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Lift your mood with peaceful classical sounds

Calming classical music to inspire focus and set you up for the day ahead. Presented by broadcaster, author and counselling psychologist Dr Sian Williams.

Calming classical music to help you focus and set you up for the day ahead. Presented by broadcaster, author and counselling psychologist Dr Sian Williams.

Featuring beautiful, soaring melodies for BBC Wellbeing Week from Mascagni, Liszt, and Holmes. Sian discovers the joy to be found in the springtime, and Professor Catherine Loveday explores the effectiveness of music listening for reducing depressive symptoms.

3 hours

Last on

Wed 14 May 202509:00
BBC Radio 3 Unwind

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Music Played

  • Jean Françaix

    Concerto for Clarinet and Orchestra (3rd mvt)

    Performer: Shirley Brill. Conductor: Adrian Morar. Orchestra: Romanian Radio National Orchestra.
    • Aparte.

  • Tan Dun

    Concerto for String Orchestra & Pipa (3rd mvt)

    Performer: Wu Man. Orchestra: Moscow Soloists. Conductor: Yuri Abramovich Bashmet.
    • Onyx.

  • Hans Krása

    Brundibár Suite (6th mvt)

    Music Arranger: David Matthews. Ensemble: Nash Ensemble.
    • Hyperion.

  • Carl Stamitz

    Concerto No 2 for cello and orchestra in A major (2nd mvt, 'Romance')

    Performer: Klaus‐Peter Hahn. Orchestra: Kurpfalz Chamber Orchestra Ludwighafen-Mannheim.
    • Ameritz.

  • Florence Price

    The Old Boatman

    Performer: Althea Waites.
    • Cambria.

  • Frederick Delius

    The Walk to the Paradise Garden

    Conductor: Sir Mark Elder. Orchestra: Hallé.
    • Halle.

  • Philip Glass

    Glassworks, arr for 2 pianos and 2 guitars (No 6, 'Closing')

    Performer: Katia Labèque. Performer: Marielle Labèque. Performer: David Chalmin. Performer: Bryce Dessner. Music Arranger: Bryce Dessner.
    • DG.

  • William Grant Still

    Out of the Silence (Seven Traceries)

    Ensemble: Videmus.
    • New World Records.

  • Jessica Curry

    An Early Harvest (Everybody's Gone to the Rapture)

    Conductor: Eímear Noone. Orchestra: BBC Concert Orchestra.

  • Francisco Tárrega

    Recuerdos de la Alhambra (Memories of the Alhambra)

    Performer: Xuefei Yang.
    • Warner.

  • Sir Alexander Campbell Mackenzie

    Scottish Concerto, Op 55 (2nd mvt)

    Performer: Steven Osborne. Conductor: Martyn Brabbins. Orchestra: BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra.
    • Hyperion.

  • Leonard Bernstein

    West Side Story Suite, version for solo violin and string orchestra (No 6, 'I Have a Love')

    Performer: Daniel Hope. Orchestra: Zürcher Kammerorchester.
    • DG.

  • Nainita Desai

    Constellations

    Performer: Nainita Desai.
    • Silva Screen.

  • Charles Martin Loeffler

    Divertissement in A minor for violin and orchestra (2nd mvt, 'Eclogue')

    Performer: Lorraine McAslan. Conductor: Johannes Wildner. Orchestra: BBC Concert Orchestra.
    • Dutton Epoch.

  • George Gershwin

    3 Preludes (no.2)

    Performer: Isata Kanneh‐Mason.
    • Decca.

  • Rebecca Dale

    Materna Requiem (1st mvt, 'Introit')

    Performer: David Hinitt. Singer: Louise Alder. Singer: Trystan Griffiths. Singer: Edward Hyde. Choir: Kantos Chamber Choir. Conductor: Clark Rundell. Orchestra: Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra.
    • Decca.

  • Franz Strauss

    Nocturne for Horn, Op 7

    Music Arranger: Gerhard Kanzian. Ensemble: Wiener Kammerensemble.
    • Sonoton SCD.

  • Antonio Vivaldi

    Spring 0/1 (2022)

    Performer: Elena Urioste. Music Arranger: Max Richter. Orchestra: Chineke! Orchestra.
    • DG.

  • Emmanuel Chabrier

    Suite pastorale (1st mvt, 'Idylle')

    Conductor: Sir John Eliot Gardiner. Orchestra: Vienna Philharmonic.
    • DG.

  • Gabriel Fauré

    Requiem, Op 48, N 97 (Introït et Kyrie)

    Choir: Tenebrae. Conductor: Nigel Short. Ensemble: London Symphony Orchestra Chamber Ensemble.
    • LSO LIVE.

  • Elfrida Andrée

    Symphony No 1 in C major (3rd mvt)

    Conductor: Hermann Bäumer. Orchestra: Norrköpings Symfoniorkester.
    • CPO.

  • William Sterndale Bennett

    Piano Concerto No 1 in D minor, Op 1 (2nd mvt)

    Performer: Howard Shelley. Orchestra: BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra.
    • Hyperion.

  • Franz Liszt

    Un Sospiro (A Sigh)

    Conductor: Helmuth Brandenburg. Orchestra: RIAS Orchestra.
    • SONOTON SCD.

  • Samuel Coleridge-Taylor

    4 Characteristic Waltzes, Op 22 (No 2, 'Valse rustique')

    Conductor: Adrian Leaper. Orchestra: RTÉ Concert Orchestra.
    • Naxos.

  • Franz Schubert

    4 Impromptus, Op 142, D 935 (No 3 in B flat major)

    Performer: Steven Osborne.
    • Hyperion.

  • Ferde Grofé

    Grand Canyon Suite (4th mvt, 'Sunset')

    Conductor: Hans-Dieter Baum. Orchestra: ベルリン放送管弦楽団.
    • Capriccio.

  • Augusta Holmès

    Memento Mei Deus (Remember Me God)

    Choir: BBC Singers. Conductor: Hilary Campbell.

  • Antonín Dvořák

    Two Waltzes for string quartet and double bass, No 1 Op 54

    Performer: Frithjof-Martin Grabner. Ensemble: Vogler Quartett.
    • CPO.

  • Anna Clyne

    Three Sisters

    Performer: Avi Avital. Ensemble: The Knights. Conductor: Eric Jacobsen.
    • Sony.

  • Pietro Mascagni

    Cavalleria rusticana: Intermezzo

    Orchestra: Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor: Domingo Hindoyan.
    • Onyx.

  • Emilio de' Cavalieri

    Lamentationes et responsoriae 1600 (Secunda Die: Responsorium Primum)

    Singer: Harry van der Kamp. Ensemble: Gesualdo Consort.
    • SONY.

Broadcast

  • Wed 14 May 202509:00
    BBC Radio 3 Unwind