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The best classical morning 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.

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21 days left to listen

3 hours, 30 minutes

Last on

Wed 14 Jan 202609:30
BBC Radio 3

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Music Played

  • Manuel de Falla

    Ritual Fire Dance (El amor brujo)

    Orchestra: Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Eduardo Mata.
    • Music of Manuel De Falla: Simon Bolivar Symophony Orchestra, Mata, Senn.
    • Dorian.
    • 1.

  • Alissa Firsova

    Stabat Mater

    Choir: The Sixteen. Conductor: Harry Christophers.
    • Spirit, Strength & Sorrow.
    • Coro.
    • 2.

  • Louise Farrenc

    Symphony no.3 in G minor Op.36 (3rd mvt)

    Orchestra: NDR Radio Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor: Johannes Goritzki.
    • Louise Farrenc: Symphonies 1 and 3.
    • CPO.
    • 7.

  • Sergey Rachmaninov

    Moments musicaux Op. 16 No. 1 in B flat minor: Andantino

    Performer: Steven Osborne.
    • Hyperion.

  • Edward Elgar

    Chanson de Matin Op.15 no.2

    Music Arranger: Paul Bateman. Performer: Daniel Hope. Performer: Jane Berthe. Orchestra: Zürcher Kammerorchester.
    • Belle Époque.
    • Deutsche Grammophon.
    • 13.

  • Sally Beamish

    Haunted House

    Ensemble: The Schubert Ensemble.
    • NMC.

  • Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

    Quintet for piano and winds (1st mvt)

    Performer: Sir Stephen Hough. Ensemble: Philharmonisches Bläserquintett Berlin.
    • BIS.

  • Johann Sebastian Bach

    Concerto BWV.1060 for oboe, violin & strings reconstr. Schneider vers. in C min

    Performer: Alina Ibragimova. Performer: Alexei Ogrintchouk. Orchestra: Swedish Chamber Orchestra.
    • BIS.

  • Franz Schubert

    Impromptu Op.90 No.4 in A flat, D.899

    Performer: Eric Lu.
    • Warner Classics.

  • Thomas Tallis

    O Sacrum Convivium (for 5 voices)

    Choir: Stile Antico.
    • HARMONIA MUNDI.

  • Alexander Borodin

    Polovtsian dance [no.17 from Act 2] (Polovtsian dances [from 'Prince Igor'])

    Choir: Bavarian Radio Symphony Choir. Orchestra: Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Esa‐Pekka Salonen.
    • Tchaikovksy:1812 / Borodin: Polovtsian Dances / Balakirev: Islamey : Esa-Pekka S.
    • Philips.
    • 3.

  • Johann Nepomuk Hummel

    Septet in D minor, Op 74 (3rd mvt)

    Ensemble: Nash Ensemble.
    • CRD.

  • Cécile Chaminade

    Callirhoé, suite de ballet: IV. Pas des cymbales

    Conductor: David Reiland. Orchestra: Orchestre national de Metz.
    • Compositrices: New Light on French Romantic Women Composers.
    • Bru Zane.
    • 4.

  • Franz Schubert

    Erlkönig D.328

    Singer: Dietrich Fischer‐Dieskau. Performer: Gerald Moore.
    • EMI.

  • Bernard Herrmann

    Psycho (Prelude)

    Orchestra: National Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor: Bernard Herrmann.
    • Herrmann: Music for Psycho: National Philharmonic Orchestra, Herrmann.
    • Unicorn-Kanchana.
    • 1.

  • Johannes Brahms

    Waltz in A flat major for piano duet, Op 39 No 15

    Performer: Katia Labèque. Performer: Marielle Labèque.
    • Encore! Katia and Marielle Labeque.
    • Sony Classical.
    • 8.

  • Richard Strauss

    Romanze in F Major, TrV 118 (Arr. for Violin & Orchestra)

    Performer: Arabella Steinbacher. Orchestra: WDR Symphony Orchestra Cologne. Conductor: Lawrence Foster.
    • Aber der Richtige....
    • PENTATONE.
    • 4.

  • William Walton

    String Quartet in A Minor (3rd mvt)

    Ensemble: Albion Quartet.
    • Walton: String Quartet in A Minor – Shostakovich: String Quartet No. 3 in F Majo.
    • Signum Classics.
    • 3.

  • Carl Maria von Weber

    Invitation to the Dance Op.65

    Performer: Sir Stephen Hough.
    • Stephen Hough In Recital.
    • Hyperion.
    • 4.

  • Georges Bizet

    L'Arlésienne Suite No 1

    Orchestra: Orchestre national de France. Conductor: Seiji Ozawa.
    • The Best of Bizet.
    • Philips.
    • 1.

  • Chiara Margarita Cozzolani

    Gloria in altissimis Deo

    Ensemble: Cappella Artemisia.
    • I Vespri Natalizi (1650).
    • Tactus.
    • 012.

  • Ludwig van Beethoven

    Violin Concerto in D major Op.61 (3rd mvt)

    Performer: Thomas Zehetmair. Orchestra: Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century. Conductor: Frans Brüggen.
    • Violin Concerto and Romances (Thomas Zehetmair).
    • DECCA.
    • 005.

  • Nicolas Vallet

    Suite for four lutes

    Performer: Jakob Lindberg. Performer: Nigel North. Performer: Paul O’Dette. Performer: Robert Meunier.
    • Three, Four and Twenty Lutes, Lindberg etc..
    • BIS.
    • 10.

  • Maurice Ravel

    Sonata for Violin & Piano No. 2 in G Major, M. 77: I. Allegretto

    Performer: Ittai Shapira. Performer: Jeremy Denk.
    • Retrospective: French Sonatas.
    • Champs Hill Records.
    • 4.

  • Samuel Coleridge-Taylor

    Petite suite de concert (No 1, La Caprice de Nanette)

    Conductor: Adrian Leaper. Orchestra: RTÉ Concert Orchestra.
    • Coleridge-Taylor: Hiawatha Overture, Petite Suite, & Other Works.
    • Naxos.
    • 201.

Broadcast

  • Wed 14 Jan 202609:30
    BBC Radio 3