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Your perfect classical playlist

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

1000 Playlist starter – listen and send us your ideas for the next step in our musical journey today.

1030 Song of the Day – harnessing the magic of words, music and the human voice.

1115 Playlist reveal – a sequence of music suggested by you in response to our starter today.

1145 Slow Moment – time to take a break for a moment's musical reflection.

1230 Album of the Week

3 hours, 30 minutes

Last on

Thu 31 Oct 202409:30
BBC Radio 3

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Music Played

  • Franz Lehár

    Gold and Silver - Waltz Op.79

    Orchestra: Vienna Philharmonic. Conductor: Sir John Eliot Gardiner.
    • Vienna Soiree: Gardiner/Vienna PO.
    • Deutsche Grammophon.
    • 6.

  • Francisco Tárrega

    Recuerdos de la Alhambra

    Performer: John Williams.
    • Spanish Guitar Music.
    • Sony Classical.
    • 16.

  • Modest Mussorgsky

    Intermezzo in modo classico

    Orchestrator: Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. Orchestra: Berliner Philharmoniker. Conductor: Claudio Abbado.
    • Mussorgsky: Pictures at an Exhibition; A Night on bald Mountain - Sony Classical.
    • Sony Classical.
    • 18.

  • Joseph Haydn

    String Quartet in C major, Op 54 No 2 (1st mvt)

    Ensemble: Sacconi Quartet.
    • Haydn: String Quartets Opus 54.
    • Sacconi Records.
    • 005.

  • Jean Sibelius

    The Tempest: Prelude, Op.109, No.1 

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

  • Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

    Piano Sonata in C major, K545 arr Grieg (1st mvt)

    Composer: Edvard Grieg. Performer: Elisabeth Leonskaja. Performer: Sviatoslav Richter.
    • Mozart/Grieg: Piano Sonatas.
    • Teldec.
    • 1.

  • Georges Bizet

    Jeux d'enfants (Petite Suite)

    Orchestra: Orchestre national du Capitole de Toulouse. Conductor: Michel Plasson.
    • EMI.

  • Johannes Brahms

    Hungarian Dance No. 1 in G Minor, WoO 1

    Performer: Nemanja Radulović. Performer: Laure Favre-Kahn. Music Arranger: Yvan Cassar. Ensemble: Les Trilles du Diable.
    • Songs My Mother Taught Me.
    • Deutsche Grammophon (DG).
    • 1.

  • Benjamin Britten

    The trees they grow so high

    Singer: Anthony Rolfe Johnson. Performer: Graham Johnson.
    • Britten: Canticle 1/Michelangelo sonnets etc: Johnson/Johnson.
    • Hyperion.
    • 10.

  • Johann Sebastian Bach

    Concerto in A minor for four harpsichords, strings and continuo, BWV 1065

    Performer: Trevor Pinnock. Performer: Kenneth Gilbert. Performer: Lars Ulrik Mortensen. Performer: Nicholas Kraemer. Orchestra: The English Concert. Director: Trevor Pinnock.
    • ARCHIV.

  • John Williams

    Hedwig's Theme

    Orchestra: Studio Orchestra. Conductor: John Williams.
    • Harry Potter and The Sorcerer's Stone (AKA Philosopher's Stone) Original Motion.
    • Atlantic Records.
    • 19.

  • Claude Debussy

    Toccata

    Performer: Angela Hewitt.
    • Debussy: Children's Corner, Suite Bergamasque, Pour le Piano: Angela Hewitt.
    • Hyperion.
    • 16.

  • Ralph Vaughan Williams

    Norfolk Rhapsody No.1

    Orchestra: Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra. Performer: Stuart Green. Conductor: Paul Daniel.
    • Vaughan Williams: Symphony No.4: Bournemouth Symphony Orch/Daniel.
    • Naxos.
    • 5.

  • Elena Kats‐Chernin

    The Witching Hour - Concerto for 8 Double Basses (Vassilissa the Beautiful)

    Orchestra: Australian World Orchestra. Conductor: Alexander Briger.
    • ABC Classics.

  • Jean‐Philippe Rameau

    Zaïs (Prologue: Overture)

    Ensemble: Les Talens Lyriques. Director: Christophe Rousset.
    • Rameau: Overtures: Les Talens Lyriques/Rousset.
    • L'Oiseau-Lyre.
    • 3.

  • Henry Purcell

    They that go down to the sea in ships Z.57

    Singer: David Thomas. Singer: Matthew Bright. Choir: Christ Church Cathedral Choir, Oxford. Orchestra: The English Concert. Conductor: Simon Preston.
    • Archiv.

  • Benjamin Britten

    Four Sea Interludes from Peter Grimes (Storm)

    Orchestra: Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. Conductor: Eduard van Beinum.
    • Britten: Spring Symphony, Four Sea Interludes - The Young Persons Guide to....
    • Decca.
    • 16.

  • Frédéric Chopin

    2 Nocturnes Op.55 (no.2 in E flat major)

    Performer: Maria João Pires.
    • DG.

  • Samuel Barber

    The School for Scandal Op.5

    Orchestra: Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra. Orchestra: Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Leonard Slatkin. Conductor: Leonard Slatkin.
    • Barber/Bernstein/Gershwin/Copland: Great American Showpieces.
    • EMI.
    • 5.

  • Claudio Monteverdi

    Altri canti d'amor

    Performer: Sonia Wieder‐Atherton. Performer: Sarah Iancu. Performer: Matthieu Lejeune. Music Arranger: Sonia Wieder‐Atherton. Music Arranger: Franck Krawczyk.
    • Vita.
    • Naive.
    • 7.

  • Camille Saint‐Saëns

    Samson et Dalila (Bacchanale)

    Orchestra: Slovak State Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor: Aleksandar Markovic.
    • Supraphon.

  • Antonín Dvořák

    Serenade for Wind

    Orchestra: Academy of St Martin in the Fields. Conductor: Neville Marriner.
    • Philips.

  • Domenico Scarlatti

    Keyboard Sonata in C Minor, Kk. 56

    Performer: Scott Ross.
    • Scarlatti: The Complete Keyboard Works, Vol. 3: Sonatas, Kk. 51 - 70.
    • Warner Classics.
    • 6.

  • Olivia M. Sparkhall

    Lux Aeterna

    Performer: Louise Thomson. Choir: Corvus Consort. Conductor: Freddie Crowley.
    • Welcome Joy - A Celebration of Women’s Voices.
    • Chandos.
    • 601.

  • Ludwig van Beethoven

    Symphony No 8 in F major, Op 93 (1st mvt)

    Orchestra: Minnesota Orchestra. Conductor: Osmo Vänskä.
    • Beethoven: The Symphonies: Minnesota Orchestra, Osmo Vanska.
    • BIS.
    • 5.

  • Johann Sebastian Bach

    French Suite No 5 in G major, BWV 816 (Gigue)

    Performer: Angela Hewitt.
    • J.S. Bach, The French Suites: Angela Hewitt.
    • Hyperion.
    • 28.

  • Maurice Ravel

    Tzigane

    Performer: Nicola Benedetti. Orchestra: Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor: Vasily Petrenko.
    • Nicola Benedetti: Fantasie.
    • Deutsche Grammophon.
    • 5.

Broadcast

  • Thu 31 Oct 202409:30
    BBC Radio 3