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The very best of classical 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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9 days left to listen

3 hours, 30 minutes

Last on

Wed 10 Jun 202609:30
BBC Radio 3

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Music Played

  • Marc‐Antoine Charpentier

    Te Deum H.146 (Prelude)

    Ensemble: Les Arts Florissants. Conductor: William Christie.
    • ERATO.

  • Engelbert Humperdinck

    Dornröschen Tone-Pictures (Prelude)

    Orchestra: Bamberg Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Karl Anton Rickenbacher.
    • Humperdinck: Fairy-tale music: Bamberger Symphoniker/Rickenbacher.
    • Virgin Classics.
    • 7.

  • Amy Woodforde-Finden

    Kashmiri Song (4 Indian Love Lyrics)

    Music Arranger: Sir Stephen Hough. Performer: Sir Stephen Hough.
    • Hough - 'My Favourite Things': Virtuoso Encores and Transcriptions.
    • Nimbus Records.
    • 12.

  • George Frideric Handel

    Concerto grosso in F major Op.3 No.4

    Ensemble: Academy for Ancient Music Berlin. Director: Georg Kallweit.
    • Handel: Concerti grossi, Op. 3.
    • PENTATONE.
    • 401.

  • Frédéric Chopin

    Polonaise in A major, Op 40 No 1 (Military)

    Performer: Louis Lortie.
    • Chandos.

  • Nainita Desai

    My Mind is Still

    Performer: Thomas Gould. Performer: Elsa Bradley. Performer: Leif Kaner‐Lidström. Ensemble: VOCES8.
    • Infinity.
    • Decca.

  • Johan Svendsen

    Carnival in Paris Op.9

    Orchestra: Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor: Neeme Järvi.
    • CHANDOS.

  • Germaine Tailleferre

    Piano Trio: 2nd mvt, Allegro vivace

    Ensemble: Trio Karénine.
    • Fauré, Ravel & Tailleferre.
    • Mirare.
    • 9.

  • Leonard Bernstein

    Candide (Overture)

    Orchestra: São Paulo Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Marin Alsop.
    • Bernstein: Anniversaries, Fancy Free Suite, Overture to Candide & Overture to Wo.
    • Naxos.
    • 101.

  • Francis Poulenc

    Petites voix

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

  • Joseph Haydn

    Symphony No.92 in G major 'Oxford' (3rd mvt)

    Orchestra: Freiburg Baroque Orchestra. Conductor: René Jacobs.
    • Haydn - Symphonies Nos. 91 & 92: Rene Jacobs.
    • Harmonia Mundi.
    • 8.

  • William Byrd

    Gypsies' round MB.28.80 for keyboard

    Ensemble: The Harp Consort. Director: Andrew Lawrence‐King.
    • Spanish Gypsies.
    • Deutsche Harmonia Mundi.
    • 23.

  • John Tavener

    Song for Athene

    Choir: Gabrieli Consort. Conductor: Paul McCreesh.
    • DG.

  • Karol Szymanowski

    Concert Overture, Op 12

    Orchestra: BBC Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Edward Gardner.
    • Chandos.

  • Barrington Pheloung

    Inspector Morse Theme

    Orchestra: Orchestra. Conductor: Barrington Pheloung.
    • The Essential Inspector Morse Collection Original Soundtrack.
    • Virgin Catalogue.
    • 1.

  • Trad.

    All things are quite silent

    Music Arranger: Kerry Andrew. Choir: Chapel Choir of Pembroke College, Cambridge. Choir: Pembroke College Girls' Choir. Conductor: Anna Lapwood.
    • All Things Are Quite Silent.
    • Signum Records.
    • 1.

  • Ron Grainer

    Doctor Who (Original Theme)

    Performer: Delia Derbyshire. Music Arranger: Delia Derbyshire.
    • SILVER SCREEN.

  • Antonín Dvořák

    Symphony No 6 in D major, Op 60 (2nd mvt)

    Orchestra: Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Marin Alsop.
    • Naxos.

  • Aaron Copland

    Fanfare for the Common Man

    Orchestra: San Francisco Symphony. Conductor: Michael Tilson Thomas.
    • The Copland Collection.
    • Sony Classical.
    • 1.

  • David Arnold

    Good Omens 3 OST - Revelation

    Ensemble: Studio Orchestra. Conductor: Ben Foster.
    • Good Omens 3 (Prime Original Series Soundtrack).
    • Silva Screen Records.
    • 13.

  • 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.

  • Ludwig van Beethoven

    Bagatelle in A Minor, WoO 59 ʻFür Eliseʼ

    Performer: Paul Lewis.
    • Beethoven: Fur Elise, Bagatelles Opp. 33, 119 & 126.
    • harmonia mundi.
    • 25.

  • Johann Sebastian Bach

    Cantata BWV147 'Herz und Mund und Tat und Leben'

    Choir: Gächinger Kantorei Stuttgart. Conductor: Hans-Christoph Rademann. Singer: Núria Rial. Singer: Wiebke Lehmkuhl. Singer: Benedikt Kristjánsson. Singer: Matthias Winckhler.
    • Carus.

  • Cécile Chaminade

    Autrefois [Pièces humoristiques, Op.87]

    Performer: Peter Jacobs.
    • Chaminade: Piano Music - 1, Peter Jacobs.
    • Helios.
    • 2.

  • Michael Tippett

    Steal away (5 Spirituals from A Child of Our Time)

    Ensemble: The Sixteen. Conductor: Harry Christophers.
    • a la Gloire de Dieu: The Sixteen.
    • Coro.
    • 6.

  • Franz Berwald

    Estrella de Soria (Overture)

    Orchestra: Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Roy Goodman.
    • Hyperion.

  • Johann Friedrich Fasch

    Violin Concerto in G Major, FaWV L:G6: I. Allegro

    Performer: Emlyn Ngai. Ensemble: Tempesta di Mare.
    • Fasch: Orchestral Works, Vol. 4.
    • Chandos.
    • 107.

  • Gabriel Fauré

    Berceuse (Dolly Suite, Op.56)

    Performer: Katia Labèque. Performer: Marielle Labèque.
    • Bizet, Ravel, Faure: Katia & Marielle Labeque.
    • Philips.
    • 13.

Broadcast

  • Wed 10 Jun 202609:30
    BBC Radio 3