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Celebrating classical greats

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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6 days left to listen

3 hours, 30 minutes

Last on

Thu 19 Feb 202609:30
BBC Radio 3

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Music Played

  • Gioachino Rossini

    The Thieving Magpie (Overture)

    Orchestra: Orchestra of La Scala, Milan. Conductor: Riccardo Chailly.
    • Rossini: 10 Overtures - Chailly.
    • Decca.
    • 10.

  • Karen Tanaka

    Water Dance No.3: Very lightly, like a harp

    Performer: Signe Bakke.
    • Crystalline.
    • 2L.
    • 4.

  • Joseph Haydn

    Scherzando No.5 in E major Hob. 2/37

    Ensemble: Haydn Sinfonietta Wien. Conductor: Manfred Huss.
    • BIS.

  • Kodály Zoltán

    Intermezzo (Hary Janos Suite Op.35a)

    Performer: Laurence Kaptain. Orchestra: Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Neeme Järvi.
    • Kodaly: Hary Janos Suite: Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Jarvi.
    • Chandos.

  • Cécile Chaminade

    Scarf Dance (Callirhoë)

    Orchestra: Orchestre national de Metz. Conductor: David Reiland.
    • Compositrices - New Light on French Romantic Women Composers.
    • Bru Zane.
    • 2.

  • Antonín Dvořák

    Slavonic Rhapsody in A flat major Op.45 no.3

    Orchestra: Gewandhausorchester Leipzig. Conductor: Kurt Masur.
    • PHILIPS ELOQUENCE.

  • George Frideric Handel

    Music for the Royal Fireworks (Overture)

    Orchestra: B’Rock Orchestra. Conductor: Dmitry Sinkovsky.
    • Pentatone.

  • Sergey Rachmaninov

    Morceaux de fantaisie, Op.3 no.3, Mélodie

    Performer: Boris Giltburg.
    • Rachmaninoff: Piano Works.
    • Naxos.
    • 120.

  • Howard Skempton

    Lento

    Orchestra: BBC Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Mark Wigglesworth.
    • Skempton - Lento.
    • NMC.
    • 1.

  • Gayané Chebotaryan

    Piano Trio

    Ensemble: Trio de l'île.
    • Babadjanian, Chebotaryan & Piazzolla: Piano Trios.
    • Divine Art.
    • 1.

  • Eric Whitacre

    Sleep

    Choir: Polyphony. Conductor: Stephen Layton.
    • Whitacre: Cloudburst & other choral works: Polyphony, Stephen Layton.
    • Hyperion.

  • Leos Janáček

    The Street Leading to the Castle (Sinfonietta)

    Orchestra: Vienna Philharmonic. Conductor: Charles Mackerras.
    • Janacek: Sinfonietta/Taras Bulba: Wiener Philharmoniker/Mackerras.
    • Decca.
    • 5.

  • Sergey Prokofiev

    Dance of the Shawls (Cinderella, Op.87)

    Orchestra: St Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor: Yuri Temirkanov.
    • Signum.

  • Flor Alpaerts

    Salome’s Dance of the Seven Veils

    Ensemble: Brussels Philharmonic. Conductor: Bjarte Engeset.
    • The Flemish Connection I (Orchestral Music 2).
    • VRT Muziek.
    • 2.

  • Percy Grainger

    Shepherd's Hey

    Orchestra: English Chamber Orchestra. Conductor: Benjamin Britten.
    • LONDON.

  • Edvard Grieg

    Holberg Suite for strings, Op 40 (Air)

    Orchestra: Orpheus Chamber Orchestra.
    • Grieg: Holberg Suite/Tchaikovsky: String Serenade: Orheus Chamber Orchestra.
    • Deutsche Grammophon.
    • 4.

  • Johann Strauss II

    An der schönen blauen Donau, Waltz, Op.314

    Orchestra: Vienna Philharmonic. Conductor: Yannick Nézet‐Séguin.
    • Neujahrskonzert 2026 / New Year's Concert 2026 / Concert du Nouvel An 2026.
    • Sony Classical.

  • Anna Clyne

    In your blood (Dance)

    Performer: Inbal Segev. Orchestra: London Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor: Marin Alsop.
    • Avie.

  • Franz Schubert

    Impromptu in E flat major, D.899 no.2

    Performer: Imogen Cooper.
    • Schubert, Live, Volume 3: Imogen Cooper.
    • Avie.
    • 2.

  • Charles Gounod

    Symphony No 1 in D major

    Ensemble: Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra. Conductor: Christopher Hogwood.
    • Gounod/Bizet: Symphony no.1/L'Arlesienne: St Paul Chamber Orch/Hogwood.
    • Decca.

  • Johann Sebastian Bach

    Prelude in C Minor, BWV 999 (Arr. J. Lindberg for Lute)

    Performer: Jakob Lindberg.
    • Bach on the Rauwolf Lute.
    • BIS.
    • 101.

  • Niccolò Paganini

    Violin Concerto No 2 in B minor, Op 7 'La campanella' (3rd mvt, Rondo)

    Performer: Rudolf Koelman. Orchestra: Netherlands Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Jan Willem de Vriend.
    • Challenge Classics.

  • Imogen Holst

    On Westhall Hill

    Orchestra: BBC Concert Orchestra. Conductor: Alice Farnham.
    • Discovering Imogen.
    • NMC.
    • 10.

  • Enrique Granados

    El fandango de candil (Goyescas)

    Performer: Artur Pizarro.
    • Artur Pizarro.
    • Linn Records.
    • 3.

  • Maurice Ravel

    Alborada del gracioso (Miroirs)

    Orchestra: Orchestre de Paris – Philharmonie. Conductor: Josep Pons.
    • Ravel: Concerto en sol, Le Tombeau de Couperin & Alborada del gracioso.
    • harmonia mundi.
    • 101.

Broadcast

  • Thu 19 Feb 202609:30
    BBC Radio 3