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Lift your day with sparkling classical music

Calming classical music to inspire focus and set you up for the day ahead. Presented by broadcaster, author and counselling psychologist Dr Sian Williams.

Calming classical music to help you focus and set you up for the day ahead. Presented by broadcaster, author and counselling psychologist Dr Sian Williams.

Featuring beautiful and enriching melodies from Rachmaninov, Tanzil, and Mozart, this episode features a chance to Find Your Focus in music by Poppy Ackroyd inspired by an early morning walk. Sian goes for a walk herself to Take a Breath and spies a heron in full flight. Also, Professor Catherine Loveday explores whether musical training can improve children's capacity to control their own behaviour.

28 days left to listen

3 hours

Last on

Wednesday 09:00
BBC Radio 3 Unwind

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Music Played

  • Camille Saint‐Saëns

    Carnival of the Animals, live from Lugano 2013 (Aquarium)

    Ensemble: Martha Argerich.
    • Warner.

  • Roderick Elms

    De Profundis Concertino for Bass Clarinet and Orchestra (2nd mvt, Canzonetta)

    Performer: Derek Hannigan. Conductor: Barry Wordsworth. Orchestra: BBC Concert Orchestra.
    • Signum.

  • Pyotr Tchaikovsky

    6 Morceaux, Op 51, arr for cello & piano (No 5, 'Romance')

    Performer: Andrés Díaz. Performer: Samuel Sanders.
    • Sono Luminous.

  • Joseph Bologne

    6 Quartetto concertans, No 5 in G major (2nd mvt, 'Gratioso')

    Ensemble: Arabella String Quartet.
    • Naxos.

  • John Mundy

    De Lamentatione Jeremiae

    Choir: Lay Clerks of St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle. Conductor: Timothy Byram-Wigfield.
    • Delphian.

  • Poppy Ackroyd

    Hanover Birds

    Performer: Poppy Ackroyd.
    • The birdsong Project.

  • Franz Schubert

    Rosamunde (Entr'acte No 3)

    Conductor: Laurence Equilbey. Orchestra: Insula Orchestra.
    • Warner.

  • Muzio Clementi

    Symphony No 4 in D major, WoO 35 (3rd mvt)

    Conductor: Ivor Bolton. Orchestra: Mozarteum Orchester Salzburg.
    • Sony.

  • Anna-Karin Klockar

    Limu limu lima

    Choir: Allmänna Sången. Conductor: Maria Goundorina.
    • Swedish Society.

  • George Frideric Handel

    Water Music, Suite No in F major (Air)

    Conductor: Bernard Labadie. Orchestra: Les Violons du Roy.
    • ATMA.

  • Maria Szymanowska

    Nocturne in B flat major (arr for cello & piano)

    Performer: Raphaela Gromes. Performer: Julian Riem. Music Arranger: Julian Riem.
    • Sony.

  • Sergey Prokofiev

    Symphony No 1, Op 25 (Intermezzo)

    Conductor: James Gaffigan. Orchestra: Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra.
    • Challenge.

  • Gustav Holst

    A Song of the Night, Op 19, H 74

    Performer: Tasmin Little. Conductor: Andrew Davis. Orchestra: BBC Philharmonic.
    • Chandos.

  • Anton Rubinstein

    Piano Concerto No 3 in G major, Op 45 (2nd mvt)

    Performer: Joseph Banowetz. Conductor: Róbert Stankovský. Orchestra: Slovak State Philharmonic Orchestra.
    • Marco Polo.

  • Thomas Tallis

    If ye Love Me

    Choir: ORA Singers. Conductor: Suzi Digby.
    • Harmonia Mundi.

  • Marianna Bottini

    Clarinet Concerto (Adagio)

    Performer: Luigi Magistrelli. Performer: Claudia Bracco. Ensemble: Il Cenacolo della Chimera.
    • VDE GALLO.

  • Guillaume Dufay

    Ave Maris Stella

    Choir: Blue Heron. Conductor: Scott Metcalfe.
    • Blue Heron Renaissance Choir.

  • André Mathieu

    Concertino No 2, Op 13 (2nd mvt)

    Performer: Alain Lefèvre. Performer: David Lefevre. Performer: Paul Archibald. Orchestra: London Mozart Players. Conductor: Matthias Bamert.
    • Analekta.

  • Antonín Dvořák

    Piano Quintet No 2 in A major, Op 81, B 155 (2nd mvt, 'Dumka')

    Performer: Marc‐André Hamelin. Ensemble: Takács Quartet.
    • Hyperion.

  • Joseph Haydn

    Divertimento in B flat major, Hob II:46, 'Chorale St Antoni' (2nd mvt)

    Ensemble: Linos Ensemble.
    • Capriccio.

  • Takashi Yoshimatsu

    Atom Hearts Club Suite No 2, Op 79a (3rd mvt, 'Brothers Blues')

    Conductor: Sachio Fujioka. Orchestra: BBC Philharmonic.
    • Chandos.

  • Samuel Coleridge‐Taylor

    5 Fairy Ballads (No 4, 'The Stars')

    Performer: Amy Harman. Performer: Tom Poster.
    • Chandos.

  • Ludwig van Beethoven

    Egmont, Op 84 (3rd mvt, Entracte)

    Conductor: John Fiore. Orchestra: Munich Radio Orchestra.
    • BR Klassik.

  • Sergey Rachmaninov

    Vocalise (arr for violin and piano)

    Performer: Lisa Batiashvili. Performer: Hélène Grimaud.
    • DG.

  • Helen Hopekirk

    2 Tone-Pictures (2nd mvt, 'The Seal-Woman's Sea-joy')

    Performer: Vanessa Wagner.
    • La Boîte à Pépites.

  • Louis Spohr

    Symphony No 6 in G major, Op 116 (2nd mvt)

    Conductor: Howard Shelley. Orchestra: Orchestra della Svizzera italiana.
    • Hyperion.

  • Eunike Tanzil

    Metamorphosis

    Performer: Sophie Kauer. Conductor: Anna Handler. Orchestra: German Symphony Orchestra Berlin.
    • DG.

  • Trad.

    Wild Mountain Thyme

    Music Arranger: Eoin Conway. Choir: UCD Choral Scholars. Conductor: Desmond Earley.
    • Signum.

  • Johann Sebastian Bach

    Partita No 1 in B flat major, BWV 825 (Praeludium)

    Performer: Sarah Ainsworth.
    • Twenty20 Records.

  • Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

    String Quartet No 17 in B flat major, K 458, 'Hunt' (3rd mvt)

    Ensemble: Casals Quartet.
    • Harmonia Mundi.

  • Patrick Doyle

    Sweets to the Sweet Farewell (Hamlet)

    Conductor: Patrick Doyle. Orchestra: Studio Orchestra.
    • Sony.

  • Florence Price

    Poem of Praise

    Performer: Libby Burgess. Choir: BBC Singers. Conductor: Benjamin Nicholas.

  • Pyotr Tchaikovsky

    Eugen Onegin, Op 24 (Lensky's Aria)

    Performer: Guy Braunstein. Conductor: Kirill Karabits. Orchestra: BBC Symphony Orchestra.
    • Pentatone.

  • Pacho Flores

    Morocota

    Performer: Pacho Flores. Conductor: Carlos Miguel Prieto. Orchestra: Orquesta Sinfónica de Minería.
    • DG.

  • Josef Rheinberger

    Abendlied

    Choir: VOCES8.
    • Signum.

Broadcast

  • Wednesday 09:00
    BBC Radio 3 Unwind