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A classical soundtrack for your morning

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 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.

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27 days left to listen

3 hours, 30 minutes

Last on

Monday09:30
BBC Radio 3

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Music Played

  • Dmitry Shostakovich

    Festive Overture Op.96

    Orchestra: Royal Scottish National Orchestra. Conductor: Neeme Järvi.
    • Shostakovich: Ballet Suites: Scottish National Orchestra/Jarvi.
    • Chandos.
    • 19.

  • Ruth Gipps

    Seascape Op.53 for wind ensemble

    Performer: Alex Jakeman. Performer: Ben Goldscheider. Performer: Meyrick Alexander. Performer: Alyson Frazier. Performer: Elise Campbell. Performer: Mark van de Wiel. Performer: Jonathan Parkin. Performer: Graham Hobbs.
    • Winds of Change.
    • Three Worlds Records.

  • Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach

    Symphony in B minor Wq.182 no.5

    Ensemble: Il Giardino Armonico. Director: Giovanni Antonini.
    • NAÏVE.

  • Thomas Adès

    Les tours de passe-passe (3 Studies from Couperin)

    Orchestra: Chamber Orchestra of Europe. Conductor: Thomas Adès.
    • Ades: Tevot; Violin Concerto etc..
    • EMI Classics.
    • 6.

  • Georges Bizet

    Farandole (L'Arlésienne - Suite No 2)

    Orchestra: Ulster Orchestra. Conductor: Yan Pascal Tortelier.
    • Chandos.

  • Jean Sibelius

    2 Serenades Op.69 (no.2 in G minor)

    Performer: Pekka Kuusisto. Orchestra: Tapiola Sinfonietta.
    • ONDINE.

  • Claudio Monteverdi

    Zefiro torna

    Music Arranger: Christina Pluhar. Singer: Philippe Jaroussky. Singer: Núria Rial. Ensemble: L’Arpeggiata. Conductor: Christina Pluhar.
    • ERATO.

  • Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

    Symphony No. 40 in G minor, K.550 (1st mvt)

    Orchestra: Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Herbert Blomstedt.
    • BR KLASSIK.

  • Sergey Rachmaninov

    Nocturne no.1 in F sharp minor

    Performer: Boris Giltburg.
    • Rachmaninoff: Piano Works.
    • Naxos.
    • 106.

  • Kodály Zoltán

    Dances of Marosszek

    Orchestra: Budapest Festival Orchestra. Conductor: Iván Fischer.
    • HUNGAROTON.

  • Peggy Glanville-Hicks

    Concertino da camera

    Ensemble: Tall Poppies Orchestra.
    • TALL POPPIES.

  • George Butterworth

    The Banks of Green Willow

    Orchestra: London Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Richard Hickox.
    • Vaughan Williams: A London Symphony: LSO/Hickox.
    • Chandos.
    • 1.

  • Ludwig van Beethoven

    Rondino in E flat major for wind octet, WoO 25

    Performer: Victoria Wood. Performer: Peter Francomb. Performer: Martin Field. Performer: George Caird. Performer: Michael Harris. Performer: Robin Kennard. Performer: Angela Malsbury. Performer: Gareth Newman. Performer: Simon Morgan. Ensemble: The Albion Ensemble.
    • Hummel/Beethoven/Gluck: Wind Music: Albion Ensemble.
    • Helios.
    • 13.

  • Charles Gounod

    Mireille, Act 2: Farandole et chœur. "La farandole joyeuse et folle"

    Orchestra: Orchestre du Capitole de Toulouse. Conductor: Michel Plasson.
    • Gounod: Mireille.
    • Warner Classics.
    • 5.

  • Franz Schubert

    Rosamunde, Op. 26, D. 797: IIIa. Entr'acte No. 2 (Andante)

    Orchestra: Copenhagen Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor: Lawrence Foster.
    • Schubert: Early Symphonies & Stage Music.
    • PENTATONE.
    • 302.

  • Francesco Cilea

    E la solita storia del pastore (L'Arlesiana)

    Singer: Jonas Kaufmann. Orchestra: Orchestra of the Academy of Santa Cecilia. Conductor: Sir Antonio Pappano.
    • Verismo Arias: Jonas Kaufmann, Antonio Pappano.
    • Decca.
    • 4.

  • Carl Maria von Weber

    Invitation to the dance - rondo brillant

    Orchestrator: Hector Berlioz. Orchestra: Academy of St Martin in the Fields. Conductor: Neville Marriner.
    • With Love from Vienna.
    • Philips.
    • 3.

  • Johann Sebastian Bach

    Partita No.6 in E Minor, BWV 830: I. Toccata

    Performer: Víkingur Ólafsson.
    • Opus 109 (Beethoven _ Bach _ Schubert).
    • Deutsche Grammophon (DG).
    • 4.

  • Samuel Coleridge-Taylor

    Children's Intermezzo (Othello)

    Orchestra: Chineke! Orchestra. Conductor: Fawzi Haimor.
    • Coleridge-Taylor: Othello, Op. 79: II. Children's Intermezzo.
    • Decca Music Group Ltd..
    • 1.

  • George Frideric Handel

    Zadok the priest HWV.258

    Choir: Choir of Westminster Abbey. Performer: Simon Preston. Orchestra: The English Concert. Director: Trevor Pinnock.
    • Handel: Coronation Anthems: Choir of Westminster Abbey/English Concert/Pinnock/P.
    • Archiv Produktion.
    • 1.

  • Antonín Dvořák

    Czech Suite, Op 39

    Orchestra: Detroit Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Antal Doráti.
    • Decca.

  • Heitor Villa‐Lobos

    5 Preludes (no.1 in E minor)

    Performer: Carlos Bonell.
    • The Private Collection: Carlos Bonell.
    • Upbeat Classics.

  • Max Richter

    Vivaldi Recomposed: Summer 3

    Performer: Daniel Hope. Orchestra: Konzerthaus Kammerorchester Berlin. Conductor: André de Ridder.
    • DG.

  • Isabella Leonarda

    Litanie della Beata Vergine Maria

    Ensemble: Cappella Artemisia. Director: Candace Smith.
    • Rosa Mistica. Musiche delle monache lombarde del '600.
    • Tactus.
    • 014.

  • Frédéric Chopin

    2 Nocturnes Op.55 (no.2 in E flat major)

    Performer: Angela Hewitt.
    • Chopin: The Complete Nocturnes and Impromptus: Angela Hewitt, piano.
    • Hyperion.
    • 4.

  • Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

    Symphony no.4 in F minor Op.36 (4th mvt)

    Orchestra: Oslo Philharmonic. Conductor: Mariss Jansons.
    • Tchaikovsky: Symphonies 1, 2, 3 & 4: Oslo PO, Mariss Jansons.
    • Chandos.
    • 4.

Broadcast

  • Monday09:30
    BBC Radio 3