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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

  • Frédéric Chopin

    Polonaise in A major, Op 40 No 1, 'Military'

    Performer: Vladimir Ashkenazy.
    • Chopin: Polonaises: Vladimir Ashkenazy.
    • Decca.
    • 3.
  • Alexander Glazunov

    Concert waltz no.1 in D major Op.47

    Orchestra: Orchestre de la Suisse Romande. Conductor: Kazuki Yamada.
    • PENTATONE.
  • Francesco Manfredini

    Concerto Grosso in C Major Op.3`12 'per il santissimo natale' (1st mvt)

    Orchestra: Concerto Copenhagen. Conductor: Lars Ulrik Mortensen.
    • Per la notte di Natale: Italian Christmas Concertos.
    • Naxos.
    • 401.
  • Madeleine Dring

    Trio for flute, oboe and piano; Ist mvt. Allegro con brio

    Performer: Nicholas Daniel. Performer: Adam Walker. Performer: Antonio Oyarzabal.
    • Madeleine Dring: Complete Works for Oboe.
    • Chandos.
  • Claude Debussy

    Prelude a l'apres-midi d'un faune

    Performer: Emmanuel Pahud. Orchestra: Berliner Philharmoniker. Conductor: Claudio Abbado.
    • DG.
  • Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

    Der Hölle Rache (The Magic Flute)

    Singer: Lucia Popp. Orchestra: Philharmonia. Conductor: Otto Klemperer.
    • EMI.
  • Astor Piazzolla

    Oblivion

    Performer: Cesare Chiachiaretta. Conductor: Filippo Arlia. Orchestra: Orchestra Filarmonica della Calabria.
    • Piazzolla: Aconcagua, Oblivion, Adiós Nonino, Tangazo.
    • Dynamic.
    • 501.
  • Benjamin Britten

    Courtly Dances (Gloriana)

    Orchestra: BBC Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor: Edward Gardner.
    • Benjamin Britten: Works for Orchestra.
    • CHANDOS.
    • 3.
  • Nicola Matteis

    Ground after the Scotch humour (Suite in F major)

    Performer: Pamela Thorby. Ensemble: Palladian Ensemble.
    • An Excess of Pleasure & The Winged Lion: Palladian Ensemble.
    • Linn.
    • 23.
  • Trevor Duncan

    Little suite for orchestra: March

    Orchestra: Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Andrew Penny.
    • MARCO POLO.
  • Ludwig van Beethoven

    Piano Sonata no. 30 in E major Op.109; 1st mvt Vivace, ma non troppo

    Performer: Víkingur Ólafsson.
    • Opus 109.
    • DG.
  • Takashi Yoshimatsu

    Dream Coloured Mobile II, Op.58a

    Performer: Joe Houghton. Performer: Kate Wilson. Ensemble: Manchester Camerata. Conductor: Sachio Fujioka.
    • Chandos.
  • Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

    Der Hölle Rache (The Magic Flute)

    Singer: Lucia Popp. Orchestra: Philharmonia. Conductor: Otto Klemperer.
    • EMI.
  • Henryk Wieniawski

    Scherzo-tarantelle in G minor, Op.16

    Performer: James Ehnes. Performer: Eduard Laurel.
    • Wieniawski, Sarasate: James Ehnes, Eduard Laurel.
    • CBC Records.
  • Richard Addinsell

    Warsaw Concerto

    Performer: Jean‐Yves Thibaudet. Orchestra: BBC Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Hugh Wolff.
    • Addinsell: Warsaw Concerto: Jean-Yves Thibaudet, BBCSO, Hugh Wolff.
    • Decca.
  • Robert Lucas Pearsall

    Lay a garland on her hearse

    Choir: The Sixteen. Conductor: Harry Christophers.
    • CORO.
  • George Frideric Handel

    Organ Concerto in B flat major, Op.4`2

    Performer: Richard Egarr. Orchestra: Academy of Ancient Music.
    • Handel: Organ Concertos Op.4: Academy of Ancient Music/Egarr.
    • Harmonia Mundi.
    • 5-8.
  • TV Theme Players

    The Avengers (theme from the TV drama series)

    • TV Hits Now - Classic & New TV Shows.
    • Big Eye Music.
    • 63.
  • Giuseppe Verdi

    Rigoletto: Act II: Sì, vendetta, tremenda vendetta

    Performer: Robert Merrill. Ensemble: Orchestra della RCA Italiana. Conductor: Georg Solti.
    • Verdi: Rigoletto ((Remastered)).
    • RCA Red Seal.
    • 9.
  • Stephen Sondheim

    Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street: My Friends

    Lyricist: Stephen Sondheim. Singer: Len Cariou. Singer: Angela Lansbury. Conductor: Paul Gemignani.
    • Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (Original Broadway Cast Recording.
    • Masterworks Broadway.
    • 6.
  • George Frideric Handel

    Semele, HWV 58, Act 2: Air. "Hence, Iris hence away" (Juno)

    Singer: Della Jones. Conductor: Sir John Eliot Gardiner. Orchestra: English Baroque Soloists.
    • Handel: Water Music, Concerti grossi, Israel in Egypt, The Ways of Zion Do Mourn.
    • Warner Classics International.
    • 111.
  • John Stanley

    Trumpet Voluntary

    Performer: Wynton Marsalis. Orchestra: English Chamber Orchestra. Conductor: Anthony Newman.
    • Sony Classical.
  • Enrique Granados

    Spanish Dances, Op.37 (Oriental)

    Performer: Alicia de Larrocha.
    • Granados: Danzas españolas, Op. 37 Nos. 1-12.
    • RCA.
    • 2.
  • Alonso Lobo

    Versa est in luctum

    Choir: Stile Antico.
    • Harmonia Mundi.
  • Eric Coates

    The Merrymakers

    Orchestra: London Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Charles Mackerras.
    • EMI.
  • Johann Sebastian Bach

    Toccata & Fugue in D Minor, BWV 565

    Music Arranger: Sir Andrew Davis. Conductor: Martyn Brabbins. Orchestra: BBC Philharmonic Orchestra.
    • King of Kings: Bach Orchestral Transcriptions.
    • Chandos.
    • 1.
  • Maurice Ravel

    Le Tombeau de Couperin for orchestra [after nos. 1, 3, 5 & 4 of piano work]

    Orchestra: The Cleveland Orchestra. Conductor: Pierre Boulez.
    • DG.
  • Hildegard von Bingen

    O coruscans lux stellarum [O glistening starlight]

    Choir: Choir of Clare College, Cambridge. Conductor: Timothy Brown.
    • COLLEGIUM.
  • Joseph Haydn

    Piano Trio in C major, H.15.27 (1st mvt)

    Performer: The Florestan Trio.
    • Haydn: Piano Trios, Vol.1: The Florestan Trio.
    • Hyperion.
    • 10.
  • Arthur Sullivan

    The Merchant of Venice Suite (Finale)

    Orchestra: City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Sir Vivian Dunn.
    • Classics for Pleasure.
  • Trad.

    Scarborough Fair

    Performer: Yo‐Yo Ma. Performer: Kathryn Stott. Music Arranger: Sir Stephen Hough.
    • Songs of Comfort and Hope.
    • Sony Classical.
    • 12.
  • Alexander Borodin

    Polovtsian dances (Prince Igor)

    Orchestra: New York Philharmonic. Conductor: Leonard Bernstein.
    • SONY CLASSICAL.

Broadcast

  • Tue 18 Nov 202509:30