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A feast of great music

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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29 days left to listen

3 hours, 30 minutes

Last on

Yesterday09:30
BBC Radio 3

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Music Played

  • Johann Sebastian Bach

    Magnificat in D major, BWV 243 (Magnificat anima mea)

    Choir: Monteverdi Choir. Ensemble: English Baroque Soloists. Conductor: Sir John Eliot Gardiner.
    • Philips.

  • Clara Schumann

    Piano Concerto in A minor Op.7 (1st mvt)

    Performer: Howard Shelley. Orchestra: Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra.
    • Schumann: Piano Concerto etc..
    • Hyperion.
    • 1.

  • Joseph Haydn

    String Quartet in F minor, Op 20 No 5 (3rd mvt, Adagio)

    Ensemble: Chiaroscuro Quartet.
    • BIS.

  • Reynaldo Hahn

    Venezia: 4. La biondina in gondoleta

    Performer: Graham Johnson. Author: Antonio Lamberti. Singer: Anthony Rolfe Johnson.
    • Souvenirs de Venise - Songs of Venice.
    • Helios.
    • 16.

  • Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

    Symphony no.40 in G minor K.550 (4th mvt)

    Orchestra: Scottish Chamber Orchestra. Conductor: Charles Mackerras.
    • Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Symphonies 38 - 41 Scottish Chamber Orchestra Sir Charle.
    • Linn.
    • 4.

  • Ferde Grofé

    Mississippi Suite (Huckleberry Finn)

    Performer: Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: William T. Stromberg.
    • NAXOS.

  • Anna Lapwood

    O Nata Lux

    Choir: Pembroke College Girls' Choir. Conductor: Anna Lapwood.
    • Signum.

  • Franz Krommer

    Concerto for 2 Clarinets in E flat, Op.91 (3rd mvt)

    Performer: Sabine Meyer. Performer: Wolfgang Meyer. Orchestra: Württembergisches Kammerorchester Heilbronn. Conductor: Jörg Faerber.
    • Clarinet Works By Krommer & Rossini.
    • EMI.
    • 6.

  • Frédéric Chopin

    Scherzo no.2 in B flat minor Op.31

    Performer: Martha Argerich.
    • Chopin: 26 Preludes Scherzo NR. 2 - Martha Argerich.
    • Deutsche Grammaphon.
    • 29.

  • Nico Dostal

    Just ask your heart what love is (The Hungarian Wedding)

    Singer: Jonas Kaufmann. Singer: Nikola Hillebrand. Orchestra: Magyar Állami Operaház zenekara. Conductor: Dirk Kaftan.
    • SONY.

  • Sergey Rachmaninov

    Symphony no.2 in E minor Op.27 (2nd mvt)

    Orchestra: Budapest Festival Orchestra. Conductor: Iván Fischer.
    • Rachmaninov: Symphony No. 2: Budapest Festival Orchestra, Fischer.
    • Channel Classics.
    • 2.

  • Antonio Vivaldi

    Concerto in A minor for recorder and 2 violins, RV.108

    Performer: Dan Laurin. Performer: Jonas Nordberg. Performer: Anna Paradiso. Performer: Jan Bjoranger. Performer: Benedicte Kyllingstad.
    • BIS.

  • Camille Saint‐Saëns

    Cello Sonata no.1 in C minor Op.32 (2nd mvt)

    Performer: Steven Isserlis. Performer: Connie Shih.
    • Cello Music from Proust's Salons.
    • BIS.
    • 402.

  • Franz Schubert

    Symphony No. 8 in B minor "Unfinished", D.759 (2nd movement)

    Orchestra: Le Concert des Nations. Director: Jordi Savall.
    • ALIA VOX.

  • Santiago de Murcia

    Fandango

    Performer: Josep María Martí Duran. Music Arranger: Josep María Martí Duran. Ensemble: L’Arpeggiata.
    • Erato.

  • Florence Price

    The Mississippi River (Part 4)

    Orchestra: Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: John Jeter.
    • Price: Symphony No. 3, The Mississippi River & Ethiopia's Shadow in America.
    • Naxos.
    • 8.

  • Henry Mancini

    Moon River (Breakfast at Tiffany's)

    Singer: Audrey Hepburn. Orchestra: Henry Mancini Orchestra. Conductor: Henry Mancini.
    • Music From The Films Of Audrey Hepburn.
    • Giant.
    • 11.

  • George Frideric Handel

    Concerto grosso in D major Op.3`6

    Ensemble: Academy for Ancient Music Berlin. Performer: Clemens Flick.
    • Handel: Concerti grossi, Op. 3.
    • PENTATONE.
    • 22-23.

  • Giacomo Puccini

    Turandot, Act 3: "Nessun dorma!"

    Singer: Pene Pati. Choir: Chœurs de l’Opéra de Bordeaux. Orchestra: Orchestre National Bordeaux Aquitaine. Conductor: Emmanuel Villaume.
    • Puccini: Turandot: "Nessun dorma".
    • Warner Classics.
    • 1.

  • Ernest Chausson

    Poème for violin and orchestra, Op. 25

    Performer: Renaud Capuçon. Orchestra: Brussels Philharmonic. Conductor: Stéphane Denève.
    • ERATO.

  • Eric Whitacre

    Sleep

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

  • Robert Schumann

    Piano Quintet Op. 44

    Performer: Leif Ove Andsnes. Ensemble: Artemis Quartet.
    • VIRGIN CLASSICS.

  • Johann Strauss II

    Tritsch-Tratsch Polka

    Orchestra: Vienna Philharmonic. Conductor: Willi Boskovsky.
    • DG.

  • Marianna Martines

    Keyboard Concerto in A major (1st mvt)

    Performer: Idith Meshulam Korman. Orchestra: Oxford Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor: Cayenna Ponchione-Bailey.
    • Martines: The Complete Keyboard Works.
    • Signum Classics.

  • Georg Philipp Telemann

    Overture (Suite) in A minor, TWV:55:a2 (Overture)

    Performer: Peter Holtslag. Performer: Mark Caudle. Ensemble: The Parley of Instruments. Conductor: Roy Goodman.
    • Telemann: Recorder Concertos: Peter Holtslag, The Parley of Instruments.
    • Hyperion.
    • 7.

  • Jason Robert Brown

    Still Hurting (The Last Five Years) - excerpt

    Performer: Dylan Perez. Singer: Nicky Spence.

  • Leonard Bernstein

    Wonderful Town (Overture)

    Music Arranger: Charlie Harmon. Orchestra: São Paulo Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Marin Alsop.
    • Bernstein: Marin Alsop's Complete Naxos Recordings.
    • Naxos.
    • 22.

Broadcast

  • Yesterday09:30
    BBC Radio 3