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Refresh your morning with classical 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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15 days left to listen

3 hours, 30 minutes

Last on

Fri 22 May 2026 09:30
BBC Radio 3

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Music Played

  • Antonín Dvořák

    Slavonic Dance in G minor, Op 46 No 8

    Performer: Zdenka Hrsel. Performer: Martin Hršel. Ensemble: Prague Piano Duo.
    • Dvorak: The Slavonic Dances opp. 46 & 72: Prague Piano Duo.
    • Praga Digitals.
    • 8.

  • Joseph Bologne

    Violin Concerto in C Major, Op. 3 No. 2: I - Allegro

    Performer: Théotime Langlois de Swarte. Orchestra: Orchestre de l’Opéra Royal.
    • Château de Versailles Spectacles.

  • Johannes Brahms

    Horn Trio in E flat Op.40 (Finale)

    Performer: David Guerrier. Performer: Renaud Capuçon. Performer: Nicholas Angelich.
    • Martha Argerich and Friends Live from the Lugano Festival 2016.
    • Warner Classics.
    • 9.

  • Johann Sebastian Bach

    Jesu, nun sei gepreiset (Cantata No 41)

    Choir: Bach Collegium Japan. Orchestra: Bach Collegium Japan. Conductor: Masaaki Suzuki.
    • J.S. Bach: Cantatas 33: Bach Collegium Japan/Suzuki.
    • BIS.
    • 1.

  • Leonard Bernstein

    Candide (Overture)

    Orchestra: Berlin Philharmonic. Conductor: Sir Simon Rattle.
    • Simon Rattle on EMI Classics.
    • EMI Classics.

  • Trad.

    Tarantella calabrese

    Performer: Pierre Boragno. Lyricist: Anonymous. Singer: Marco Beasley. Ensemble: L’Arpeggiata. Director: Christina Pluhar.
    • La Tarantella: Antidotum Tarantulae (Extraits de la bande originale du film "Tou.
    • Alpha Classics.
    • 11.

  • Alexander Scriabin

    Piano Sonata No. 3 in F-Sharp Minor, Op. 23: IV. Presto con fuoco

    Performer: Yuja Wang.
    • The Vienna Recital.
    • Deutsche Grammophon (DG).

  • Dmitry Shostakovich

    Cello Concerto No. 1 in E flat major, Op. 107 (1st mvt)

    Performer: Alban Gerhardt. Orchestra: WDR Symphony Orchestra Cologne. Conductor: Jukka‐Pekka Saraste.
    • Hyperion.

  • Henry Purcell

    Oedipus, Z. 583: No. 2, Music for a While

    Performer: Joseph Middleton. Lyricist: Thomas D’Urfey. Lyricist: John Dryden. Singer: Iestyn Davies.
    • Lost Is My Quiet.
    • BIS.
    • 401.

  • Pyotr Tchaikovsky

    Symphony No.4 in F minor Op.36: III. Scherzo - Allegro

    Orchestra: Czech Philharmonic. Conductor: Semyon Bychkov.
    • DECCA.

  • Heinrich Ignaz Franz von Biber

    Harmonia artificiosa ariosa Partia II

    Performer: Florian Deuter. Performer: Mónica Waisman. Performer: Harmonie Universelle.
    • Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber: Harmonia artificioso-ariosa.
    • Accent.
    • 106.

  • Marie Jaëll

    Romance: Andantino

    Performer: Manon Galy. Performer: Célia Oneto Bensaid.
    • Marie Jaëll: Une quête d'infini.
    • La Boîte à Pépites.
    • 8.

  • Jean Sibelius

    Violin Concerto in D minor, Op 47 (3rd mvt)

    Performer: Augustin Hadelich. Orchestra: Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor: Hannu Lintu.
    • AVIE.

  • Astor Piazzolla

    Loving

    Performer: Quatuor Voce. Ensemble: Quatuor Voce.
    • Alpha.

  • Georges Bizet

    Carmen Suite No. 2, WD 31: VI. Danse boheme

    Orchestra: Sinfonia of London. Conductor: John Wilson.
    • French Orchestral Favourites.
    • Chandos Records Ltd.
    • 17.

  • Michael Flanders and Donald Swann

    The Spider

    • The Complete Flanders & Swann.
    • Parlophone UK.
    • 11.

  • Claude Debussy

    Tarantelle styrienne

    Orchestrator: Maurice Ravel. Orchestra: Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. Conductor: Riccardo Chailly.
    • DECCA.

  • Giuseppe Martucci

    Tarantella scura

    Performer: Aldo Orvieto. Performer: Filippo Quarti.
    • Phoenix Classics.

  • Felix Mendelssohn

    A Midsummer Night's Dream, Op. 61: No. 11, Dance of the Clowns

    Lyricist: William Shakespeare. Orchestra: Boston Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Seiji Ozawa.
    • Mendelssohn: A Midsummer Night's Dream.
    • Deutsche Grammophon (DG).

  • Franz Liszt

    La campanella

    Performer: Mariam Batsashvili.
    • Influences.
    • Warner Classics.
    • 13.

  • Friedrich Witt

    Septet in F major: III. Menuetto. Allegro - Trio

    Ensemble: Charis-Ensemble.
    • MDG.

  • Charlotte Sohy

    Symphony in C-Sharp Minor, Op. 10 "Grande Guerre": II. Vif - Lent - Vif

    Conductor: Bar Avni. Orchestra: Orchestre National Bordeaux Aquitaine.
    • Symphonies in 3 Movements.
    • Alpha Classics.
    • 2.

  • Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

    Clarinet Quintet in A major K.581:IV Allegretto con variazioni

    Performer: Raphaël Sévère. Ensemble: Modigliani Quartet.
    • Mirare.

  • Ottorino Respighi

    Fontane di Roma

    Orchestra: Orchestra of the Academy of Santa Cecilia, Rome. Conductor: Daniele Gatti.
    • Conifer.

  • George Frideric Handel

    Organ Concerto in F major, Op. 4, No. 4: Allegro

    Performer: Alastair Ross. Ensemble: The Sixteen. Conductor: Harry Christophers.
    • Handel: Coronation Anthems.
    • Coro.
    • 9.

  • Ina Boyle

    Violin Concerto (To the memory of my mother): I. Lento, ma non troppo

    Performer: Esther Abrami. Orchestra: Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Irene Delgado-Jiménez.
    • Women.
    • Sony Classical/Sony Music.
    • 10.

  • Giacomo Puccini

    Turandot: Act 3 sc.1; Nessun dorma [Calaf Ignoto]

    Performer: Philip McCann. Performer: Black Dyke Band. Conductor: Peter Parkes.
    • Chandos.

  • Christoph Willibald Gluck

    Don Juan: Dance of the spectres and the furies

    Ensemble: Il Giardino Armonico. Conductor: Giovanni Antonini.
    • NAÏVE.

  • 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.

  • William Byrd

    Civitas Sancti Tui (Ne irascaris, Domine)

    Choir: VOCES8. Conductor: Barnaby Smith.
    • After Silence.
    • VOCES8 Records.
    • 5.

  • Francis Poulenc

    Piano Concerto (2nd mvt)

    Performer: Christian Ihle Hadland. Orchestra: Norwegian Radio Orchestra. Conductor: Thomas Søndergård.
    • Lawo.

Broadcast

  • Fri 22 May 2026 09:30
    BBC Radio 3