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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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22 days left to listen

3 hours, 30 minutes

Last on

Last Monday09:30
BBC Radio 3

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Music Played

  • Edvard Grieg

    Wedding Day at Troldhaugen (Lyric Pieces - book 8 Op.65)

    Orchestrator: Franz Josef Breuer. Orchestra: BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Jerzy Maksymiuk.
    • Grieg: Peer Gynt, Sigur Jorsalfar.
    • NAXOS.
    • 11.

  • George Frideric Handel

    Alcina - Overture

    Orchestra: Les Arts Florissants. Conductor: William Christie.
    • Warner.

  • Luise Adolpha Le Beau

    Piano Quartet in F minor, Op 28 (3rd mvmt, Tempo di Mazurka)

    Ensemble: Kaleidoscope Chamber Collective.
    • Brahms & Contemporaries, Vol. 1.
    • Chandos.
    • 7.

  • Edward Elgar

    The Wand of Youth: Suite No 2 - Fountain Dance

    Orchestra: Hallé. Conductor: Mark Elder.
    • The Wand Of Youth Suites etc..
    • Halle.
    • 11.

  • Ludwig van Beethoven

    Piano Concerto No.1 in C - 3rd mvt: Rondo

    Performer: Piotr Anderszewski. Conductor: Piotr Anderszewski. Orchestra: The Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen.
    • Beethoven: Bagatelles Op.126 & Piano Concerto No. 1 [Digital version].
    • Warner Classics.
    • 109.

  • Charles‐Valentin Alkan

    Le tambour bat aux champs, esquisse, Op. 50bis

    Performer: Mark Viner.
    • Piano Classics.

  • Arcangelo Corelli

    Concerto Grosso in D major Op.6`4

    Ensemble: Le Concert des Nations. Director: Jordi Savall.
    • Le Concert Spirituel: Le Concert des Nations / Jordi Savall.
    • Alia Vox.
    • 1.

  • Anton Bruckner

    Os Justi

    Choir: Tenebrae. Conductor: Nigel Short.
    • SIGNUM.

  • Mikhail Ivanovich Glinka

    Ruslan and Ludmila (Overture)

    Orchestra: Bavarian State Orchestra. Conductor: Wolfgang Sawallisch.
    • Kabalevsky: The Comedians etc, Sawallisch.
    • EMI Classics.
    • 16.

  • Claude Debussy

    Cello Sonata in D Minor, L. 135: I. Prologue. Lent, sostenuto e molto risoluto

    Ensemble: Trio Wanderer.
    • Art nouveau: French chamber music around 1900.
    • harmonia mundi.
    • 204.

  • Alice Mary Smith

    Symphony in A minor (2nd mvt)

    Orchestra: London Mozart Players. Conductor: Howard Shelley.
    • Chandos.

  • Max Bruch

    8 Pieces Op.83 (no.7 in B major)

    Performer: Michael Collins. Performer: Michael McHale. Performer: Isabelle van Keulen.
    • Mozart, Schumann & Others: Clarinet Trios.
    • BIS.
    • 10.

  • Max Reger

    Romance in G major, Op 50 No 1

    Performer: Tanja Becker-Bender. Orchestra: Konzerthausorchester Berlin. Conductor: Lothar Zagrosek.
    • HYPERION.

  • Felix Mendelssohn

    A Midsummer Night's Dream (Overture, Op 21)

    Orchestra: Boston Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Seiji Ozawa.
    • Mendelssohn: A Midsummer Night's Dream: Boston Symphony Orchestra, Ozawa.
    • Deutsche Grammophon.
    • 1.

  • William Grant Still

    Summerland (3 Visions)

    Performer: Jeneba Kanneh‐Mason.
    • Fantasie.
    • Sony Classical.
    • 9.

  • Jacques Offenbach

    La fille du tambour-major - Overture

    Ensemble: Luxembourg Radio Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Paul Bonneau.
    • Charles Lecocq, La Fille De Madame Angot.
    • Classical.com Music.
    • 3.

  • Charles Villiers Stanford

    Drake's Drum (Songs of the Sea, Op 91)

    Singer: Gerald Finley. Orchestra: BBC National Orchestra of Wales. Choir: BBC National Chorus of Wales. Conductor: Richard Hickox.
    • Stanford: Orchestral Songs.
    • Chandos.
    • 12.

  • Louis Moreau Gottschalk

    Le banjo

    Performer: CĂ©cile Licad.
    • Gottschalk: Piano Music.
    • Naxos.
    • 1.

  • AntonĂ­n Dvoƙák

    Slavonic Dance in E minor Op.72 no.2

    Orchestra: Berliner Philharmoniker. Conductor: Sir Simon Rattle.
    • Berliner Philharmoniker Recordings.

  • Robert Schumann

    Toccata in C major Op.7

    Performer: Nikolai Lugansky.
    • PIANO CLASSICS.

  • Eduard Bagdasarian

    Nocturne for Cello & Piano (Arr. for Cello & Orchestra)

    Performer: Narek Hakhnazaryan. Orchestra: Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Marin Alsop.
    • Chant du menestrel.
    • Ars Produktion.
    • 10.

  • Élisabeth Jacquet de La Guerre

    CĂ©phale et Procris (Overture)

    Ensemble: Musica Fiorita. Director: Daniela Dolci.
    • La Guerre: ProtĂ©gĂ©e of the Sun King.
    • ORF.
    • 001.

  • Franz Schubert

    Octet in F major D.803 (3rd mvt)

    Ensemble: Mullova Ensemble.
    • ONYX.

  • Edward MacDowell

    Piano Concerto No. 2 in D minor, Op.23

    Performer: Seta Tanyel. Orchestra: BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Martyn Brabbins.
    • HYPERION.

  • Alexander Borodin

    String Quartet No. 2 in D Major: III. Nocturne

    Performer: Joshua Bell. Music Arranger: Craig Leon. Orchestra: Academy of St Martin in the Fields. Conductor: Michael Stern.
    • Je n'aime pas le violon, mais ça j'aime bien !.
    • RCA Red Seal.
    • 8.

  • Gabriela Montero

    Improvisation no.3

    Performer: Gabriela Montero.
    • Orchid Classics.

  • Josquin des Prez

    Qui habitat in adjutorio Altissimi

    Ensemble: Huelgas Ensemble. Director: Paul Van Nevel.
    • Utopia Triumphans.
    • Sony.
    • 3.

  • Jean‐Baptiste Lully

    Chaconne (Phaëton, Act 1)

    Ensemble: Café Zimmermann.
    • Les Grandes Eaux Musicalles de Versailles.
    • Alpha.
    • 1.

  • Leonard Bernstein

    Candide (Overture)

    Orchestra: London Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Yannick NĂ©zet‐SĂ©guin.
    • DG.

Broadcast

  • Last Monday09:30
    BBC Radio 3