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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 a masterpiece.

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29 days left to listen

3 hours, 30 minutes

Last on

Yesterday09:30
BBC Radio 3

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A classical soundtrack for your morning

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Music Played

  • Franz Lehár

    Gold and Silver Waltz

    Orchestra: Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor: Barry Wordsworth.
    • Here Come the Classics, Vol. 12: The Glory of Vienna.
    • RPO.
    • 11.

  • Felix Mendelssohn

    Concerto in D minor for violin and piano (3rd mvt)

    Performer: Kristian Bezuidenhout. Performer: Gottfried von der Goltz. Orchestra: Freiburg Baroque Orchestra.
    • Mendelssohn: Concertos: Bezuidenhout/Freiburger Barockorchester/Gottfried von de.
    • Harmonia Mundi.
    • 6.

  • Thomas Tallis

    Sancte Deus, sancte fortis

    Choir: Tallis Scholars. Conductor: Peter Phillips.
    • A Tudor Collection: The Tallis Scholars.
    • Gimell.

  • Antonín Dvořák

    Symphony no. 9 "From the New World" (3rd mvt)

    Orchestra: Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Andris Nelsons.
    • Dvorak: Symphony No. 9, A Hero's Song: Bavarian Radio Symphony, Nelsons.
    • BR Klassik.
    • 3.

  • Jean Françaix

    Silène noctiflore (L'horloge de flore)

    Performer: Albrecht Mayer. Ensemble: Academy of St Martin in the Fields. Conductor: Mathias Mönius.
    • Decca.

  • Edward Elgar

    La Capricieuse

    Ensemble: Brodsky Quartet.
    • Chandos.

  • Sergey Prokofiev

    Summer Night [Suite from 'The Duenna'] (Dreams)

    Orchestra: Philharmonia Orchestra. Conductor: Neeme Järvi.
    • CHANDOS.

  • Antonio Vivaldi

    Concerto for Violin and Viola da gamba, 'La maggiore' RV546

    Performer: Adrian Chandler. Performer: Vladimir Waltham. Ensemble: La Serenissima.
    • AVIE.

  • Louise Farrenc

    Fugue in C sharp minor, Opo.22'10

    Performer: Maria Stratigou.
    • Farrenc: Complete Piano Works, Vol. 5.
    • Grand Piano.
    • 112.

  • Caroline Shaw

    Dolce Cantavi

    Performer: TENET.
    • The Secret Lovers.
    • Avie.
    • 13.

  • Maurice Ravel

    Une barque sur l'ocean (Miroirs)

    Orchestra: Berlin Philharmonic. Conductor: Pierre Boulez.
    • DG.

  • Bedrich Smetana

    Shakespeare Festival March

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

  • Franz Schubert

    Impromptu in A flat major, D.899 no.4

    Performer: Maria João Pires.
    • Le Voyage Magnifique, Schubert: Impromptus; Maria Joao Pires.
    • Deutsche Grammophon.
    • 4.

  • George Frideric Handel

    Concerto grosso in D major Op.3`6

    Orchestra: English Baroque Soloists. Conductor: Sir John Eliot Gardiner.
    • Handel: Concerti Grossi Op.3: English Baroque Soloists/Gardiner.
    • Apex.
    • 17.

  • Sergey Prokofiev

    Cinderella: Waltz coda and Midnight

    Orchestra: The Cleveland Orchestra. Conductor: Vladimir Ashkenazy.
    • Decca.

  • Jean‐Philippe Rameau

    The Arts and the Hours (Les Boreades)

    Music Arranger: Víkingur Ólafsson. Performer: Víkingur Ólafsson.
    • Debussy & Rameau.
    • Deutsche Grammophon.
    • 17.

  • Benjamin Britten

    Five Flower Songs, Op. 47: No. 4, The Evening Primrose

    Conductor: Paul McCreesh. Ensemble: Giovanni Gabrieli.
    • Silence & Music.
    • Signum Records.
    • 12.

  • Hamish MacCunn

    The Land of the Mountain and the Flood (Overture)

    Orchestra: BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Martyn Brabbins.
    • MacCunn - Land of the Mountain and the Flood.
    • Hyperion.
    • 001.

  • Dietrich Becker

    Sonata a 3

    Ensemble: Europäisches Hanse-Ensemble. Director: Manfred Cordes.
    • Musik der Hansestadte Vol. 4: Musik aus dem alten Hamburg.
    • CPO.
    • 4.

  • Teresa Carreño

    Un reve en mer

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

  • Morten Lauridsen

    O Magnum Mysterium

    Choir: Polyphony. Director: Stephen Layton.
    • A Christmas Present from Polyphony.
    • Hyperion.
    • 14.

  • Alexander Borodin

    Symphony No 2 in B minor

    Orchestra: Toronto Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Sir Andrew Davis.
    • CBS Maestro.

  • Johann Sebastian Bach

    Brandenburg Concerto no.3 in G major BWV.1048 (1st mvt)

    Performer: Trevor Pinnock. Orchestra: The English Concert. Conductor: Trevor Pinnock.
    • Bach: Works for Orchestra: The English Concert/Pinnock.
    • Archiv Produktion.
    • 8.

  • 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.

  • Joseph Haydn

    Piano Trio in C major H.15.21 (3rd mvt)

    Ensemble: Trio Wanderer.
    • Haydn: Piano Trios, HOB. XV:14, 18, 21, 26 & 31.
    • Harmonia Mundi.
    • 109.

  • Frederick Delius

    The Walk to the Paradise Garden (A Village Romeo and Juliet)

    Orchestra: Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor: John Wilson.
    • Made in Britain.
    • AVIE Records.
    • 4.

Broadcast

  • Yesterday09:30
    BBC Radio 3