Radio 3

Unwind at the end of a busy day with half an hour of back-to-back classical music, beginning with a nod towards the recently wintry weather from the "Cold Genius" in Purcell's "King Arthur". Sink into the lush harmonic world of Francis Poulenc with a section from his setting of "Stabat Mater", and Pauline Hall's impressionistic response to poetry by Verlaine. Hamilton Harty's orchestration of a popular traditional Irish melody will have you humming the familiar tune, and then take to the air with the flight scene from the film "The English Patient". Steve Reich's duet for two violins provides some fresh air, and the sequence draws to a sublimely beautiful close with a piano quartet by Robert Schumann. Producer: Helen Garrison