: Emmanuel Pahud. Performer: Marie‐Pierre Langlamet. Orchestra: Berlin Philharmonic. Conductor: Claudio Abbado.
    • Mozart Flute Concertos Concerto For Flute And Harp.
    • EMI Classics.

  • Felix Mendelssohn

    Symphony No 2 "Lobgesang" - Sinfonia (part of)

    Orchestra: Bach Collegium Japan. Conductor: Masaaki Suzuki.
    • Mendelssohn: Symphony No. 2, Op. 52, "Lobgesang".
    • BIS.
    • 101.

  • Percy Grainger

    Molly on the Shore

    Performer: Marc‐André Hamelin.
    • Grainger: Piano Music - Country Gardens, Shepherd's Hey; Cake-Walk Smasher etc..
    • Hyperion.

  • Nico Muhly

    This Other Spring

    Performer: Drew Sellis. Choir: The Choir of Magdalen College, Oxford. Conductor: Mark Williams.
    • Muhly: This Other Spring.
    • CORO.
    • 1.

  • Marianna Martines

    Overture [Symphony] in C major (1st mvt)

    Ensemble: La Floridiana. Director: Nicoleta Paraschivescu.
    • DEUTSCHE HARMONIA MUNDI.

  • Johann Sebastian Bach

    Ertöt uns durch dein Güte (Cantata No 22)

    Choir: Collegium Vocale Gent. Conductor: Philippe Herreweghe.
    • HARMONIA MUNDI.

  • Antonín Dvořák

    Symphony no.9 in E minor 'From the New World' (4th mvt)

    Orchestra: Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Andris Nelsons.
    • BR Klassik.

Broadcast

  • Today09:30
    BBC Radio 3