Your perfect classical playlist
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. This week also sees the start of a new weekly feature in which Georgia chooses a favourite recording from a vintage collection of vinyl LPs.
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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Edvard Grieg
In the Hall of the Mountain King (Peer Gynt - suite no.1 Op.46)
Orchestra: Berlin Philharmonic. Conductor: Herbert von Karajan.- DG.
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George Enescu
Piano Quintet in D Major: II. Scherzo
Ensemble: Kaleidoscope Chamber Collective.- Enescu: String Octet, Piano Quintet.
- Chandos.
- 106.
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Henry Purcell
How happy the lover (King Arthur)
Choir: VOCES8. Ensemble: Les Inventions.- A Purcell Collection.
- Signum Classics.
- 5.
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Sir Stephen Hough
Nocturne (September 10, 2001)
Performer: Elisabeth Brauss.![]()
Jean Sibelius
Symphony No. 5 in E-Flat Major, Op. 82: 3rd mvt
Conductor: Sakari Oramo. Orchestra: City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra.- Sibelius : Symphony No.5 & Orchestral Works.
- Warner Classics International.
- 3.
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Malcolm Arnold
The Fairfield, Op. 110
Orchestra: BBC Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor: Rumon Gamba.- Arnold: Overtures.
- Chandos.
- 106.
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Charlotte Sohy
Symphony in C sharp minor 'Grand Guerre' (2nd mvt)
Orchestra: Orchestre national de France. Conductor: Debora Waldman.- Compositrices: New Light on French Romantic Women Composers.
- Bru Zane.
- 33.
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François‐Joseph Gossec
Symphony No. 6 in B flat major: I. Allegro molto
Orchestra: Württembergisches Kammerorchester Heilbronn. Conductor: Simon Gaudenz.- Gossec: Symphonies op. VI.
- CPO.
- 208.
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Arturo Márquez
Danzón No 2
Performer: Yuja Wang.- The Vienna Recital.
- DG.
- 16.
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Orlande de Lassus
Missa pro defunctis quinque vocum, LV 963: - IV. Offertorium. Domine Jesu Christe
Choir: Vox Luminis. Conductor: Lionel Meunier.- Ricecar.
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Luigi Mancinelli
Carnival (Venetian Scenes, No 1)
Orchestra: Orchestra sinfonica di Roma. Conductor: Francesco La Vecchia.- Mancinelli: Scene veneziane.
- Naxos.
- 1.
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Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Violin Sonata in A Major, K. 305: I. Allegro di molto
Performer: Alina Ibragimova. Performer: Cédric Tiberghien.- Mozart: Violin Sonatas Nos. 22, 24, 29 (K. 305, 376 & 402).
- Hyperion.
- 9.
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Johannes Brahms
Symphony no.3 in F major Op.90 (3rd mvt)
Orchestra: Chamber Orchestra of Europe. Conductor: Yannick Nézet‐Séguin.- Brahms: Symphonies.
- Deutsche Grammophon.
- 11.
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Marc-Antoine Madeleine Désaugiers
Cadet Buteux au Faubourg du Temple
Lyricist: Marc-Antoine Madeleine Désaugiers. Singer: Cyrille Dubois. Singer: Jérôme Varnier. Ensemble: Les Lunaisiens. Conductor: Arnaud Marzorati.- La Comédie Humaine: Chansons balzaciennes.
- Alpha Classics.
- 11.
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Igor Stravinsky
The Shrovetide Fair (Petrushka)
Performer: Katya Apekisheva. Performer: Charles Owen.- Stravinsky: Piano Ballets - Petrushka & The Rite of Spring.
- Quartz Music Ltd.
- 1.
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Louis James Alfred Lefébure‐Wély
Sortie in E flat major
Performer: Roger Judd.- HERALD.
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Richard Rodgers
Carousel - you'll never walk alone
Singer: Joyce DiDonato. Choir: BBC Singers. Choir: BBC Symphony Chorus. Orchestra: BBC Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Marin Alsop.![]()
Gustav Mahler
"Ging heut' Morgen über's Feld" ("I Went This Morning over the Field") (Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen)
Music Arranger: Arnold Schoenberg. Singer: Roderick Williams. Ensemble: Attacca Quartet. Ensemble: Virginia Arts Festival Chamber Players. Conductor: JoAnn Falletta.- Mahler: Songs (Arr. A. Schoenberg).
- Naxos.
- 102.
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Élisabeth Jacquet de La Guerre
Suite No 2 in G minor: Sarabande
Performer: Mishka Rushdie Momen.- Hyperion.
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Antonín Dvořák
Symphony no.7 in D minor Op.70 (3rd mvt)
Orchestra: Czech Philharmonic. Conductor: Semyon Bychkov.- Pentatone.
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Doreen Carwithen
Concerto for Piano and Strings
Performer: Alexandra Dariescu. Orchestra: Manchester Camerata. Conductor: John Andrews.- Resound: Music by British Composers.
- Resonus Classics.
- 1.
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Antonio Vivaldi
Stabat Mater in F Minor, RV 621: No. 1. "Stabat Mater dolorosa"
Singer: Andreas Scholl. Orchestra: Accademia Bizantina. Conductor: Alessandro Tampieri.- Invocazioni Mariane.
- Naive.
- 16.
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Robert Schumann
Piano Quartet in E-Flat Major, Op. 47: II. Scherzo. Molto vivace
Performer: Isabelle Faust. Performer: Antoine Tamestit. Performer: Jean‐Guihen Queyras. Performer: Alexander Melnikov.- Schumann: Piano Quartet - Piano Quintet.
- harmonia mundi.
- 2.
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Samuel Coleridge‐Taylor
Deep river (24 Folk melodies Op.59)
Performer: Isata Kanneh‐Mason.- Summertime.
- Decca.
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Samuel Barber
Agnus Dei (Choral Version of Adagio for Strings, Op. 11a)
Lyricist: Trad.. Choir: VOCES8.- TWENTY.
- Decca Music Group Ltd..
- 8.
Broadcast
- Fri 11 Sep 202609:30BBC Radio 3

