Main content

Refresh your morning with classical music

Ian Skelly plays the best in classical music, with discoveries and surprises rubbing shoulders with familiar favourites.

Ian Skelly 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 essentialclassics@bbc.co.uk.

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”.

7 days left to listen

3 hours, 30 minutes

Last on

Fri 13 Feb 202609:30
BBC Radio 3

More episodes

Previous

The ideal mix of classical music

Next

A classical soundtrack for your morning

See all episodes from Essential Classics

Music Played

  • Giuseppe Verdi

    La donna è mobile (Rigoletto)

    Singer: Luciano Pavarotti. Orchestra: London Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Richard Bonynge.
    • Pavarotti: Verdi.
    • Decca.
    • 4.

  • Alexander Glazunov

    Symphony no.5 in B flat major Op.55 (2nd mvt)

    Orchestra: Royal Scottish National Orchestra. Conductor: José Serebrier.
    • Glazunov: Symphony no.5/The Seasons.
    • WARNER.
    • 2.

  • Joseph Haydn

    Piano Sonata in C major H.16.3 (1st mvt)

    Performer: Jean‐Efflam Bavouzet.
    • Chandos.

  • Niccolò Paganini

    Violin Concerto No 1 in D major (3rd mvt)

    Performer: Ning Feng. Orchestra: Orquesta Sinfónica del Principado de Asturias. Conductor: Rossen Milanov.
    • Virtuosismo.
    • Channel Classics.
    • 03.

  • William Walton

    Orb and Sceptre - coronation march

    Orchestra: Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Andrew Litton.
    • Walton: The Centenary Edition: Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra/Litton.
    • Decca.
    • 18.

  • Charles Wood

    Hail, gladdening light

    Choir: Winchester Cathedral Choir. Conductor: David Hill.
    • Lux Aeterna.
    • Virgin Classics.
    • 3.

  • Jennifer Higdon

    Harp Concerto (Lullaby)

    Performer: Yolanda Kondonassis. Orchestra: Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor: Ward Stare.
    • American Rapture.
    • Azica.
    • 3.

  • Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

    String Quartet No 17 in B flat major, K458 'The Hunt' (1st mvt)

    Ensemble: Casals Quartet.
    • Mozart: String Quartets dedicated to Joseph Haydn K. 421, 458 'Hunt', 464.
    • harmonia mundi.
    • 5.

  • Alexander Borodin

    Symphony No 2 in B Minor (1st mvt)

    Orchestra: Seattle Symphony. Conductor: Gerard Schwarz.
    • Borodin: Symphonies Nos. 1-3.
    • Naxos.
    • 1.

  • Sergey Prokofiev

    The Love for Three Oranges: March

    Performer: Sarah Chang. Performer: Sandra Rivers. Music Arranger: Jascha Heifetz.
    • EMI.

  • Franz Schubert

    Winterreise: Der Wegweiser (The Signpost)

    Composer: Hans Zender. Singer: Allan Clayton. Orchestra: Aurora Orchestra. Conductor: Nicholas Collon.
    • Schubert's Winterreise: A Composed Interpretation.
    • Signum Classics.
    • 209.

  • Élisabeth Jacquet de La Guerre

    Trio Sonata No 1 in G minor

    Ensemble: Ensemble Correspondances. Director: Sébastien Daucé.
    • Splendeurs de Versailles (Collection Château de Versailles).
    • Alpha Classics.
    • 7.

  • Jean Sibelius

    Symphony no.1 in E minor Op.39 (3rd mvt)

    Orchestra: Oslo Philharmonic. Conductor: Klaus Mäkelä.
    • DECCA.

  • Carl Frühling

    Trio in A minor, Op.40 (2nd mvt)

    Performer: Michael Collins. Performer: Steven Isserlis. Performer: Sir Stephen Hough.
    • Brahms, Fruhling: Clarinet Trios; Schumann: Marchenerzahlungen.
    • RCA Red Seal.
    • 10.

  • Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

    Eugene Onegin (Act 2 Waltz)

    Orchestra: Orchestre philharmonique de Radio France. Conductor: Paavo Järvi.
    • Ballets russes.
    • Parlophone (France).
    • 11.

  • Claude Debussy

    Zéphir

    Performer: Susan Manoff. Singer: Sandrine Piau.
    • NAIVE.

  • Camille Saint‐Saëns

    Allegro appassionato Op.43

    Performer: Mischa Maisky. Orchestra: Orpheus Chamber Orchestra.
    • DG.

  • Ralph Vaughan Williams

    Songs of Travel: The Infinite Shining Heavens

    Performer: Malcolm Martineau. Singer: Bryn Terfel.
    • Bryn Terfel - The Vagabond.
    • DG.

  • Ferde Grofé

    Sunrise (Grand Canyon Suite)

    Orchestra: Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor: Enrique Bátiz.
    • EMI.

  • John Rutter

    Hymn to the Creator of Light

    Choir: Polyphony. Conductor: Stephen Layton.
    • Rutter: Requiem & Other Choral Works.
    • Hyperion.
    • 8.

  • Antonio Vivaldi

    Concerto for 4 Violins and Cello in B Minor, Op. 3 No. 10, RV 580 (3rd movement)

    Performer: Rachel Podger. Performer: Bojan Čičić. Performer: Johannes Pramsohler. Performer: Sabine Stoffer.
    • Vivaldi: L'Estro Armonico.
    • Channel Classics.
    • 28.

  • Kassiani

    Tin pentachordon lyran [The 5-stringed Lute]

    Ensemble: VocaMe. Director: Michael Popp.
    • CHRISTOPHORUS.

  • Anton Bruckner

    Symphony no.4 in E flat major 'Romantic' (3rd mvt)

    Orchestra: Berliner Philharmoniker. Conductor: Bernard Haitink.
    • Bruckner: Symphonies Nos. 1–9.
    • Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra.
    • 15.

  • Ralph Vaughan Williams

    Phantasy Quintet (4th mvt Burlesca)

    Performer: Zahra Benyounes. Ensemble: Piatti Quartet.
    • RUBICON.

  • Robert Schumann

    Fantasy Pieces, Op 73: No 1

    Performer: Julian Bliss. Performer: Christopher Glynn.
    • The Shepherd On The Rock.
    • Signum.

  • George Frideric Handel

    Saeviat tellus inter rigores, HWV 240

    Singer: Julia Lezhneva. Orchestra: Il Giardino Armonico. Conductor: Giovanni Antonini.
    • Alleluia.
    • DECCA.
    • 5.

  • Dana Suesse

    Piano Concerto in Three Rhythms (3rd mvt)

    Music Arranger: Ferde Grofé. Performer: Michael Gurt. Orchestra: Hot Springs Music Festival Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Richard Rosenberg.
    • Jazz Nocturne.
    • Naxos.
    • 009.

  • Gioachino Rossini

    "La Danza" (Soirees musicales)

    Performer: Black Dyke Band. Music Arranger: Gordon Langford. Conductor: Major Peter Parkes.
    • Black Dyke Mills Band play Rossini.
    • Chandos.
    • 103.

  • John Ireland

    A Downland Suite (3rd mvt, Minuet)

    Orchestra: City of London Sinfonia. Conductor: Richard Hickox.
    • Chandos.

  • Frédéric Chopin

    Scherzo no.3 in C sharp minor Op.39

    Performer: Beatrice Rana.
    • WARNER.

  • Johann Sebastian Bach

    Partita no. 2 in D minor, BWV 1004: IV. Giga

    Performer: James Ehnes.
    • ANALEKTA.

  • Ralph Vaughan Williams

    The Wasps (Overture)

    Orchestra: Hallé. Conductor: Mark Elder.
    • Vaughan Williams: Orchestral works including Symphony no.3, The Wasps Overture,.
    • Hallé.
    • 7.

Broadcast

  • Fri 13 Feb 202609:30
    BBC Radio 3