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The ideal mix of classical music

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

    Slavonic Dance in E minor Op.72 no.2

    Orchestra: Budapest Festival Orchestra. Conductor: Iván Fischer.
    • DECCA.
  • Joseph Haydn

    Piano Sonata in C major H.16.35: II - Adagio

    Performer: Jeneba Kanneh‐Mason.
    • Sony.
  • Guillaume Bouzignac

    Noé, Noé! Pastores, Cantate Domino

    Choir: Ex Cathedra Choir. Orchestra: Ex Cathedra Baroque Ensemble. Conductor: Jeffrey Skidmore.
    • Alto.
  • Louise Farrenc

    Overture No. 2 in E flat major, Op. 24

    Orchestra: BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Anja Bihlmaier.
  • Johann Sebastian Bach

    Wir setzen uns mit Tränen nieder (St Matthew Passion, BWV 244)

    Conductor: Sir John Eliot Gardiner. Orchestra: English Baroque Soloists. Choir: Monteverdi Choir.
    • J.S.Bach: St. Matthew Passion: John Eliot Gardiner.
    • Archiv.
    • 16.
  • Claude Debussy

    Preludes - book 1: no.10 'La Cathedrale engloutie'

    Performer: Krystian Zimerman.
    • DEUTSCHE GRAMMOPHON.
  • Emmanuel Chabrier

    Suite pastorale: Scherzo-valse

    Orchestra: Monte-Carlo Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor: Hervé Niquet.
    • Chabrier: España - Fête polonaise - Joyeuse marche.
    • Naxos.
    • 4.
  • Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

    Rondo in E-Flat Major

    Performer: Sarah Willis. Orchestra: Havana Lyceum Orchestra. Conductor: José Antonio Méndez Padrón.
    • Mozart y Mambo.
    • Alpha Classics.
    • 3.
  • Gustav Mahler

    Symphony No 2, 'Resurrection' (4th mvt, Urlicht)

    Singer: Jessye Norman. Choir: Vienna State Opera Choir. Orchestra: Vienna Philharmonic. Conductor: Lorin Maazel.
    • Mahler: Symphony No. 2 in C Minor "Resurrection".
    • Sony.
  • Franz Liszt

    Les cloches de Genève (Années de pèlerinage - Première année: Suisse)

    Performer: Bertrand Chamayou.
    • NAIVE.
  • Avril Coleridge-Taylor

    Sussex Landscape: I. Largo

    Orchestra: BBC Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor: John Andrews.
    • Avril Coleridge-Taylor: Piano Concerto & Orchestral Works.
    • Resonus Classics.
    • 5.
  • Gareth Wilson

    O King of the Nations

    Performer: Sam Corkin. Ensemble: Siglo de Oro. Conductor: Patrick Allies.
    • Delphian.
  • Antonio Vivaldi

    Concerto in B Minor RV.580

    Performer: Avi Avital. Ensemble: Il Giardino Armonico. Conductor: Giovanni Antonini.
    • Concertos.
    • Deutsche Grammophon (DG).
  • Antonio Vivaldi

    Concerto, Op. 3 No. 10 'Con quattro Violini e Violoncello obligato', RV 580: II - largo -larghetto - Adagio - Largo

    Performer: Avi Avital. Ensemble: Il Giardino Armonico. Conductor: Giovanni Antonini.
    • Concertos.
    • Deutsche Grammophon (DG).
  • Antonio Vivaldi

    Concerto, Op. 3 No. 10 'Con quattro Violini e Violoncello obligato', RV 580: III - Allegro

    Performer: Avi Avital. Ensemble: Il Giardino Armonico. Conductor: Giovanni Antonini.
    • Concertos.
    • Deutsche Grammophon (DG).
  • Felix Mendelssohn

    String Octet in E-Flat Major, Op. 20: IV. Molto allegro e vivace

    • Mendelssohn: In Time (Violin Concerto & Octet).
    • Alpha Classics.
    • 7.
  • Judith Bingham

    The Drowned Lovers

    Choir: Tenebrae. Singer: Martha McLorinan. Conductor: Nigel Short.
    • Music of the Spheres: Part Songs of the British Isles.
    • Signum Records.
    • 14.
  • Édouard Lalo

    Le roi d'Ys: "Puisqu'on ne peut fléchir... Vainement, ma bien-aimée"

    Singer: Jonas Kaufmann. Orchestra: Bavarian State Orchestra. Conductor: Bertrand de Billy.
    • L'Opéra.
    • Sony Classical.
    • 6.
  • Camille Saint‐Saëns

    Symphony No 3 in C minor Op 78 'Organ' (3rd mvt)

    Performer: Daniel Roth. Orchestra: Les Siècles. Conductor: François‐Xavier Roth.
    • Harmonia Mundi.
  • Ignacio de Jerusalem y Stella

    Quae est ista quae ascendit

    Ensemble: Kolner Akademie. Conductor: Michael Alexander Willens.
    • CPO.
  • Samuel Coleridge-Taylor

    Nonet Op.2 'Gradus ad Parnassum' (4th mvt)

    Ensemble: Kaleidoscope Chamber Collective.
    • Chandos.
  • Johannes Brahms

    PIano Concerto no. 1 in D minor Op.15: II - Adagio

    Performer: Sir András Schiff. Orchestra: Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment.
    • Brahms: Piano Concertos.
    • ECM New Series.
    • 2.
  • George Frideric Handel

    Giulio Cesare: Va tacito (go silently)

    Singer: Barnaby Smith. Ensemble: The Illyria Consort.
    • Voces8 Records.
  • Felix Mendelssohn

    String Quartet No. 6 in F minor, Op. 80

    Orchestrator: Julian Azkoul. Ensemble: United Strings of Europe. Conductor: Julian Azkoul.
    • BIS.
  • John Rutter

    Be Not Afeard

    Choir: The King’s Singers.
    • Gold.
    • Signum Records.
    • 41.
  • Manuel de Falla

    Danses espagnoles 'La vida breve'

    Performer: Katia Labèque. Performer: Marielle Labèque. Music Arranger: Gustave Samazeuilh.
    • Piano Fantasy/Music for two pianos: Katia and Marielle Labeque.
    • Philips.
    • 1-2.
  • William Grant Still

    Symphony No. 1, "Afro-American": III. Humor. Animato

    Orchestra: Royal Scottish National Orchestra. Conductor: Kellen Gray.
    • African American Voices.
    • Linn Records.
    • 3.
  • Jean Sibelius

    Finlandia, Op. 26

    Orchestra: Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Mariss Jansons.
    • BR Klassik: Greatest Moments.
    • BR-Klassik.
    • 7.

Broadcast

  • Thu 4 Dec 202509:30