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Relax into the day with classical

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

Last on

Wed 10 Dec 202509:30
BBC Radio 3

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Music Played

  • Leonard Bernstein

    Wonderful Town (Overture)

    Music Arranger: Charlie Harmon. Orchestra: São Paulo Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Marin Alsop.
    • Bernstein: Marin Alsop's Complete Naxos Recordings.
    • Naxos.
    • 22.

  • Giuseppe Torelli

    Sinfonia in C major G.33

    Ensemble: La Serenissima. Director: Adrian Chandler.
    • AVIE.

  • Fanny Mendelssohn

    Piano Quartet in A flat major (1st mvt: Allegro moderato)

    Ensemble: Kaleidoscope Chamber Collective.
    • Fanny and Felix Mendelssohn: Piano Sextet; Piano Quartet; Piano Trio.
    • Chandos.
    • 9.

  • Johannes Brahms

    Hungarian Dance No 5 in F sharp minor

    Performer: Katia Labèque. Performer: Marielle Labèque.
    • Brahms 21 Hungarian Dances - Katia & Marelle Labeque.
    • Phillips.
    • 5.

  • Georgy Sviridov

    The Snowstorm

    Orchestra: Moscow Radio Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Vladimir Fedoseyev.
    • ALTO.

  • Gabriel Fauré

    Masques et bergamasques, Op 112 (Overture)

    Orchestra: BBC Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor: Yan Pascal Tortelier.
    • Faure: Dolly Suite etc.: Soloists/BBC Philharmonic/Tortelier.
    • Chandos.
    • 1.

  • Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

    Horn Quintet, K.407: II. Andante

    Performer: Felix Klieser. Ensemble: Zemlinsky Quartet.
    • Mozart & Haydn For Horn & String Quartet.
    • Berlin Classics.
    • 11.

  • Antonín Dvořák

    Scherzo capriccioso, Op 66

    Orchestra: Czech Philharmonic. Conductor: Charles Mackerras.
    • Dvorak: Symphonic Variations etc: Czech Philharmonic Orchestra/Mackerras.
    • Supraphon.
    • 2.

  • John Jacob Niles

    I Wonder as I Wander (Arr. for String Quartet by Reena Esmail)

    Music Arranger: Reena Esmail. Ensemble: Miró Quartet.
    • Hearth.
    • Pentatone.
    • 104.

  • Florence Price

    Song for Snow

    Performer: Chloe Flower. Orchestra: Academy of St Martin in the Fields. Conductor: Jessica Cottis.
    • Song for Snow.
    • Popsical Music Group.
    • 1.

  • Felix Mendelssohn

    String Octet in E flat major Op.20 (1st mvt)

    Performer: Christian Tetzlaff. Performer: Isabelle Faust. Performer: Antje Weithaas. Performer: Lisa Batiashvili. Performer: Rachel Roberts. Performer: Ori Kam. Performer: Tanja Tetzlaff. Performer: Quirine Viersen.
    • Avi Music.

  • Melissa Dunphy

    O Oriens

    Choir: Pembroke College Chapel Choir. Conductor: Anna Lapwood.
    • A Pembroke Christmas.
    • Signum Classics.
    • 104.

  • Hugo Alfvén

    Uppsala Rhapsody, Op. 24

    Orchestra: German Symphony Orchestra Berlin. Conductor: Łukasz Borowicz.
    • Alfvén: Symphony No. 3 in E Major, Uppsala Rhapsody & The Mountain King Suite.
    • CPO.
    • 9.

  • George Gershwin

    Promenade 'Walking the Dog'

    Orchestrator: Sol Berkowitz. Music Arranger: John Fullam. Music Arranger: Paul Rosenbloom. Performer: John Fullam. Orchestra: Buffalo Philharmonic. Conductor: JoAnn Falletta.
    • Gershwin: Rhapsody in Blue: Buffalo Philharmonic/Falletta.
    • Naxos.
    • 3.

  • Maurice Jarre

    Doctor Zhivago "Lara's Theme"

    Orchestra: The City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor: Paul Bateman.
    • Decca (UMO) (Classics).

  • Nikolai Karlovich Medtner

    Stimmungsbilder, Op. 1: V. Andante

    Performer: Hamish Milne.
    • Medtner: Arabesques, Dithyrambs, Elegies & Other Short Piano Works.
    • Hyperion.

  • Sergey Prokofiev

    Alexander Nevsky, Op. 78: VII. Alexander's Entry into Pskov

    Lyricist: V. Lugovskoi. Conductor: Neeme Järvi. Orchestra: Royal Scottish National Orchestra. Choir: Royal Scottish National Orchestra Chorus.
    • Prokofiev: Alexander Nevsky & Scythian Suite.
    • Chandos.
    • 107.

  • Émile Waldteufel

    Les Patineurs, Op 183

    Orchestra: Monte-Carlo Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor: Willi Boskovsky.
    • Offenbach: Gaite Parisienne/ Waldteufel: Waltzes: Rosenthal/Boskovsky.
    • EMI.
    • 22.

  • Gerald Finzi

    Bagatelle No 3, 'Carol', for clarinet and piano, Op 23

    Performer: Michael Collins. Performer: Michael McHale.
    • The Lyrical Clarinet.
    • Chandos.
    • 6.

  • Josquin des Prez

    Praeter rerum seriem

    Ensemble: Alamire. Conductor: David Skinner.
    • Anne Boleyn's Songbook.
    • Obsidian.
    • 005.

  • Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson

    Largo from Sinfonietta No 1

    Orchestra: Chicago Sinfonietta. Conductor: Paul Freeman.
    • Perkinson: A Celebration.
    • Cedille.
    • 2.

  • Francesco Manfredini

    Sinfonia da chiesa in D major, Op 2 No 12, 'Sinfonia pastorale'

    Performer: Thorsten Rosenbusch. Performer: Christian Trompler. Performer: Karl-Heinz Schröter. Performer: Harald Winkler. Performer: Raphael Alpermann. Orchestra: Kammerorchester Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach. Conductor: Hartmut Haenchen.
    • Christmas Concertos - Kammerochestrer Carl Phillip Emanuel Bach.
    • Sony Classical.
    • 1.

  • Johann Sebastian Bach

    Magnificat in E flat major BWV.243a (Magnificat anima mea)

    Ensemble: Dunedin Consort. Director: John Butt.
    • Linn.

  • Gustav Holst

    Cotswold symphony

    Orchestra: Ulster Orchestra. Conductor: JoAnn Falletta.
    • Holst: Cotswolds Symphony.
    • Naxos.
    • 2.

  • Antoine de Févin

    Nesciens mater

    Choir: The Gesualdo Six. Conductor: Owain Park.
    • Josquin's Legacy.
    • Hyperion.
    • 15.

  • Alexander Borodin

    In the Steppes of Central Asia

    Orchestra: Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Neeme Järvi.
    • Tchaikovsky: 1812 Overture, Rimsky-Korsakov, Borodin: Neeme Jarvi.
    • Deutsche Grammophon.
    • 3.

  • Vítězslava Kaprálová

    Prélude de Noël

    Orchestra: Janáčkova filharmonie Ostrava. Conductor: Tomáš Vrána.
    • Kaprálová: The Completed Orchestral Works.
    • CPO.
    • 110.

  • Alexander Scriabin

    24 Preludes Op.11 (no.21 in B flat major)

    Performer: Julius Asal.
    • Scriabin – Scarlatti: Singles (Pt. 1).
    • Deutsche Grammophon.
    • 2.

  • Frederick Delius

    La Calinda (Koanga)

    Ensemble: Academy of St Martin in the Fields. Conductor: Neville Marriner.
    • Delius: Orchestral Works.
    • LONDON.
    • 8.

Broadcast

  • Wed 10 Dec 202509:30
    BBC Radio 3