Main content

Keep your focus for the morning with serene classics

Calming classical music to inspire focus and set you up for the day ahead. Presented by broadcaster, author and counselling psychologist Dr Sian Williams.

Calming classical music to help you focus and set you up for the day ahead. Presented by broadcaster, author and counselling psychologist Dr Sian Williams.

Featuring gentle and emotive melodies from Dvorak, Allegri and Francesco Cilea. Sian delights in some particularly noisy birds she finds while out to Take a Breath and Professor Catherine Loveday explores how musical rhythm can change our behaviour.

1 month left to listen

3 hours

On radio

Next Sunday09:00
BBC Radio 3 Unwind

More episodes

Previous

Revitalise your morning with peaceful melodies

Next

Start the day with wonderful harmonies

See all episodes from Classical Unwind

Music Played

  • Francesco Cilea

    Adriana Lecouvreur (Act II: Intermezzo)

    Conductor: Gianandrea Noseda. Orchestra: BBC Philharmonic Orchestra.
    • Chandos.

  • Gregorio Allegri

    Missa Che fa oggi il mio sole (Agnus Dei)

    Choir: The Sixteen. Conductor: Harry Christophers.
    • Coro.

  • Edward Elgar

    3 Characteristic Pieces, Op 10, arr for piano (No 2, Serenade)

    Performer: Ashley Wass.
    • Naxos.

  • Luís de Freitas Branco

    Symphony No 2 in B flat minor (2nd mvt)

    Conductor: Álvaro Cassuto. Orchestra: RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra.
    • Naxos.

  • Rebecca Dale

    Study I (Rêverie in London Rain)

    Performer: Rebecca Dale.
    • Signum.

  • Leonard Bernstein

    West Side Story Symphonic Dances, Live (No 9, Finale)

    Conductor: Leonard Bernstein. Orchestra: Los Angeles Philharmonic.
    • DG.

  • Engelbert Humperdinck

    The Merchant of Venice (Love Scene)

    Conductor: Martin Fischer-Dieskau. Orchestra: Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra.
    • Marco Polo.

  • Yasuharu Takanashi

    Always Watching

    Performer: Niklas Liepe. Choir: Pop-Up. Orchestra: NDR Radio Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor: Michael England.
    • Sony Masterworks.

  • Charles‐Valentin Alkan

    25 Préludes, Op 31 (No 18, Romance in C sharp minor)

    Performer: Andrew Yiangou.
    • Rubicon.

  • Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

    Symphony No 40 in G minor, K550 (2nd mvt)

    Conductor: Antonello Manacorda. Orchestra: Potsdam Chamber Academy.
    • Sony.

  • Max Bruch

    Romance in A minor, Op 42

    Performer: Jack Liebeck. Conductor: Martyn Brabbins. Orchestra: BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra.
    • Hyperion.

  • Henry Purcell

    Second Dirge Anthem (Thou Knowest, Lord, the Secrets of Our Hearts)

    Composer: Thomas Morley. Choir: VOCES8. Orchestra: Les Inventions.
    • Signum.

  • William Lloyd Webber

    The Moon

    Performer: Julian Lloyd Webber. Orchestra: English Chamber Orchestra.
    • Naxos.

  • John Brunning

    Romance No 1

    Performer: Xuefei Yang.
    • Warner.

  • Raymond Yiu

    Canzonetta

    Performer: Dinara Klinton.
    • ABRSM Sounds.

  • Emilie Mayer

    Symphony No 7 in F minor (2nd mvt)

    Conductor: Jan Willem de Vriend. Orchestra: NDR Radio Philharmonic Orchestra.
    • CPO.

  • Otto Kotilainen

    Varpunen jouluaamuna [The Sparrow on Christmas Morning]

    Music Arranger: Kalevi Aho. Conductor: Osmo Vänskä. Orchestra: Lahti Symphony Orchestra.
    • BIS.

  • Stanley Myers

    Cavatina (The Deer Hunter)

    Performer: Thibaut Garcia.
    • Warner.

  • John Foulds

    Puppet Ballet Suite (2nd mvt, 'Love-Scene')

    Conductor: Ronald Corp. Orchestra: BBC Concert Orchestra.
    • Dutton Epoch.

  • Eleanor Daley

    Requiem (1st mvt, Requiem aeternam I)

    Singer: Esmé Ellis. Choir: Choir of Royal Holloway. Conductor: Rupert Gough.
    • Signum.

  • Chevalier de Saint-Georges Joseph Bologne

    Violin Concerto in D major, Op 2 No 2 (2nd mvt)

    Performer: Fumika Mohri. Conductor: Michael Halász. Orchestra: Czech Chamber Philharmonic Orchestra Pardubice.
    • Naxos.

  • Claude Debussy

    Clair de lune

    Performer: Hélène Grimaud. Performer: Nitin Sawhney. Music Arranger: Nitin Sawhney.
    • DG.

  • Florence Price

    Symphony No 4 in D minor (2nd mvt)

    Conductor: Yannick Nézet‐Séguin. Orchestra: The Philadelphia Orchestra.
    • DG.

  • Nikolai Yakovlevich Myaskovsky

    Sinfonietta, Op 68 (3rd mvt)

    Conductor: Vasily Petrenko. Orchestra: Oslo Philharmonic.
    • LAWO.

  • Joseph Haydn

    Piano Concerto in G major, Hob XVIII:4 (2nd mvt)

    Performer: Jean‐Efflam Bavouzet. Conductor: Gábor Takács‐Nagy. Orchestra: Manchester Camerata.
    • Chandos.

  • John Rutter

    A Gaelic Blessing

    Choir: Choir of Clare College, Cambridge. Ensemble: Dmitri Ensemble. Conductor: Graham Ross.
    • Harmonia Mundi.

  • Agathe Backer-Grondahl

    Suite, Op 20 (2nd mvt, 'Nocturne')

    Performer: Geir Henning Braaten.
    • BIS.

  • Johann Pachelbel

    Canon and Gigue for Three Violins and Continuo in D Major (Canon)

    Performer: Enrico Onofri. Performer: Marco Bianchi. Performer: Stefano Barneschi. Orchestra: Il Giardino Armonico.
    • Warner.

  • Alice Mary Smith

    Sonata for A Clarinet and Piano (2nd mvt)

    Performer: Luigi Magistrelli. Performer: Claudia Bracco.
    • VDE-GALLO.

  • Antonín Dvořák

    Serenade for Strings, Op 22, B 52 (4th mvt)

    Performer: Antje Weithaas. Orchestra: Camerata Bern.
    • CAvi Music.

  • Leonora Duarte

    Sinfonia 5 de Secondi Toni

    Conductor: Myrna Herzog. Ensemble: Ensemble Phoenix.
    • Ensemble Phoenix.

  • Erno Dohnanyi

    Konzertstück in D major, Op 12 (2nd mvt)

    Performer: Alban Gerhardt. Conductor: Carlos Kalmar. Orchestra: BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra.
    • Hyperion.

  • Emīls Dārziņš

    Minjona

    Choir: Latvian Radio Choir.
    • Swedish Society.

Broadcasts

  • New Year's Day 202609:00
    BBC Radio 3 Unwind
  • Next Sunday09:00
    BBC Radio 3 Unwind