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A feast of great music

Ian Skelly plays the best in classical music for your morning, 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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22 days left to listen

3 hours, 30 minutes

Last on

Last Friday 09:30
BBC Radio 3

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Celebrating classical greats

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Music Played

  • Richard Strauss

    Also sprach Zarathustra (opening)

    Orchestra: Los Angeles Philharmonic. Conductor: Zubin Mehta.
    • Holst: The Planets / John Williams: Star Wars Suite / Strauss, R.: Also sprach Z.
    • Decca Music Group Ltd..

  • Gabriel Fauré

    Piano Quartet no.1 in C minor Op.15 (2nd mvt)

    Performer: Kathryn Stott. Ensemble: Hermitage String Trio.
    • Chandos.

  • Alexander Borodin

    Symphony no.2 in B minor (4th mvt)

    Orchestra: Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor: Vladimir Ashkenazy.
    • DECCA.

  • Francesco Cavalli

    Piante ombrose (La Calisto)

    Singer: Lauranne Oliva. Ensemble: Ensemble Correspondances. Conductor: Sébastien Daucé.
    • HARMONIA MUNDI.

  • Joseph Haydn

    Concerto for cello and orchestra Hob.VIIb:1 in C major - I. Moderato

    Performer: Jean‐Guihen Queyras. Orchestra: Freiburg Baroque Orchestra. Conductor: Petra Müllejans.
    • harmonia mundi.

  • William Byrd

    O Lord, make thy servant Elizabeth

    Conductor: James O’Donnell.
    • Hyperion.

  • Amy Beach

    Dancing Leaves (2 Pieces, Op.102)

    Performer: Kirsten Johnson.
    • Guild.

  • Francis Poulenc

    Flute Sonata

    Orchestrator: Lennox Berkeley. Performer: Katherine Bryan. Orchestra: Royal Scottish National Orchestra. Conductor: Paul Daniel.
    • LINN.

  • Fritz Kreisler

    Schön Rosmarin

    Performer: Ray Chen. Performer: Julien Quentin.
    • The Golden Age.
    • DECCA.
    • 8.

  • Billy Barnes

    Have I stayed too long at the fair? (At the Fair)

    Music Arranger: Barbara Hannigan. Music Arranger: Bill Elliott. Singer: Barbara Hannigan. Orchestra: Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra.
    • ALPHA.

  • Fanny Mendelssohn

    Capriccio in B minor

    Performer: Claire Huangci.
    • ALPHA.

  • Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach

    Symphony in G major Wq.183`4 (3rd mvt)

    Orchestra: The English Concert. Conductor: Andrew Manze.
    • C.P.E. Bach: 4 Symphonies: The English Concert, Andrew Manze.
    • Harmonia Mundi.
    • 15.

  • Franz Schubert

    Liebesbotschaft (Schwanengesang D.957)

    Singer: Christian Gerhaher. Performer: Gerold Huber.
    • Schubert: Schwanengesang & 4 Lieder: Gerhaher/Huber.
    • Arte Nova Classics.
    • 1.

  • George Gershwin

    Rhapsody in Blue

    Performer: Benjamin Grosvenor. Orchestra: Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor: James Judd.
    • DECCA.

  • Robert Schumann

    String Quartet in A Minor, Op 41 No 1 (4th mvt)

    Ensemble: Consone Quartet.

  • Herbert Howells

    Behold, O God our defender

    Performer: Eleanor Kornas. Choir: The Choir Of Trinity College, Cambridge. Conductor: Stephen Layton.
    • HYPERION.

  • Arthur Bliss

    Welcome the Queen, Op 78

    Performer: Black Dyke Band. Conductor: John Wilson.
    • CHANDOS.

  • Edward Elgar

    The Dream of Gerontius, Pt II: Praise to the Holiest in the height

    Singer: Anna Stéphany. Singer: Nicky Spence. Choir: Polish National Youth Choir. Ensemble: Gabrieli Consort & Players. Conductor: Paul McCreesh.
    • The Dream of Gerontius.
    • SIGNUM.
    • 110.

  • Scott Joplin

    Maple Leaf Rag

    Music Arranger: Evelyn Glennie. Performer: Evelyn Glennie. Orchestra: National Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor: Ray Russell.
    • Rhythm Song.
    • RCA.
    • 9.

  • Karl Goldmark

    Symphony No 1 in E flat "Rustic Wedding Symphony" (5th mvt)

    Orchestra: New York Philharmonic. Conductor: Leonard Bernstein.
    • Goldmark: Rustic Wedding Symphony - Hindemith: Symphony in E-Flat Major.
    • Sony Classical.
    • 5.

  • Cécile Chaminade

    Pecheurs de nuit (Poemes provencaux, Op 127)

    Performer: Joanna Kacperek.
    • RUBICON.

  • Cipriano de Rore

    Illuxit nunc sacra dies

    Ensemble: Brabant Ensemble. Conductor: Stephen Rice.
    • Hyperion.

  • Richard Wagner

    Tristan und Isolde (Prelude)

    Orchestra: Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Daniel Barenboim.
    • Wagner: Overtures and Preludes: Chicago Symphony Orchestra/Barenboim.
    • Teldec.
    • 6.

  • Ludwig van Beethoven

    Piano Sonata No 21 in C Major "Waldstein"

    Performer: Igor Levit.
    • Beethoven: Complete Piano Sonatas.
    • Sony.

  • François‐Joseph Gossec

    Tambourin (Le Triomphe de la Republique)

    Music Arranger: Charles Gerhardt. Performer: James Galway. Orchestra: National Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor: Charles Gerhardt.
    • James Galway - Celebrating 70 - A collection of Personal Favourites.
    • RCA.
    • 3.

  • Antonín Dvořák

    Violin Concerto (3rd mvt)

    Performer: Gil Shaham. Orchestra: Virginia Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Eric Jacobsen.
    • Coleridge-Taylor, Dvořák, Stewart.
    • Canary Classics.
    • 106.

  • Ruth Gipps

    Horn Concerto (3rd mvt)

    Performer: David Pyatt. Orchestra: London Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor: Nicholas Braithwaite.
    • British Horn Concertos.
    • LYRITA.

  • Francis Poulenc

    Fancy

    Performer: Pascal Rogé. Singer: Felicity Lott.
    • Decca.

  • Hubert Parry

    I Was Glad

    Choir: Gabrieli Roar. Ensemble: Chetham's School of Music Symphonic Brass Ensemble. Ensemble: Gabrieli Consort. Ensemble: Gabrieli Players. Conductor: David Chatterton.
    • An English Coronation, 1902-1953.
    • Signum Classics.
    • 1001.

Broadcast

  • Last Friday 09:30
    BBC Radio 3