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Your perfect classical playlist

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 a masterpiece.

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29 days left to listen

3 hours, 30 minutes

Last on

Today 09:30
BBC Radio 3

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Music Played

  • Ludwig van Beethoven

    Piano Sonata in C minor, 'Pathetique' (2nd mvt)

    Performer: Igor Levit.
    • SONY.

  • Louise Farrenc

    Symphony no.3 in G minor Op.36 (3rd mvt)

    Orchestra: NDR Radio Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor: Johannes Goritzki.
    • Louise Farrenc: Symphonies 1 and 3.
    • CPO.
    • 7.

  • Gabriel Fauré

    Messe basse

    Performer: Tom Etheridge. Choir: Choir of King’s College, Cambridge. Conductor: Stephen Cleobury.
    • Fauré: Requiem & Messe basse.
    • Kings College Cambridge.
    • 114.

  • Aram Khachaturian

    Spartacus: Adagio of Spartacus and Phrygia

    Orchestra: Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor: Vasily Petrenko.
    • Mussorgsky: Pictures at an Exhibition/Khachaturian: Spartacus Suite.
    • Onyx Classics.
    • 2.

  • Peter Katona

    Gran Vals (The Tarrega Double Concerto)

    Ensemble: Katona Twins. Orchestra: La Chapelle Musicale de Tournai. Conductor: Philippe-Gérard.
    • Alhambra Inspirations.
    • Solo Musica.

  • William Walton

    Portsmouth Point

    Orchestra: Sinfonia of London. Conductor: John Wilson.
    • CHANDOS.

  • Einojuhani Rautavaara

    Notturno e danza for violin and piano

    Performer: Pekka Kuusisto. Performer: Paavali Jumppanen.
    • Ondine.

  • Maurice Ravel

    Piano Concerto in G major (2nd mvt)

    Performer: Martha Argerich. Orchestra: Berlin Philharmonic. Conductor: Claudio Abbado.
    • Ravel: Piano Concerto in G major: Argerich, Berliner Phil, Abbado.
    • Deutsche Grammophon.
    • 5.

  • John Lennon

    The Fool on the Hill

    Composer: Paul McCartney. Music Arranger: Gene Puerling. Ensemble: VOCES8. Ensemble: Ringmasters.
    • Shall we gather.
    • Decca.

  • William Grant Still

    Lyric Quartet (The Jovial One)

    Ensemble: Catalyst Quartet.
    • Uncovered, Vol 3.
    • Azica.
    • 6.

  • Felix Mendelssohn

    Venetian Gondola Song (Songs Without Words - book 2 Op.30)

    Performer: Peter Donohoe.
    • Chandos.

  • Carl Maria von Weber

    Oberon (Overture)

    Orchestra: London Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Antal Doráti.
    • ELOQUENCE.

  • Pyotr Tchaikovsky

    Marche Slave, Op.31

    Orchestra: City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Andris Nelsons.
    • ORFEO.

  • Alonso Lobo

    Versa est in luctum

    Choir: Stile Antico.
    • Harmonia Mundi.

  • Marc‐Antoine Charpentier

    Te Deum H.146 (Prelude)

    Ensemble: Les Arts Florissants. Conductor: William Christie.
    • ERATO.

  • Eduardo Di Capua

    O sole mio

    Singer: Luciano Pavarotti. Orchestra: National Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor: Giancarlo Chiaramello.
    • DECCA.

  • Simon Jeffes

    Telephone and Rubber Band

    Ensemble: Penguin Cafe Orchestra.
    • ZOPF LTD.

  • Domenico Zipoli

    Elevazione

    Performer: Caroline Dale. Performer: John Anderson. Orchestra: London Metropolitan Orchestra.
    • Such Sweet Thunder.
    • Dharma Records.
    • 11.

  • Orlando Gibbons

    Hosanna to the Son of David

    Orchestrator: Nico Muhly. Orchestra: Aurora Orchestra. Conductor: Nicholas Collon.
    • Decca.

  • Benedikt Anton Aufschnaiter

    Missa Laetemur: Kyrie

    Ensemble: Ars Antiqua Austria. Director: Gunar Letzbor. Choir: St. Florian Boys' Choir.
    • Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber: Vesperae a 32.
    • Accent.
    • 2.

  • Joe Hisaishi

    A Town with an Ocean View (Kiki's Delivery Service)

    Orchestra: Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor: Joe Hisaishi.
    • DG.

  • Vincenzo Bellini

    "Casta Diva" from 'Norma'

    Performer: Karen Jones. Singer: Angela Gheorghiu. Choir: Chorus of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. Orchestra: London Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Evelino Pidò.
    • 'Casta Diva'.
    • Warner Classics.
    • 1.

  • Johann Sebastian Bach

    Keyboard Concerto No 1 in D minor, BWV 1052

    Performer: Christophe Rousset. Orchestra: Academy of Ancient Music. Conductor: Christopher Hogwood.
    • Bach: Harpsichord Concertos: Rousset/AAM/Hogwood.
    • L'Oiseau-Lyre.
    • 1.

  • Ronald Binge

    Elizabethan Serenade

    Orchestra: The New London Orchestra. Conductor: Ronald Corp.
    • HYPERION.

  • Johannes Brahms

    Clarinet Quintet in B minor, Op.115 (1st mvt)

    Performer: Martin Frost. Performer: Janine Jansen. Performer: Boris Brovtsyn. Performer: Maxim Rysanov. Performer: Torleif Thedéen.
    • BIS.

  • Rebecca Dale

    I Wandered Lonely As A Cloud

    Author: William Wordsworth. Ensemble: Tenebrae. Conductor: Nigel Short.
    • Rebecca Dale: Night Seasons.
    • Signum Records.
    • 7.

  • Robert Schumann

    Symphony No. 1 in B flat, 'Spring' (IV. Allegretto animato e grazioso)

    Orchestra: San Francisco Symphony. Conductor: Michael Tilson Thomas.
    • SFS MEDIA.

  • Antonio Vivaldi

    Stabat Mater dolorosa (Stabat Mater; opening movement)

    Orchestra: Ensemble Artaserse. Conductor: Philippe Jaroussky.
    • Vivaldi: Pietà. Sacred Works for Alto.
    • Erato/Warner Classics.
    • 5.

Broadcast

  • Today 09:30
    BBC Radio 3