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Three hours of classical sparkle

Join Sarah Walker for a warm, good-humoured soundtrack for the start of February, blending lyrical string writing, joyful Bach and expansive symphonic music.

This week on Sunday Morning, Sarah Walker offers three hours of music to take the edge off a February chill - including sparkling virtuosity from Carl Maria von Weber and the sheer exhilaration of Bach’s Concerto for three violins.

This week’s Choral Reflection features the Nordic climes of Finland and the Tapiola Choir, an amazing children’s vocal group, and we stay in Finland for Jean Sibelius’s vivid picture of darkness giving way to light in Night-ride and Sunrise.

Sarah also settles into Schumann’s expansive Rhenish Symphony, and alongside pieces by two British trailblazers Dorothy Howell and Imogen Holst, it’s back to Scandinavia for a touch of Danish ‘hygge’ courtesy of the Danish String Quartet.

A Tandem Production for BBC Radio 3.

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3 hours

Last on

Sun 1 Feb 202609:00
BBC Radio 3

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Music Played

  • Joseph Haydn

    String Quartet in B flat major, Op 76 No 4, Hob III:78, 'Sunrise' (4th mvt)

    Ensemble: Quatuor Arod.
    • Warner Classics.

  • Granville Bantock

    Song to the Seals

    Performer: Sir Stephen Hough.
    • Stephen Hough's English Piano Album.
    • Hyperion.
    • 12.

  • Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

    Symphony No 4 in F minor, Op 36 (3rd mvt, Scherzo)

    Conductor: Vladimir Jurowski. Orchestra: London Philharmonic Orchestra.
    • London Philharmonic Orchestra.

  • Johann Sebastian Bach

    Concerto for 3 Violins in D major, BWV 1064R

    Performer: Rachel Podger. Performer: Bojan Čičić. Performer: Johannes Pramsohler. Ensemble: Brecon Baroque.
    • Channel Classics.

  • Thea Musgrave

    Song of the Enchanter

    Orchestra: BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Jac van Steen.

  • Edvard Grieg

    Lyric Pieces, Book 5 (March of the Trolls)

    Performer: Einar Steen-Nøkleberg.
    • Naxos.

  • Jean Sibelius

    Koulutie JS 112 (The Way to School)

    Choir: Tapiolan kuoro. Conductor: Pasi Hyökki.
    • Fuga.

  • Trad.

    Drømte mig en drøm

    Ensemble: Danish String Quartet.
    • Last Leaf.
    • ECM New Series.
    • 9.

  • Thomas Adès

    Powder Her Face (suite)

    Orchestra: The National Youth Orchestra. Conductor: Paul Daniel.
    • Ades: Tevot, Violin Concerto, Three Studies.
    • EMI.
    • 8.

  • Ralph Vaughan Williams

    Concerto for Bass Tuba and Orchestra in F minor, IRV 92 (2nd mvt, Romanza)

    Performer: John Fletcher. Conductor: André Previn. Orchestra: London Symphony Orchestra.
    • Sony Classical.

  • Joseph Haydn

    Sonata No 49 in C sharp minor, Hob XVI: 36 (1st mvt)

    Performer: Jean‐Efflam Bavouzet.
    • Chandos.

  • Tomás Luis de Victoria

    Taedet animam meam

    Choir: The Hilliard Ensemble.
    • ECM.

  • Joaquín Rodrigo

    Canario (Fantasía para un gentilhombre)

    Performer: Craig Ogden. Orchestra: BBC Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor: Sachio Fujioka.
    • Rodrigo: Concierto de Aranjuez, Fantasia para un gentilhombre & Concierto pa.
    • Chandos.
    • 7.

  • Manuel de Falla

    Serenata andaluza

    Performer: Javier Perianes.
    • Falla: Nights in the Garden of Spain; Solo Piano Works.
    • harmonia mundi.
    • 14.

  • Jean Sibelius

    Night Ride and Sunrise, Op 55

    Conductor: Paavo Järvi. Orchestra: Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra.
    • Warner Classics.

  • Johannes Brahms

    Cello Sonata No 1 in E minor

    Performer: Alisa Weilerstein. Performer: Pavel Kolesnikov.

  • Sergey Prokofiev

    The Love for Three Oranges, Op 33 (March)

    Conductor: Paavo Järvi. Orchestra: Orchestre philharmonique de Radio France.
    • Ballets russes.
    • Parlophone (France).
    • 4.

  • Dani Howard

    Trombone Concerto (1st mvt, 'Realisation')

    Performer: Peter Moore. Conductor: Michael Seal. Orchestra: Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra.
    • Rubicon.

  • Robert Schumann

    Symphony No 3 in E flat major, Op 97, 'Rhenish'

    Conductor: Marek Janowski. Orchestra: Dresdner Philharmonie.
    • Pentatone.

  • Erik Satie

    Gnossiennes No 1

    Performer: Bertrand Chamayou.
    • Erato.

  • Dorothy Howell

    The Rock

    Conductor: Rebecca Miller. Orchestra: BBC Concert Orchestra.
    • Signum Records.

  • Georg Philipp Telemann

    Bourrée (Suite in D major, TWV 55:D6)

    Performer: Jordi Savall. Director: Jordi Savall. Ensemble: Le Concert des Nations.
    • Le Concert Spirituel: Le Concert des Nations / Jordi Savall.
    • Alia Vox.
    • 11.

  • Joseph Horovitz

    Canzonet

    Orchestra: Royal Ballet Sinfonia.
    • Decca (UMO).

  • Imogen Holst

    Welcome Joy and Welcome Sorrow (1st & 4th mvts)

    Choir: Ensemble Altera. Conductor: Christopher Lowrey.
    • Feminine Voices at Christmas.
    • Alpha Classics.
    • 2 & 3.

Broadcast

  • Sun 1 Feb 202609:00
    BBC Radio 3