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Great classical music 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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27 days left to listen

3 hours, 30 minutes

Last on

Tuesday09:30
BBC Radio 3

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Music Played

  • Arthur Sullivan

    The Mikado (Overture)

    Performer: Academy of St Martin in the Fields. Conductor: Neville Marriner.
    • Gilbert and Sullivan Overtures.
    • Philips.
    • 5.

  • Antonio Vivaldi

    Concerto for 3 Violins in F Major RV.551

    Performer: Anne‐Sophie Mutter. Performer: Elias David Moncado. Performer: Mohamed Hiber. Ensemble: Mutter’s Virtuosi.
    • Bach, Bologne, Previn, Vivaldi, Williams.
    • Deutsche Grammophon (DG).
    • 1.

  • Antonín Dvořák

    Suite in A major, Op.98b, 'American' (3rd mvt)

    Orchestra: Budapest Festival Orchestra. Conductor: Iván Fischer.
    • Channel Classics.

  • Scott Joplin

    Solace [A Mexican Serenade]

    Performer: William Bolcom.
    • Euphonic Sounds - The Scott Joplin Album.
    • OMEGA.
    • 12.

  • Anna Clyne

    PIVOT

    Orchestra: BBC Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Dalia Stasevska.
    • Orchestral Series Highlights 2021 (Edinburgh International Festival).
    • Linn Records.
    • 1.

  • Hieronymus Praetorius

    Surge, propera, amica mea

    Choir: Balthasar‐Neumann‐Chor. Ensemble: Balthasar‐Neumann‐Ensemble. Conductor: Pablo Heras‐Casado.
    • ARCHIV.

  • Arnold Schoenberg

    Presto in C major

    Ensemble: Arditti Quartet.
    • MONTAIGNE.

  • Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

    Piano Concerto No 21 in C major (2nd mvt)

    Performer: Leif Ove Andsnes. Orchestra: Mahler Chamber Orchestra.
    • Mozart Momentum - 1785.
    • Sony.
    • 5.

  • Mel Bonis

    Ophélie, Op.165'2

    Orchestra: WDR Radio Orchestra, Cologne. Conductor: Joseph Bastian.
    • Bonis: Orchestral Works.
    • CPO.
    • 102.

  • George Frideric Handel

    Concerto grosso in B flat major Op.3`2

    Ensemble: English Baroque Soloists. Conductor: Sir John Eliot Gardiner.
    • Handel: Concerti Grossi Op.3: English Baroque Soloists/Gardiner.
    • Apex.
    • 12.

  • Frédéric Chopin

    Scherzo in B minor Op. 20

    Performer: Elisabeth Brauss.

  • Franz Schubert

    Symphony no.3 in D major D.200 (4th mvt)

    Orchestra: Antwerp Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Philippe Herreweghe.
    • Phi.

  • Bernard Herrmann

    Scène d'amour (Vertigo)

    Orchestra: London Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor: Bernard Herrmann.
    • Music from the Great Hitchcock Movie Thrillers.
    • Decca London.
    • 4.

  • Malcolm Arnold

    Scottish Dance No 2 (Reel)

    Orchestra: London Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor: Malcolm Arnold.
    • Lyrita.

  • Peter Maxwell Davies

    Dances from The Two Fiddlers

    Orchestra: Scottish Chamber Orchestra. Conductor: Peter Maxwell Davies.
    • Unicorn.

  • Trad.

    Wallom Green (The English Dancing Master)

    Music Arranger: John Playford. Music Arranger: Bjarte Eike. Ensemble: Barokksolistene. Director: Bjarte Eike.
    • The Alehouse Sessions.
    • RUBICON.
    • 101.

  • Ottorino Respighi

    La Primavera (Trittico Botticelliano)

    Orchestra: Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège. Conductor: John Neschling.
    • Respighi: Vetrate di chiesa, Il tramonto & Trittico botticelliano.
    • BIS.
    • 1.

  • Barbara Strozzi

    Parasti cor meum

    Singer: María Cristina Kiehr. Ensemble: Concerto Soave.
    • Barbara Strozzi.
    • l'empreinte digitale.
    • 10.

  • Sergey Prokofiev

    Romeo and Juliet, Op.64, Act I: No. 12, Masks

    Orchestra: Los Angeles Philharmonic. Conductor: Gustavo Dudamel.
    • Prokofiev: Romeo and Juliet, Op. 64.
    • Universal Music Operations Ltd.
    • 12.

  • Sergey Prokofiev

    Romeo and Juliet, Op.64, Act I: No. 13, Dance of the Knights

    Orchestra: Los Angeles Philharmonic. Conductor: Gustavo Dudamel.
    • Prokofiev: Romeo and Juliet, Op. 64.
    • Universal Music Operations Ltd.
    • 13.

  • Maurice Ravel

    Menuet antique

    Performer: Steven Osborne.
    • Ravel: The Complete Solo Piano Music: Steven Osborne, Piano.
    • Hyperion.
    • 8.

  • Richard Strauss

    Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme - Suite Op.60

    Orchestra: Scottish Chamber Orchestra. Conductor: Richard Armstrong.
    • Chandos.

  • Johann Sebastian Bach

    Wachet Auf, ruft uns die Stimme BWV.645

    Performer: Yo‐Yo Ma. Performer: Edgar Meyer. Performer: Chris Thile.
    • Yo-Yo Ma, Chris Thile & Edgar Meyer's Bach Trios.
    • Nonesuch.
    • 005.

  • Pauline Hall

    C'est l'extase langoureuse (Verlaine Suite)

    Orchestra: Norwegian Radio Orchestra. Conductor: Christian Eggen.
    • Norway in Music: Pauline Hall.
    • Simax.
    • 001.

  • Bedrich Smetana

    Má Vlast (Tábor)

    Orchestra: Staatskapelle Dresden. Conductor: Paavo Berglund.
    • Smetana: Ma Vlast.
    • Warner Classics.
    • 5.

  • Ludwig van Beethoven

    Bagatelle in A minor, Op 119 No 9

    Performer: Georges Solchany.
    • Beethoven The Collector's Edition 50 CDs The Masterpieces The Greatest Artists.
    • EMI Classics.
    • 13.

  • Alexander Borodin

    In the steppes of central Asia

    Orchestra: Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor: Vladimir Ashkenazy.
    • Borodin: In the Steppes of Central Asia; Symphonies Nos.1 & 2.
    • Decca.
    • 1.

Broadcast

  • Tuesday09:30
    BBC Radio 3