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A feast of great 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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26 days left to listen

3 hours, 30 minutes

Last on

Thursday09:30
BBC Radio 3

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Music Played

  • Dmitri Kabalevsky

    Colas Breugnon Op.24 (Overture)

    Orchestra: Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra. Director: Vasily Petrenko.
    • Khachaturian, Mussorgsky, Shchedrin etc..
    • Onyx.
    • 01.

  • Alamiro Giampieri

    Carnival of Venice

    Performer: Michael Collins. Performer: Michael McHale.
    • CHANDOS.

  • Howard Goodall

    Lead, kindly light (Eternal Light, A Requiem)

    Choir: Christ Church Cathedral Choir, Oxford. Orchestra: London Musici. Conductor: Stephen Darlington.
    • Goodall Eternal Light: A Requiem.
    • EMI.
    • 4.

  • Sergey Rachmaninov

    Symphony no.2 in E minor Op.27 (4th mvt)

    Orchestra: Budapest Festival Orchestra. Conductor: Iván Fischer.
    • Rachmaninov: Symphony No. 2: Budapest Festival Orchestra, Fischer.
    • Channel Classics.
    • 4.

  • Paul Schoenfield

    Four Parables (Dog Heaven)

    Performer: Jeffrey Kahane. Ensemble: New World Symphony. Conductor: John Nelson.
    • ARGO.

  • Elias Parish Alvars

    La Mandoline

    Performer: Xavier de Maistre.
    • Notte Veneziana.
    • Sony Classical.
    • 7.

  • Georg Philipp Telemann

    Concerto in D major TWV.54:D3

    Performer: Håkan Hardenberger. Performer: Michael Laird. Performer: William Houghton. Orchestra: Academy of St Martin in the Fields. Conductor: Iona Brown.
    • Philips.

  • Alan Menken

    Beauty and the Beast (Overture)

    Music Arranger: James Shearman. Orchestra: Studio Orchestra. Conductor: Michael Kosarin.
    • Beauty and the Beast.
    • Walt Disney Records.
    • 1.

  • Claude Debussy

    La Belle au bois dormant

    Performer: David Kadouch. Singer: Sandrine Piau.
    • ALPHA.

  • Alice Mary Smith

    Symphony in A Minor (4th mvt)

    Orchestra: London Mozart Players. Conductor: Howard Shelley.
    • Alice Mary Smith: Symphonies.
    • Chandos.
    • 4.

  • Eric Whitacre

    Sleep

    Choir: Eric Whitacre Singers. Choir: Laudibus. Conductor: Eric Whitacre.
    • Eric Whitacre, Light & Gold.
    • Decca.
    • 16.

  • Fritz Kreisler

    Marche miniature viennoise

    Performer: Joshua Bell. Performer: Paul Coker.
    • The Kreisler Album: Joshua Bell/Paul Coker.
    • Decca.
    • 15.

  • Ralph Vaughan Williams

    Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis

    Orchestra: Sinfonia of London. Conductor: John Wilson.
    • Vaughan Williams: Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis.
    • Chandos.
    • 1.

  • Joseph Horovitz

    Oboe Concerto (1st mvt)

    Performer: Nicholas Daniel. Orchestra: Royal Ballet Sinfonia. Conductor: Joseph Horovitz.
    • ASV.

  • Edward Elgar

    Mina

    Orchestra: Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor: Vasily Petrenko.
    • Onyx.

  • Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

    Violin Sonata No.4 (1st mvt)

    Performer: Rachel Podger. Performer: Gary Cooper.
    • Mozart: Complete Sonatas for Keyboard and Violin, Vol. 4.
    • Channel Classics.
    • 3.

  • Herbert Howells

    Like as the hart desireth the waterbrooks (4 Anthems)

    Performer: Christopher Dearnley. Choir: St Paul's Cathedral Choir. Conductor: John Scott.
    • Howells: St Paul's Service & Other Works.
    • Hyperion.
    • 4.

  • Francesco Manfredini

    Concerto grosso 'Pastorale per il santissimo natale' (1st mvt)

    Orchestra: Collegium Musicum 90. Conductor: Simon Standage.
    • Chandos.

  • Giacomo Puccini

    E lucevan le stelle (Tosca)

    Singer: Freddie De Tommaso. Orchestra: Philharmonia Orchestra. Conductor: Paolo Arrivabeni.
    • Il Tenore.
    • Decca Music Group Ltd..
    • 6.

  • Jean‐Philippe Rameau

    Allemande (Suite in E minor from Pieces de clavecin)

    Performer: Mishka Rushdie Momen.
    • HYPERION.

  • Foday Musa Suso

    Tilliboyo [Sunset]

    Performer: Foday Musa Suso. Ensemble: Kronos Quartet.
    • Nonesuch.

  • Felix Mendelssohn

    A Midsummer Night's Dream (Overture)

    Orchestra: City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Edward Gardner.
    • Chandos.

  • Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

    Violin Concerto No. 4

    Performer: Chloe Chua. Orchestra: Singapore Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Hans Graf.
    • Mozart: Violin Concertos.
    • PENTATONE.
    • 1.

  • Johann Sebastian Bach

    Prelude and Fugue in G major BWV860

    Performer: Trevor Pinnock.
    • Deutsche Grammophon.

  • Franz Liszt

    Der Tanz in der Dorfschenke [Mephisto Waltz no.1]

    Orchestra: Orchestre de la Suisse Romande. Conductor: Kazuki Yamada.
    • German Dances.
    • PENTATONE.
    • 2.

  • Frédéric Chopin

    Polonaise in A flat major Op.53 'Eroica'

    Performer: Nelson Freire.
    • Decca.

Broadcast

  • Thursday09:30
    BBC Radio 3