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Settle down for the evening with calming classical music

Niall Breslin brings you calming classical music to help you release the stresses of the day, recharge and prepare to rest.

Three hours of calming classical music to help you release the stresses of the day, recharge and prepare to rest - presented by Irish musician and mindfulness expert Niall Breslin.

This episode features a rich blend of music from the likes of Schubert, Finzi and Max Richter. Plus, a chance to Press Pause with meditation teacher Michael James Wong, and some essential Wind Down Wisdom from science podcaster Caroline Steel on how a shutdown routine is the perfect way to end your day.

To listen on most smart speakers, just ask BBC Sounds to play Classical Wind Down.

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3 hours

Last on

Tuesday 17:00
BBC Radio 3 Unwind

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Music Played

  • Jean Sibelius

    Kuolema (Scene with Cranes)

    Orchestra: BBC Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Sakari Oramo.

  • Leo Brouwer

    Cancion de cuna [Berceuse]

    Performer: Miloš Karadaglić.
    • Sound Of Silence.
    • Mercury Classics.
    • 12.

  • Alice Mary Smith

    Sonata for A Clarinet and Piano: Andante

    Ensemble: Il Cenacolo della Chimera.
    • Clarinet Repertoire of Women Composers.
    • VDE-GALLO.
    • 2.

  • Ole Bull

    La Mélancolie (I Ensomme Stunde)

    • Arco.
    • Grappa.
    • 14.

  • Samuel Coleridge‐Taylor

    Deep river (24 Folk melodies Op.59)

    Performer: Isata Kanneh‐Mason.
    • Summertime.
    • Decca.

  • Gerald Finzi

    Prelude in F minor

    Orchestra: Aurora Orchestra. Conductor: Nicholas Collon.
    • Introit: The Music of Gerald Finzi.
    • Decca.
    • 11.

  • Georg Philipp Telemann

    Viola Concerto in G Major, TWV 51:G9: I. Largo

    Performer: Alfonso Leal Del Ojo. Director: Harry Bicket. Orchestra: The English Concert.
    • Dall'Abaco, Porpora, Marcello, Tartini & Telemann: Concertos.
    • Signum Classics.

  • Philip Glass

    Etude No. 2

    • The Glass Effect (The Music of Philip Glass & Others).
    • Masterworks.
    • 2.

  • Mieczysław Weinberg

    Aria, Op 9

    Performer: Gidon Kremer. Ensemble: Kremerata Baltica.
    • Songs of Fate.
    • ECM New Series.
    • 7.

  • Kim André Arnesen

    Even When He Is Silent

    Choir: Kantorei. Conductor: Joel Rinsema.
    • Kim André Arnesen: Infinity.
    • Naxos.
    • 1.

  • George Frideric Handel

    Lascio ch'io pianga from Rinaldo arr. for oboe & ensemble

    Performer: Albrecht Mayer. Performer: Monika Razynska. Orchestra: Sinfonia Varsovia.
    • New Seasons - Händel für Oboe und Orchester.
    • Deutsche Grammophon (DG).
    • 7.

  • Cécile Chaminade

    Thème varié in A major, Op 89

    Performer: Sir Stephen Hough.
    • HYPERION.

  • Hugo Alfvén

    Gustav II Adolf, Op. 49: V. Elegy. To Carin, my wife

    Orchestra: Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Neeme Järvi.
    • Alfven & Rautavaara: Orchestral Works.
    • Chandos.
    • 111.

  • Brandee Younger

    Reflection Eternal

    • Gadabout Season.
    • Impulse!.
    • 5.

  • Ludwig van Beethoven

    String Quartet in B flat major, Op.130 (5th mvt)

    Ensemble: Danish String Quartet.
    • ECM.

  • Frédéric Chopin

    Nocturne in B major, Op 32 No 1

    Performer: Angela Hewitt.
    • Chopin: The Complete Nocturnes and Impromptus: Angela Hewitt, piano.
    • Hyperion.
    • 11.

  • Sophie Hutchings

    The Wind That Circles Us

    • A World Outside.
    • Mercury Classics.
    • 10.

  • Robert Schumann

    Piano Quartet in E flat, Op.47 (3rd mvt)

    Performer: Isabelle Faust. Performer: Antoine Tamestit. Performer: Jean‐Guihen Queyras. Performer: Alexander Melnikov.
    • Schumann: Piano Quartet - Piano Quintet.
    • harmonia mundi.
    • 3.

  • Belle Chen

    Meditation for the Healing Heart

    Orchestra: BBC Concert Orchestra. Conductor: Ben Palmer.

  • April Chung

    When the Moon Drifts

    • When the Moon Drifts.
    • BRG Music.
    • 1.

  • Ralph Vaughan Williams

    The Lark Ascending

    Performer: Nathaniel Anderson-Frank. Orchestra: BBC Concert Orchestra. Conductor: Barry Wordsworth.

  • Evelyn Glennie

    A Little Prayer

    Performer: Evelyn Glennie.
    • Rhythm Song.
    • RCA Red Seal.
    • 10.

  • William Lloyd Webber

    The Gardens at Eastwell "A Late Summer Impression" (Arr. Soudoplatoff for Violin

    Music Arranger: Dimitri Soudoplatoff. Conductor: Robin Ticciati. Orchestra: German Symphony Orchestra Berlin.
    • On a Summer Evening.
    • Warner Classics.
    • 12.

  • Max Richter

    Now We Can Sing - Edit

    • Decca (UMO) (Classics).

  • Joseph Bodin de Boismortier

    Sonata in G Major for Bassoon and Continuo, Op. 50 No. 2: I. Largo

    Performer: Peter Whelan. Ensemble: Ensemble Marsyas.
    • The Proud Bassoon.
    • Linn Records.
    • 1.

  • Alexis Ffrench

    Before the World Sings

    • Before the World Sings.
    • Sony Classical.
    • 1.

  • Giacomo Puccini

    I Crisatemi

    Ensemble: Leonkoro Quartet.

  • William Byrd

    The Bells

    Performer: Martin Stadtfeld.

  • Luke Howard

    Dappled Light

    Performer: Jess Gillam. Performer: Jess Gillam Ensemble.
    • DECCA.

  • Ola Gjeilo

    Winter (Version for Harp & String Trio)

    • Cosy Nights by the Fire.
    • Decca Music Group Ltd..
    • 1.

  • Takashi Yoshimatsu

    White Landscapes, Op. 47a; (2nd mvt)

    Performer: John Barrow. Performer: Jonathan Price. Performer: Kate Wilson. Ensemble: Manchester Camerata. Conductor: Sachio Fujioka.
    • Yoshimatsu: Piano Concerto etc..
    • CHANDOS.
    • 8.

  • Emilie Mayer

    Piano Concerto in B Flat Major: II. Un poco adagio

    Performer: Alexander Melnikov. Orchestra: Academy for Early Music, Berlin. Conductor: Bernhard Forck.
    • harmonia mundi.

  • Lambert

    Nostalgia

    • True.
    • Mercury Classics.
    • 11.

  • Ólafur Arnalds

    Spiral

    • some kind of peace.
    • Decca Music Group Ltd..
    • 3.

  • Franz Schubert

    Am Tage aller Seelen, D. 343, (Litanei auf das Fest aller Seelen)

    Lyricist: Johann Georg Jacobi.
    • Silent Dreams.
    • Universal Music B.V..
    • 4.

Broadcast

  • Tuesday 17:00
    BBC Radio 3 Unwind