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Start your day with classical music

Tom McKinney presents Radio 3’s Breakfast show live from Salford. With birdsong, Bach Before 7 and the best in classical music. You can contact the show by emailing [email protected]

To listen on most smart speakers, just say 'Ask BBC Sounds to play 3 Breakfast’

5 days left to listen

3 hours

Music Played

  • Anonymous

    The Little Turtle Dove

    Singer: Ian Bostridge.
    • The English Songbook.
    • EMI.
    • 24.
  • Johannes Brahms

    String Quartet No 2 (3rd mvt)

    Ensemble: Zehetmair Quartett.
    • Brahms: String Quartets, Op. 51 Nos. 1 & 2.
    • ECM New Series.
    • 1.
  • Trad.

    Sussex Carol

    Performer: Alexander Robson. Choir: Choir of St John’s College, Cambridge. Conductor: Christopher Gray.
    • O Holy Night.
    • Signum Records.
    • 4.
  • Teresa Carreño

    Un reve en mer

    Performer: Alexandra Oehler.
    • Teresa Carreno: Klavierwerke (Piano works).
    • ARS MUSICI.
    • 005.
  • Johann Sebastian Bach

    Concerto for cor anglais after BWV 54

    Performer: Albrecht Mayer. Music Arranger: Andreas N. Tarkmann. Orchestra: The English Concert.
    • Voices Of Bach: Albrecht Mayer.
    • Decca.
    • 8.
  • 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.
  • Joseph Haydn

    Quartet in G major Op.77 No.1 (1st mvt)

    Ensemble: Takács Quartet.
    • Hyperion.
  • Victor Herbert

    March of the Toys (Babes in Toyland)

    Orchestra: Royal Scottish National Orchestra. Conductor: Christopher Bell.
    • A Family Christmas.
    • Signum.
    • 8.
  • Max Bruch

    Kol nidrei

    Performer: Natalie Clein. Orchestra: BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Ilan Volkov.
    • Hyperion.
  • Francesco Manfredini

    Concerto grosso 'Pastorale per il santissimo natale' (1st mvt)

    Orchestra: Collegium Musicum 90. Conductor: Simon Standage.
    • Chandos.
  • Morten Lauridsen

    O Magnum Mysterium

    Choir: VOCES8.
    • Eventide (10th Anniversary Edition).
    • Decca.
    • 14.
  • Cécile Chaminade

    Rondeau, Op. 97

    Performer: Tine Thing Helseth. Music Arranger: Jarle Storløkken. Ensemble: tenThing.
    • She Composes Like A Man.
    • Lawo Classics.
    • 6.
  • Cecilia McDowall

    The Magi

    Choir: Choir of Clare College, Cambridge. Conductor: Graham Ross.
  • Robert Lopez

    Do You Want to Build a Snowman?

    Composer: Kristen Anderson‐Lopez. Performer: Sir Stephen Hough. Music Arranger: Sir Stephen Hough.
    • Do You Want to Build a Snowman? (From "Frozen").
    • Hyperion.
    • 1.
  • Traditional Czech

    Zither Carol

    Music Arranger: Malcolm Sargent. Choir: Choir of Westminster Abbey. Conductor: Martin Neary.
    • Cantoris Griffin.
  • Leopold Mozart

    A musical sleigh ride

    Music Arranger: Philip Lane. Orchestra: BBC Concert Orchestra. Conductor: Barry Wordsworth.
    • The Night Before Christmas.
    • Naxos.
    • 1.
  • Trad.

    Quem pastores laudavere

    Music Arranger: Simon Wills. Ensemble: Schwäbisch Metall.
    • Vom Himmel hoch, o Englein kommt.
    • Oehms Classics.
    • 24.
  • Franz Schubert

    Symphony No 8 in B minor (1st mvt)

    Orchestra: Freiburg Baroque Orchestra. Conductor: Pablo Heras‐Casado.
    • Harmonia Mundi.
  • William Mathias

    Bell Carol

    Ensemble: Fanfare Trumpeters of the Royal Military School of Music. Choir: Bach Choir. Ensemble: Graham Ashton Brass Ensemble. Conductor: Sir David Willcocks.
    • CHANDOS.
  • Francis Poulenc

    3 Mouvements perpetuels

    Performer: Eric Le Sage.
    • Poulenc: Solo Piano Music.
    • RCA Red Seal.
  • Ralph Vaughan Williams

    Folk Songs of the Four Seasons - Suite

    Music Arranger: Roy Douglas. Orchestra: Royal Scottish National Orchestra. Conductor: Martin Yates.
    • Dutton.
  • Johann Sebastian Bach

    Wie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern, BWV 739

    Performer: David Goode.
    • J.S. Bach: The Complete Organ Works, Vol. 7.
    • Signum Classics.
    • 6.
  • Peter Cornelius

    The Three Kings

    Singer: Dingle Yandell. Choir: VOCES8.
    • Christmas.
    • Signum Classics.
    • 1601.
  • Sergey Prokofiev

    Cinderella: Waltz coda and Midnight

    Orchestra: The Cleveland Orchestra. Conductor: Vladimir Ashkenazy.
    • Decca.
  • Camille Saint‐Saëns

    Cello Concerto No 1 in A minor

    Orchestra: German Symphony Orchestra Berlin. Conductor: Alexandre Bloch.
    • Four Visions of France.
    • Orfeo.
    • 1.
  • Lowell Mason

    Joy to the World

    Music Arranger: Keith Snell. Conductor: Gary Graden. Ensemble: Vega Brass Ensemble.
    • Christmas Brass.
    • Naxos Special Projects.
    • 104.
  • Alun Hoddinott

    Investiture Dances, op.66: 3rd mvt Presto

    Orchestra: National Youth Orchestra of Wales. Conductor: Owain Arwel Hughes.
    • Elgar Symphony No.2: Hoddinott Investiture Dances.
    • Divine Art.
    • 7.
  • John Rutter

    All Bells in Paradise

    Orchestra: Britten Sinfonia. Choir: Choir of King’s College, Cambridge. Conductor: Daniel Hyde.
    • Rutter: Orchestral Carols.
    • Kings College Cambridge.
    • 106.

Broadcast

  • Thu 18 Dec 202506:30