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The ideal mix 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 a masterpiece.

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18 days left to listen

3 hours, 30 minutes

Last on

Wed 16 Sep 202609:30
BBC Radio 3

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Music Played

  • Emmanuel Chabrier

    Habanera

    Performer: Angela Hewitt.
    • Chabrier: Piano Music.
    • Hyperion.
    • 17.

  • François‐Joseph Gossec

    Symphony No. 5 in G minor: III. Non troppo presto

    Orchestra: Württembergisches Kammerorchester Heilbronn. Conductor: Simon Gaudenz.
    • CPO.

  • Richard Strauss

    Piano Quartet in C Minor, Op. 13: II. Scherzo. Presto

    Performer: Renaud Capuçon. Performer: Guillaume Bellom. Performer: Paul Zientara. Performer: Julia Hagen.
    • Richard Strauss.
    • Deutsche Grammophon (DG).

  • Johann Sebastian Bach

    Cantata No.82 BWV.82 (Ich Habe Genug)

    Singer: Iestyn Davies. Ensemble: Arcangelo. Director: Jonathan Cohen.
    • Bach Cantatas 54, 82, 170.
    • Hyperion.
    • 11.

  • Ludwig van Beethoven

    Symphony no. 7 in A major Op.92: II - Allegretto

    Music Arranger: Laurence Equilbey. Orchestra: Insula Orchestra. Conductor: Laurence Equilbey.
    • \"Beethoven Extended\": Symphony No. 7.
    • harmonia mundi.
    • 2.

  • Louise Héritte-Viardot

    Piano Quartet No 1 in A major, 'In Summer' (2nd mvt, Flies and Butterflies)

    Ensemble: Kaleidoscope Chamber Collective.
    • Brahms & Contemporaries, Vol. 2.
    • Chandos.
    • 2.

  • William Walton

    Symphony No. 1: II. Presto, con malizia

    Orchestra: City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Kazuki Yamada.
    • Walton: Symphonies Nos. 1 & 2; Orb and Sceptre (Live).
    • Deutsche Grammophon (DG).

  • Giacomo Puccini

    Messa di Gloria: I. Kyrie

    Choir: Orfeó Català. Orchestra: Luxembourg Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor: Gustavo Gimeno.
    • Puccini: Messa di gloria & Orchestral Works.
    • harmonia mundi.
    • 1.

  • Franz Schubert

    Impromptu in A flat major, D935 no.2

    Performer: Steven Osborne.
    • Schubert: Impromptus D935.
    • Hyperion.
    • 2.

  • Dominique Le Gendre

    Songs and Dances of the Islands, Suite No. 2: I. Biguine

    Performer: Meera Maharaj. Performer: James Girling. Music Arranger: James Girling.
    • Delphian.

  • Antonio Vivaldi

    Violin Concerto in C major, RV 194

    Performer: Boris Begelman. Ensemble: Concerto Italiano. Director: Rinaldo Alessandrini.
    • Naïve.

  • Dobrinka Tabakova

    The Quest: II. Horizons

    Performer: Ksenija Sidorova. Conductor: Normunds Šnē. Orchestra: Sinfonietta Rīga.
    • ALPHA.

  • Johannes Brahms

    Symphony No. 4 in E minor, Op. 98 - 1. Allegro non troppo

    Orchestra: Gewandhausorchester Leipzig. Conductor: Herbert Blomstedt.
    • Brahms: Symphonies Nos. 3 and 4.
    • Decca (UMO).
    • 5.

  • Nadia Boulanger

    La mer

    Performer: Yo‐Yo Ma. Performer: Kathryn Stott.
    • Merci.
    • Sony Classical.
    • 11.

  • Dmitry Shostakovich

    Romance from the Gadfly

    Performer: Esther Abrami. Orchestra: The City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor: Ben Palmer.
    • Cinema.
    • Sony.
    • 2.

  • Benjamin Britten

    The Grasshopper (Two Insect Pieces)

    Performer: Heinz Holliger. Performer: Sir András Schiff.
    • Britten: 6 Metamorphoses after Ovid; Temporal Variations; Phantasy; 2 Insect Pie.
    • Decca Music Group Ltd..
    • 4.

  • Béla Bartók

    From the Diary of a Fly (Mikrokosmos, Sz. 107, Book 6)

    Orchestra: Philharmonia Hungarica. Conductor: Antal Doráti.
    • Bartók: Concerto for Orchestra; Dance Suite; 2 Portraits.
    • Decca Music Group Ltd..
    • 14.

  • Richard M. Sherman

    Ugly Bug Ball

    Singer: Burl Ives. Orchestra: Studio Orchestra. Conductor: Camerata Vocal Group.
    • Magical Disney, Vol. 3.
    • Music Today Records.
    • 1.

  • Gioachino Rossini

    La Danza (Soirees musicales)

    Performer: Black Dyke Band. Music Arranger: Gordon Langford. Conductor: Major Peter Parkes.
    • Black Dyke Mills Band play Rossini.
    • Chandos.
    • 103.

  • Erich Wolfgang Korngold

    Suite for Left Hand Piano and Strings, Op 23: IV. Lied. Schlicht und innig

    Performer: Raphaëlle Moreau. Performer: David Moreau. Performer: Edgar Moreau.
    • A Family Affair.
    • Warner Classics.
    • 11.

  • Eugene Goossens

    Miniature Fantasy, Op. 2

    Orchestra: South-West German Chamber Orchestra Pforzheim. Conductor: Douglas Bostock.
    • British Music for Strings, Vol. 5.
    • CPO.
    • 106.

  • André da Silva Gomes

    Qui tollis peccata mundi (Missa a 8 vozes e instrumentos)

    Lyricist: Anonymous. Singer: Samuel Boden. Singer: Thomas Hobbs. Ensemble: Ex Cathedra. Conductor: Jeffrey Skidmore.
    • Brazilian Adventures: South American Music from the Classical Era.
    • Hyperion.

  • Camille Saint‐Saëns

    Piano Concerto no. 2 in G minor (Presto)

    Performer: Simon Trpceski. Orchestra: Royal Scottish National Orchestra. Conductor: Thomas Søndergård.
    • Linn.

  • Dmitri Kabalevsky

    Symphony No. 2 in C Minor

    Orchestra: BBC Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor: Neeme Järvi.
    • Kabalevsky: Piano Concertos, Vol. 2.
    • Chandos.
    • 110.

  • Pyotr Tchaikovsky

    The Nutcracker (Waltz of the Flowers)

    Music Arranger: Nicolas Economou. Performer: Martha Argerich. Performer: Nicolas Economou.
    • Deutsche Grammophon.

  • Ralph Vaughan Williams

    9 English Folk Songs From the Southern Appalachian Mountains (Barbara Ellen)

    Singer: Roderick Williams. Ensemble: Sacconi Quartet.
    • Rise, Heart.
    • Albion Records.
    • 12.

  • Augusta Holmès

    Night and Love (interlude from the symphonic ode Ludus pro Patria)

    Orchestra: Orchestre national de Lyon. Conductor: Nikolaj Szeps-Znaider.
    • Bru Zane.

  • Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

    Symphony no.39 in E flat K.543 (4th mvt)

    Orchestra: Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Herbert Blomstedt.
    • Mozart: Symphonies Nos. 39, 40 & 41.
    • BR-Klassik.
    • 104.

Broadcast

  • Wed 16 Sep 202609:30
    BBC Radio 3