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A classical soundtrack for your morning

Ian Skelly plays the best in classical music, with discoveries and surprises rubbing shoulders with familiar favourites.

Ian Skelly 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 a masterpiece.

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4 days left to listen

3 hours, 30 minutes

Last on

Wed 2 Sep 202609:30
BBC Radio 3

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Music Played

  • Richard Wagner

    The Flying Dutchman (Overture)

    Orchestra: Les Musiciens du Louvre. Conductor: Marc Minkowski.
    • Naive.

  • Muzio Clementi

    Rondo in B flat major, WO8

    Performer: Howard Shelley.
    • Clementi: Capriccios & Variations: Howard Shelley.
    • Hyperion.
    • 29.

  • Robert Schumann

    Cello Concerto in A minor (3rd mvt)

    Performer: Jean‐Guihen Queyras. Orchestra: Freiburg Baroque Consort. Conductor: Pablo Heras‐Casado.
    • Schumann: Cello Concerto.
    • Harmonia Mundi.
    • 3.

  • Ludwig van Beethoven

    Symphony No 2 in D major, Op 36 (3rd mvt)

    Orchestra: Scottish Chamber Orchestra. Conductor: Charles Mackerras.
    • The Beethoven Symphonies: Live from the Edinburgh Festival.
    • Hyperion.
    • 7.

  • Léon Boëllmann

    Suite gothique in C minor, Op.25 (Toccata)

    Performer: Ian Tracey.
    • Bombarde! French Organ Classics - Ian Tracey.
    • Chandos.

  • Dani Howard

    Argentum

    Orchestra: Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor: Michael Seal.
    • Rubicon.

  • Johann Sebastian Bach

    Orchestral suite no.3 in D major BWV.1068 (Gavottes 1 and 2)

    Ensemble: Dunedin Consort. Conductor: John Butt.
    • Bach: Orchestral Suites BWV 1066-1069.
    • Linn Records.
    • 3.

  • Franz Liszt

    Tarantella (Venezia e Napoli)

    Performer: Benjamin Grosvenor.
    • Homages.
    • Decca Music Group Ltd..
    • 12.

  • Jacques Aubert

    Suite in D major, Op. 27 No. 3 (Gayement & Double)

    Performer: Théotime Langlois de Swarte. Performer: William Christie.
    • Le Violon de Rameau.
    • harmonia mundi.
    • 110.

  • Gregorio Allegri

    Miserere mei, Deus

    Performer: The Sixteen. Conductor: Harry Christophers.
    • Coro.

  • Joseph Horovitz

    Sonatina for Clarinet and Piano: I. Allegro calmato

    Performer: Michael Collins. Performer: Michael McHale.
    • Michael Collins Plays British Clarinet Sonatas, Vol. 2.
    • Chandos.
    • 14.

  • Pyotr Tchaikovsky

    Symphony No 5 in E minor, Op 64 (3rd mvt)

    Orchestra: Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Neeme Järvi.
    • BIS.

  • Fela Sowande

    Onipe (African Suite)

    Orchestra: CBC Radio Orchestra. Conductor: Mario Bernardi.
    • CBC.

  • Anon.

    Stabat Mater

    Music Arranger: Edward Elgar. Choir: Chapel Choir of the Royal Hospital Chelsea. Conductor: William Vann.
    • Light Out Of Darkness.
    • Somm Records.

  • Arthur Bliss

    Kenilworth March

    Performer: Black Dyke Band. Conductor: Major Peter Parkes.
    • Life Divine: Black Dyke Mils Band.
    • Chandos.
    • 8.

  • Charles Villiers Stanford

    La Belle Dame Sans Merci

    Singer: Ian Bostridge. Performer: Julius Drake.
    • The English Songbook.
    • EMI Classics.
    • 1.

  • Wojciech Kilar

    Vampire Hunters (Bram Stoker's Dracula)

    Orchestra: Studio Orchestra. Conductor: Anton Coppola.
    • \"Bram Stoker's Dracula\".
    • Columbia.
    • 2.

  • Robert Schumann

    Toccata in C major Op.7

    Performer: Nikolai Lugansky.
    • PIANO CLASSICS.

  • Franz Schubert

    Quintet in C major, D 956 (4th mvt)

    Performer: Misha Milman. Ensemble: Borodin Quartet.
    • Schubert: String Quintet: Borodin Quartet/Milman.
    • Teldec.
    • 4.

  • Percy Grainger

    Molly on the Shore

    Music Arranger: Leopold Stokowski. Orchestra: BBC Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor: Richard Hickox.
    • Chandos.

  • Maurice Ravel

    Pièce en forme de Habanera, M. 51

    Performer: Sir Antonio Pappano. Singer: Aigul Akhmetshina.
    • Mujer Fatal.
    • Universal Music Operations Limited.
    • 8.

  • Antonín Dvořák

    Symphony No. 8 in G Major, Op. 88, B. 163: III. Allegretto grazioso

    Orchestra: Czech Philharmonic. Conductor: Semyon Bychkov.
    • Dvorak: Symphonies Nos. 7, 8 ,9.
    • Pentatone.
    • 7.

  • Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

    Piano Concerto No. 12 in A Major, K. 414

    Performer: Jean‐Efflam Bavouzet. Orchestra: Manchester Camerata. Conductor: Gábor Takács‐Nagy.
    • Mozart Piano Concertos 11, 12, & 13.
    • Chandos.
    • 105.

  • Kerensa Briggs

    Media Vita

    Choir: Pembroke College Girls' Choir. Conductor: Anna Lapwood.
    • SIGNUM.

  • Johann Strauss

    Eisenbahn-Lust-Walzer (Railway Pleasure Waltzes), Op 89

    Conductor: Christian Pollack. Orchestra: Slovak Sinfonietta.
    • Strauss I, J.: Edition - Vol. 11.
    • Marco-Polo.
    • 1.

  • Giacomo Puccini

    Un bel dì, vedremo (Madame Butterfly)

    Singer: Melody Moore. Orchestra: The Gulbenkian Orchestra. Conductor: Lawrence Foster.
    • Puccini: Madama Butterfly.
    • PENTATONE.
    • 15.

  • Antonio Vivaldi

    Concerto in A minor for recorder, two violins and continuo, RV108

    Ensemble: Il Giardino Armonico. Director: Giovanni Antonini.
    • TELDEC.

  • Joaquín Rodrigo

    Canario (Fantasía para un gentilhombre)

    Performer: Craig Ogden. Orchestra: BBC Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor: Sachio Fujioka.
    • Rodrigo: Concierto de Aranjuez, Fantasia para un gentilhombre & Concierto pa.
    • Chandos.
    • 7.

Broadcast

  • Wed 2 Sep 202609:30
    BBC Radio 3