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A classical music playlist to let the day go

Niall Breslin brings you calming classical music to help you release the stresses of the day, recharge and prepare to rest.

Three hours of calming classical music to help you release the stresses of the day, recharge and prepare to rest - presented by Irish musician and mindfulness expert Niall Breslin.

The programme also draws on a curated playlist designed to encourage small, positive actions in support of mental health. Alexis Ffrench’s Story of You offers gentle emotional reassurance, Ellen Reid’s Big Majestic creates a spacious, grounding sound world that supports calm breathing, and a harp arrangement of Dolores O’Riordan’s Dreaming My Dreams brings an intimate, tender stillness. Niall Breslin invites listeners to press pause, guiding them through simple ways to use the body to navigate stress and restore a sense of mental calm and positivity.

Also, Caroline Steel brings some wind down wisdom on how changing the lighting in a room can have a restorative impact on your mood.

To listen on most smart speakers, just ask BBC Sounds to play Classical Wind Down.

26 days left to listen

3 hours

Last on

Monday17:00
BBC Radio 3 Unwind

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Welcome the evening with a calming classical playlist

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Music Played

  • George Frideric Handel

    Suite in B-Flat Major, HWV 434: IV. Menuet

    Music Arranger: Wilhelm Kempff.
    • Motherland.
    • Sony Classical.
    • 16.

  • Anna Lapwood

    An Irish Blessing

    Performer: Sophia Membery. Lyricist: Trad.. Director: Anna Lapwood. Choir: Pembroke College Chapel Choir.
    • Arise, Shine.
    • Sony Classical.
    • 14.

  • Gabriel Fauré

    Pavane, Op. 50 (Arr. for Saxophone, Cello & Harp by Anonymous)

    Performer: Huw Wiggin. Performer: Oliver Wass. Music Arranger: Anonymous.
    • Luminous Threads.
    • Blue Cloud Music.
    • 102.

  • Trad.

    Unst Boat Song

    Music Arranger: Danish String Quartet. Ensemble: Danish String Quartet.
    • Last Leaf.
    • ECM New Series.

  • Charles Villiers Stanford

    Clarinet Concerto in A Minor, Op. 80: II. Adante con moto, ma più tranquillo

    Conductor: David Lloyd‐Jones. Orchestra: Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra.
    • Stanford, C.V.: Symphonies, Vol. 4 (No. 1, Clarinet Concerto).
    • Naxos.
    • 2.

  • Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

    Violin Sonata in Bb, K. 454

    Performer: Hana Chang. Performer: Elisabeth Brauss.

  • Daniela Mars

    Halyna's Theme - By the Water

    • Records from Mars.

  • Claude Debussy

    2 Arabesques: No. 1, Andantino con moto (Arr. for Harp)

    Music Arranger: Anonymous.
    • Classical Harp.
    • Naxos Special Projects.
    • 1901.

  • Alexis Ffrench

    Story of You

    • Dreamland (Deluxe Edition).
    • Sony Classical.
    • 6.

  • William Lloyd Webber

    Serenade for Strings

    Orchestra: City of London Sinfonia. Conductor: Richard Hickox.
    • Lloyd Webber: Invocation.
    • Chandos.
    • 1.

  • John Dowland

    Flow my tears

    Performer: David Orlowsky. Performer: David Bergmüller. Music Arranger: David Orlowsky. Music Arranger: David Bergmüller.
    • Alter Ego.
    • Warner Classics.
    • 5.

  • Christopher Tin

    I Shall Not See the Shadows

    Lyricist: Christina Rossetti. Lyricist: Emily Dickinson. Conductor: Christopher Tin. Conductor: Barnaby Smith. Orchestra: Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.
    • The Lost Birds.
    • Universal Music Classics.
    • 10.

  • Angela Morley

    Reverie

    Performer: Esther Abrami. Ensemble: Her Ensemble.
    • Rêverie.
    • Sony.
    • 1.

  • Max Richter

    On the Nature of Daylight

    • The Blue Notebooks (15 Years).
    • Deutsche Grammophon (DG).
    • 13.

  • Poppy Ackroyd

    Shimmer

    • Continuum.
    • One Little Independent Records.
    • 2.

  • Sufjan Stevens

    Reflexion

    • Reflections.
    • Asthmatic Kitty.
    • 6.

  • Ottorino Respighi

    The Birds

    Orchestra: BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Andrew Manze.

  • Henry Purcell

    Rondeau Variation (After Abdelazer, Z.570, No. 2: Rondeau)

    Composer: Jan-Peter Klöpfel.
    • Rondeau Variation (After Abdelazer, Z.570, No. 2: Rondeau).
    • Masterworks/Sony Music.
    • 1.

  • Lyudmyla Shukaylo

    Romance

    Performer: Oleg Shebeta-Dragan. Performer: Dominic Degavino.

  • Felix Rösch

    Interlude II

    • Piano.
    • Nettwerk Music Group.
    • 5.

  • Dolores O’Riordan

    Dreaming My Dreams

    • Decca Records US.

  • Edward Elgar

    Sospiri, Op.70

    Orchestra: BBC Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Sir Andrew Davis.
    • Elgar: The Music Makers: Short Pieces: BBC Symphony Orchestra / Davis.
    • Teldec.
    • 6.

  • Jung Jae-il

    10.1

    • Universal Music Ltd..

  • Alexander Borodin

    Piano Trio (2nd mvt)

    Ensemble: Brahms Trio.
    • History of the Russian Piano Trio, Vol. 3.
    • Naxos.
    • 302.

  • Ellen Reid

    Big Majestic

    • New Amsterdam Records.

  • Eric Whitacre

    The Seal Lullaby (Arr. Parkin for Instrumental Ensemble)

    • The Kanneh-Masons.
    • Universal Music Australia Pty. Ltd..
    • 21.

  • James Edward Perkins

    A Distant Sun

    • Bigo and Twigetti.

  • Joseph Bologne

    Concerto for Violin and Orchestra in A, Op. 7 No. 1 - Adagio

    • Forlane.

  • JB Dunckel

    Yokai

    • Warner Classics.

  • Johann Wenzel Kalliwoda

    6 Nocturnes, Op. 186: No. 5, Adagio con molta espressione

    • Naxos.

  • Ludovico Einaudi

    Full Moon

    Music Arranger: Michael Lewin.
    • The Moon & The Forest.
    • Decca Music Group Ltd..
    • 8.

  • Glowworm

    Agape

    • Hammock Music.

  • August de Boeck

    Nocturne

    • Phaedra.

Broadcast

  • Monday17:00
    BBC Radio 3 Unwind