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A classical soundtrack for your morning

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

Ian Skelly 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 [email protected].

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 an orchestral masterpiece.

To listen on most smart speakers say "Ask BBC Sounds to play Essential Classics”

3 hours, 30 minutes

Last on

Mon 27 Oct 202509:30
BBC Radio 3

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Music Played

  • Gustav Holst

    Jupiter (The Planets)

    Orchestra: Philharmonia Orchestra. Conductor: Sir Simon Rattle.
    • Holst: The Planets - Britten: Sinfonia da Requiem.
    • Warner Classics.
    • 104.

  • Antonín Dvořák

    Rondo in G minor Op.94

    Performer: Alisa Weilerstein. Performer: Anna Polonsky.
    • Alisa Weilerstein - Dvorak.
    • Decca.
    • 5.

  • Dora Pejačević

    Symphony in F sharp minor Op.41 (3rd mvt)

    Orchestra: Deutsche Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland‐Pfalz. Conductor: Ari Rasilainen.
    • Dora Pejacevic Symphony.
    • CPO.
    • 3.

  • Charles Gounod

    Mors et Vita: Judex

    Orchestra: Richard Hickox Orchestra. Conductor: Richard Hickox.
    • Decca.

  • Hans Christian Lumbye

    Copenhagen Steam Railway

    Orchestra: Danish National Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Gennady Nikolayevich Rozhdestvensky.
    • Lumbye: Polkas/Mazurkas/Waltzes: DNRSO/Rozhdestvensky.
    • Chandos.
    • 3.

  • Heinrich Biber

    Requiem in F Minor, C 8 - Dies Irae

    Ensemble: Freiburg Baroque Orchestra. Choir: Vox Luminis. Conductor: Lionel Meunier.
    • Alpha.

  • Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

    Piano Concerto in E flat major, K.482 - 3rd movt

    Performer: Julius Asal. Orchestra: Academy of St Martin in the Fields. Director: Jacqueline Shave.

  • Dmitry Shostakovich

    Suite for Jazz Band No 1 (Foxtrot)

    Orchestra: City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Sir Mark Elder.
    • Shostakovich: Hypothetically Murdered etc.
    • Signum Classics.
    • 33.

  • Johann Sebastian Bach

    Invention no.6 in E major, BVW.777 arr clarinet and viola

    Performer: Martin Frost. Performer: Göran Fröst. Music Arranger: Göran Fröst.
    • Sony Classical.

  • Dorothy Howell

    The Rock

    Orchestra: BBC Concert Orchestra. Conductor: Rebecca Miller.
    • Dorothy Howell Orchestral Works.
    • Signum Classics.
    • 102.

  • Antonio Vivaldi

    Concerto in F major, RV.99

    Ensemble: Il Giardino Armonico.
    • Concerti da Camera Vol. 4: Il Giardino Armonic.
    • Teldec.
    • 1.

  • Claude Debussy

    Reverie

    Performer: Alice Sara Ott.
    • Nightfall.
    • Deutsche Grammophon.
    • 1.

  • Giacomo Puccini

    Capriccio sinfonico

    Orchestra: German Symphony Orchestra Berlin. Conductor: Riccardo Chailly.
    • DECCA.

  • Eduard Strauss

    Bahn Frei!, Op 45

    Orchestra: Vienna Philharmonic. Conductor: Willi Boskovsky.
    • Decca.

  • Percy Grainger

    Arrival Platform Humlet (In a Nutshell)

    Performer: Penelope Thwaites. Performer: John Lavender.
    • Grainger: Piano Music for Four Hands Vol.1: Thwaites/Lavender.
    • Pavillion.
    • 1.

  • Michael Nyman

    MGV [Musique a Grande Vitesse] (5th Region)

    Orchestra: Michael Nyman Band. Conductor: Michael Nyman.
    • ARGO.

  • Dmitri Kabalevsky

    Colas Breugnon (Overture)

    Orchestra: Malmö SymfoniOrkester. Conductor: Darrell Ang.
    • Kabalevsky: Works for Orchestra.
    • NAXOS.
    • 1.

  • Nancy Dalberg

    Scherzo for string orchestra, Op 6

    Orchestra: Danish National Chamber Orchestra. Conductor: Frans Rasmussen.
    • DA CAPO.

  • Sigurður Sævarsson

    Nunc dimittis

    Choir: Schola Cantorum Reykjavicensis. Conductor: Hörður Áskelsson.
    • Meditatio: Music for Mixed Choir.
    • BIS.
    • 801.

  • Frédéric Chopin

    'Raindrop' Prelude in D flat major (24 Preludes Op.28)

    Performer: Ingrid Fliter.
    • Ingrid Fliter: Frederic Chopin - Preludes.
    • LINN.
    • 15.

  • Johann Nepomuk Hummel

    Violin Concerto in G Major

    Performer: James Ehnes. Orchestra: London Mozart Players. Conductor: Howard Shelley.
    • Hummel: Potpourri, Adagio and Rondo alla Polacca, Variations & Violin Concer.
    • Chandos.
    • 7.

  • William Byrd

    The Great Service - Nunc dimittis

    Choir: Tallis Scholars. Conductor: Peter Phillips.
    • Gimell.

  • George Butterworth

    The Banks of Green Willow

    Orchestra: English Chamber Orchestra. Conductor: Jeffrey Tate.
    • EMI.

  • Amanda Röntgen-Maier

    6 Pieces for violin and piano (no.6)

    Performer: Cecilia Zilliacus. Performer: Bengt Forsberg.
    • Amanda Maier, Volume 2.
    • db Productions.
    • 12.

  • Nino Rota

    Nonetto: I. Allegro

    Performer: Daishin Kashimoto. Performer: Joaquín Riguelme García. Performer: Claudio Bohórquez. Performer: Emmanuel Pahud. Performer: Paul Meyer. Performer: François Meyer. Performer: Gilbert Audin. Performer: Benoît de Barsony. Performer: Olivier Thiery.
    • Nino Rota: Chamber Music.
    • Alpha.
    • 7.

  • Gustav Mahler

    Symphony no.1 in D major (2nd mvt)

    Orchestra: Gürzenich-Orchester Köln. Conductor: Markus Stenz.
    • OEHMS.

Broadcast

  • Mon 27 Oct 202509:30
    BBC Radio 3