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Your perfect classical playlist

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 [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

Music Played

  • Antonín Dvořák

    8 Slavonic Dances, Op. 46, B. 83: No. 8 in G Minor (Presto)

    Orchestra: Budapest Festival Orchestra. Conductor: Iván Fischer.
    • Dvorák: Slavonic Dances Opp.46 & 72.
    • Decca Music Group Ltd..
    • 8.
  • Enrique Granados

    The Maiden and The Nightingale (Goyescas)

    Performer: Alicia de Larrocha.
    • Enrique Granados: The Collection.
    • Sony.
    • 6.
  • Mel Bonis

    Le Rêve de Cléopâtre

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

    Cello sonata in G minor Op.19: II - Allegro scherzando

    Performer: Anne Gastinel. Performer: Pierre‐Laurent Aimard.
    • Naive.
  • Johann Sebastian Bach

    Sanctus (Mass in B minor)

    Ensemble: Dunedin Consort. Director: John Butt.
    • J. S. Bach, Mass in B minor: Dunedin Consort and Players.
    • Linn.
    • 10.
  • Henry Purcell

    Dido and Aeneas, Z. 626, Act III: Come Away, Fellow Sailors

    Singer: Laurence Kilsby. Choir: Il Pomo d’Oro Choir. Ensemble: Il Pomo d’Oro. Conductor: Maxim Emelyanychev.
    • Purcell: Dido and Aeneas, Z. 626.
    • Warner Classics.
    • 26.
  • Frédéric Chopin

    Ballade no.2 in F major

    Performer: Murray Perahia.
    • Sony.
  • Claude Debussy

    Images, L. 122: No. 2, Ibéria: I. Par les rues et les chemins

    Orchestra: Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor: Domingo Hindoyan.
    • Iberia.
    • Onyx Classics.
    • 2.
  • Anonymous

    Marinero soy de amor

    Performer: Ferran Savall.
    • Alia Vox.
  • Dolores White

    Las Tarantulas

    Performer: Raphaela Gromes. Performer: Julian Riem.
    • Sony.
  • Pietro Mascagni

    Intermezzo (Cavalleria rusticana)

    Orchestra: Orchestre de Paris – Philharmonie. Conductor: Semyon Bychkov.
    • Mascagni: Cavalleria Rusticana - Norman, Giacomini.
    • Philips.
  • Jacques Offenbach

    Vous aimez le danger (La Grande-Duchesse de Gérolstein, Act II, Scene 1 )

    Lyricist: Henri Meilhac. Lyricist: Ludovic Halévy. Singer: Véronique Gens. Orchestra: Orchestre national des Pays de la Loire. Choir: Chœur de L’Orchestre national des Pays de la Loire. Conductor: Hervé Niquet.
    • Les Divas d'Offenbach.
    • Alpha Classics.
    • 9.
  • Joseph Haydn

    Symphony No. 83 in G Minor, Hob. 1/83 "The Hen": I. Allegro spiritoso

    Orchestra: Austro-Hungarian Haydn Orchestra. Conductor: Ádám Fischer.
    • Haydn: The Complete Symphonies.
    • Nimbus Records.
    • 317.
  • Jean Françaix

    L'heure du berger

    Performer: Ferenc Bognár. Ensemble: Ensemble Wien-Berlin.
    • CAMERATA.
  • Agathe Backer-Grøndahl

    3 Morceaux, Op. 15 (III. Humoresque)

    Performer: Tine Thing Helseth. Music Arranger: Jarle Storløkken. Ensemble: tenThing.
    • She Composes Like A Man.
    • Lawo Classics.
    • 11.
  • Sergey Prokofiev

    Symphony No 1 in D major, Op 25, 'Classical' (1st mvt)

    Orchestra: London Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor: Enrique Bátiz.
    • Prokofiev: The Love of Three Oranges (Suite) etc: LPO, Batiz.
    • EMI Classics.
  • Edvard Grieg

    Ave maris stella

    Choir: The Sixteen. Director: Harry Christophers.
    • A Mother's Love - Music for Mary: The Sixteen/Harry Christophers.
    • UCJ.
    • 1.
  • Gustav Holst

    Song without Words'; 'Fantasia on the Dargason' (Second Suite for brass band)

    Performer: Tredegar Band. Conductor: Ian Porthouse.
    • DOYEN.
  • Trad.

    Haul away Joe

    Performer: Bjarte Eike. Music Arranger: Barokksolistene. Music Arranger: Thomas Guthrie. Lyricist: Thomas Guthrie. Ensemble: Barokksolistene.
    • The Alehouse Sessions.
    • RUBICON.
    • 104.
  • Malcolm Arnold

    You know what sailors are (Scherzetto arr Palmer)

    Music Arranger: Christopher Palmer. Ensemble: East Winds.
    • Arnold: Wind Chamber Music: East Winds.
    • Naxos.
  • Traditional English

    What Shall We Do With The Drunken Sailor?

    Music Arranger: David Overton. Choir: The King’s Singers.
    • Folk Songs Of The British Isles.
    • Warner Classics.
    • 3.
  • Benjamin Britten

    Moonlight (4 Sea interludes [from 'Peter Grimes'] Op.33a)

    Orchestra: London Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Steuart Bedford.
    • Britten - London Symphony Orchestra, Steuart Bedford.
    • Collins Classics.
    • 14.
  • Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

    "The Nutcracker" Suite, Op. 71a, TH 35: III. Waltz of the Flowers

    Performer: Yevgeny Sudbin. Performer: Bella Sudbin. Music Arranger: Yevgeny Sudbin.
    • Romeo & Juliet: Tchaikovsky on the Piano.
    • BIS.
    • 1.
  • Florence Price

    Price: Violin Concerto No. 1 in D Major: II. Andante

    Performer: Randall Goosby. Orchestra: The Philadelphia Orchestra. Conductor: Yannick Nézet‐Séguin.
    • Bruch: Violin Concerto No. 1; Florence Price: Violin Concertos.
    • Decca Music Group Ltd..
    • 5.
  • Gregorio Allegri

    Miserere

    Choir: Tallis Scholars. Director: Peter Phillips.
    • The Tallis Scholars Live In Rome.
    • Gimell.
    • 8.
  • Philip Glass

    Glass: Études: No. 5

    Performer: Víkingur Ólafsson. Ensemble: Siggi String Quartet.
    • Philip Glass: Piano Works.
    • Deutsche Grammophon (DG).
  • Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov

    Piano Concerto in C-Sharp Minor, Op. 30

    Performer: Geoffrey Tozer. Conductor: Dmitri Kitayenko. Orchestra: Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra.
    • Rimsky-Korsakov: Symphony No. 3 and other Orchestral Works.
    • Chandos.
    • 103.
  • Samuel Coleridge-Taylor

    Sea Drift, Op. 69

    Composer: Thomas Bailey Aldrich. Choir: London Choral Sinfonia. Conductor: Michael Waldron.
    • Coleridge-Taylor: Choral Works.
    • Orchid Music Limited.
    • 1.
  • Astor Piazzolla

    Libertango

    Performer: Ksenija Sidorova. Conductor: Clark Rundell. Orchestra: BBC National Orchestra of Wales.
    • Piazzolla Reflections.
    • Alpha Classics.
    • 15.
  • Reynaldo Hahn

    Piano Quartet in G Major: IV. Allegro assai

    Ensemble: Kaleidoscope Chamber Collective.
    • Hahn: Piano Quintet, Songs, Piano Quartet.
    • Chandos Records Limited.
    • 12.
  • Johann Sebastian Bach

    Pastorale in F Major, BWV 590: III. Aria

    Performer: Martin Fröst. Performer: Jonas Nordberg. Music Arranger: Martin Fröst.
    • B.A.C.H..
    • Sony Classical.
    • 9.
  • Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov

    Scheherazade, Op 35 (The Sea and Sinbad's Ship)

    Orchestra: London Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Charles Mackerras.
    • Rimsky-Korsakov: Scheherazade, Capricco Espagnol: Mackerras.
    • Telarc.
    • 1.

Broadcast

  • Mon 3 Nov 202509:30