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A feast of great 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

Last on

Fri 12 Dec 202509:30
BBC Radio 3

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Music Played

  • Frédéric Chopin

    Fantaisie-impromptu in C sharp minor, Op.66

    Performer: Pavel Kolesnikov.
    • Chopin: Impromptus, Waltzes & Mazurkas.
    • Hyperion.
    • 001.

  • Herbert Howells

    Sing Lullaby

    Conductor: Nigel Short. Choir: Tenebrae.
    • In Winter's House: Christmas with Tenebrae.
    • Signum Classics.
    • 1201.

  • Sergey Rachmaninov

    Symphony No. 1 in D Minor, Op. 13: I. Grave - Allegro ma non troppo

    Conductor: Vasily Petrenko. Orchestra: Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra.
    • Rachmaninov: Symphony No. 1 & Prince Rostislav.
    • Warner Classics International.
    • 2.

  • Giuseppe Verdi

    Va pensiero (Nabucco)

    Choir: Chorus of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. Orchestra: Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. Conductor: Robin Stapleton. Conductor: Bernard Haitink.
    • Famous Opera Choruses: Haitink.
    • EMI.
    • 4.

  • Trad.

    Dark Eyes

    Music Arranger: John Harle. Performer: Jess Gillam. Performer: Andee Birkett. Ensemble: Tippett Quartet. Performer: John Harle. Performer: Zeynep Özsuca.
    • Decca.

  • Errollyn Wallen

    Peace on Earth

    Performer: Catrin Meek. Choir: Choristers of Merton College, Oxford. Conductor: Benjamin Nicholas.
    • In the Stillness: A Merton Christmas.
    • 2022 Delphian Records Ltd..
    • 4.

  • Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

    Symphony No 25 in G minor, K 183 (1st mvt)

    Orchestra: Danish National Chamber Orchestra. Conductor: Ádám Fischer.
    • W.A. Mozart Symphonies Vol.7 (1773).
    • DACAPO.
    • 13.

  • James Oswald

    Snowdrop (Airs for the Seasons, Winter)

    Ensemble: Rezonance Baroque Ensemble.
    • James Oswald: Airs for the Seasons.
    • Leaf Music.
    • 38.

  • Franz Schubert

    Ellens Gesang 3 (Ave Maria)

    Performer: Christopher Glynn. Singer: Ailish Tynan.
    • SIGNUM.

  • Trad.

    Wexford Carol

    Music Arranger: Jeff Scott. Ensemble: Miró Quartet.
    • Hearth.
    • Pentatone.
    • 109.

  • Giovanni Gabrieli

    Canzon duodecimi toni à 10, C178

    Ensemble: Wallace Collection. Conductor: Simon Wright.
    • Gabrieli and St.Marks: Venetian Brass Music: The Wallace Collection/Wallace/Wrig.
    • Nimbus.
    • 1.

  • Trad.

    Dark eyes (Ochi tchorniya)

    Performer: Andee Birkett. Performer: John Harle. Performer: Zeynep Özsuca. Music Arranger: John Harle. Ensemble: Tippett Quartet.
    • Decca.

  • Lilian Elkington

    Out of the Mist

    Orchestra: BBC Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: David Lloyd‐Jones.
    • Elgar - The Spirit of England etc..
    • Dutton Laboratories.
    • 7.

  • Leroy Anderson

    A Christmas Festival

    Orchestra: Royal Scottish National Orchestra. Conductor: Christopher Bell.
    • RSNO: A Family Christmas.
    • Signum Classics.
    • 1.

  • Eric Whitacre

    Lux aurumque

    Choir: Eric Whitacre Singers. Conductor: Eric Whitacre.
    • Decca.

  • Arnold Bax

    Elegiac Trio

    Ensemble: Nash Ensemble.
    • HYPERION.

  • Spike Jones

    Hotcha Cornia (Black Eyes)

    • The Greatest Hits Collection - Spike Jones & Fletcher Henderson.
    • Northern Quarter.
    • 18.

  • Giacomo Puccini

    Recondita armonia (Tosca)

    Singer: Freddie De Tommaso. Singer: Lise Davidsen. Orchestra: Philharmonia Orchestra. Conductor: Paolo Arrivabeni.
    • Il Tenore.
    • Decca.
    • 1.

  • Ralph Vaughan Williams

    The Dark-eyed sailor (5 English folk songs)

    Choir: Holst Singers. Conductor: Stephen Layton.
    • HYPERION.

  • Arthur Sullivan

    Take a pair of sparkling eyes (The Gondoliers)

    Librettist: W. S. Gilbert. Singer: Thomas Round. Orchestra: New Symphony Orchestra of London. Conductor: Isidore Godfrey.
    • Gilbert & Sullivan: The Gondoliers.
    • Decca.
    • 9.

  • Harold Edwin Darke

    In the Bleak Midwinter

    Performer: David Briggs. Lyricist: Christina Rossetti. Choir: Choir of King’s College, Cambridge. Singer: John Bowen. Conductor: Stephen Cleobury.
    • 25 Carols for Christmas.
    • Decca Music Group Ltd..
    • 11.

  • Jamie W. Hall

    Dust of Snow

    Performer: Caroline Jaya-Ratnam. Singer: Rebecca Lea.
    • Convivium.

  • Dmitry Shostakovich

    The Red Hill (The Unforgettable Year 1919, Op 89a)

    Performer: Martin Roscoe. Orchestra: BBC Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor: Vassily Sinaisky.
    • The Film Music of Dmitri Shostakovich, Vol.3.
    • Chandos.
    • 8.

  • Bob Chilcott

    Before the ice (O magnum mysterium)

    Choir: Commotio. Conductor: Matthew Berry.
    • Chilcott: The Rose in the Middle of Winter.
    • Naxos.
    • 1.

  • Margaret Bonds

    Troubled Water

    Performer: Martin James Bartlett.
    • Till I Wake.
    • Warner Classics.
    • 2.

  • Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov

    The Snow Maiden, Act III: Dance of the Tumblers

    Conductor: Vernon Handley. Orchestra: London Philharmonic Orchestra.
    • The London Philharmonic Orchestra Performs.
    • Intereuro.
    • 34.

  • Benjamin Britten

    A Ceremony of Carols

    Performer: Camilla Pay. Singer: Joshua Davidson. Singer: Victoria Meteyard. Singer: Grace Davidson. Singer: Martha McLorinan. Choir: Tenebrae. Conductor: Nigel Short.
    • In Winter's House: Christmas With Tenebrae.
    • Signum.

  • Arthur Sullivan

    The Pirates of Penzance (Overture)

    Orchestra: D’Oyly Carte Opera Orchestra. Conductor: John Pryce‐Jones.
    • Gilbert and Sullivan Overtures: Various performers.
    • TER.
    • 2.

  • Amy Beach

    Piano Quintet in F sharp minor (2nd mvt)

    Ensemble: Kaleidoscope Chamber Collective.
    • American Quintets.
    • Chandos.
    • 2.

  • Stuart Thompson

    The Holly and the Ivy

    Performer: Michael Bloss. Choir: The Elora Singers. Conductor: Noel Edison.
    • The Wonder of Christmas.
    • Naxos.
    • 1.

  • Ralph Vaughan Williams

    Fantasia on Greensleeves

    Orchestra: Britten Sinfonia. Conductor: Nicholas Cleobury.
    • Conifer.

Broadcast

  • Fri 12 Dec 202509:30
    BBC Radio 3