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Meditative piano sounds to inspire concentration

Set adrift on a calming voyage scored by timeless classical and contemporary piano. Crafted to aid focus and welcome calm, while showcasing the best of piano across the decades.

A gently unfolding soundscape featuring contemporary and classical piano music from across the decades. This meditative set opens with Henrique Oswald’s delicate En nacelle and the twilight tones of Frank Bridge’s The Hour Glass: I. Dusk, before moving through the misty ambience of Ann Annie and Christina Vantzou. Alongside romantic-era gems by Florence Price and Cyril Scott sit quietly powerful works by Ryuichi Sakamoto, Aphex Twin, and Chilly Gonzales — each revealing the piano’s capacity to soothe, surprise, and stir emotion.

To listen on most smart speakers, just say “ask BBC Sounds to play Piano Focus”
Produced by Áine Devaney.
A Reduced Listening production for BBC Sounds MM.

23 days left to listen

2 hours

Music Played

  • Henrique Oswald

    En nacelle

    Performer: Sergio Monteiro.
    • Oswald: Works for Piano.
  • Gabriel Fauré

    Pelléas et Mélisande, Op. 80, Suite: III. Sicilienne

    Performer: Academy of St Martin in the Fields. Performer: Neville Marriner.
    • Fauré: Pelléas et Mélisande/Pavane/Fantasie, etc..
  • Frank Bridge

    The Hour Glass: I. Dusk

    Performer: Mark Bebbington.
    • Bridge: Piano Music, Vol. 1.
  • David Lyon

    Short Suite: Aria

    Performer: Royal Ballet Sinfonia. Performer: David Lloyd‐Jones.
    • English String Miniatures, Vol. 1.
  • Volodja Brodsky

    Snowfall Serenade

    Performer: Volodja Brodsky.
    • Raindrops.
  • Saloli

    A Good Rainy Day

    Performer: Saloli.
    • The Island: Music for Piano, Vol. 1.
  • Johannes Brahms

    6 Piano Pieces, Op. 118: No. 2: Intermezzo in A Major

    Performer: Igor Levit.
    • Brahms: Piano Concertos & Solo Piano Opp. 116 - 119.
  • Ann Annie

    Magnolias

    Performer: Ann Annie.
    • Piano Day Vol. 3.
  • William Alwyn

    Haze of Noon

    Performer: Ashley Wass.
    • Alwyn: Piano Music, Vol. 1.
  • Lou Harrison

    Suite for Symphonic Strings: 2. Chorale "Et in Arcadio Ego"

    Performer: American Composers Orchestra. Performer: Dennis Russell Davies.
    • Ung: Inner Voices / McPhee: Tabuh-Tabuhan / Harrison: Suite for Symphonic String.
  • Tiago Sousa

    waking morning

    Performer: Tiago Sousa.
    • Oh Sweet Solitude.
  • William Lloyd Webber

    The Moon

    Performer: English Chamber Orchestra. Performer: Julian Lloyd Webber.
    • And the Bridge Is Love: English Music for Strings.
  • Ryuichi Sakamoto

    A Flower is not a Flower

    Performer: Ryuichi Sakamoto.
    • Playing The Piano.
  • Nils Frahm

    Solo Remains

    Performer: Nils Frahm.
    • Solo Remains.
  • David Shea

    Suite Pt.4

    Performer: David Shea.
    • Piano I.
  • Florence Price

    Clouds

    Performer: Lara Downes.
    • Florence Price Piano Discoveries.
  • Cecil Armstrong Gibbs

    Fancy Dress, Op. 82: III. Dusk

    Performer: RTÉ Concert Orchestra. Performer: Ernest Tomlinson.
    • Miniatures (British Light Music).
  • Lara Somogyi

    révérence

    Composer: Jean‐Michel Blais. Performer: Lara Somogyi. Performer: Jean‐Michel Blais.
    • révérence.
  • François Rossignol

    Retour à la Source

    Performer: François Rossignol.
    • Une Nuit à Piopolis.
  • Laurie Torres

    Correspondances

    Performer: Laurie Torres.
    • Après coup.
  • Christina Vantzou

    Open Delay

    Composer: Michael Harrison. Composer: John Also Bennett. Performer: Christina Vantzou. Performer: Michael Harrison. Performer: John Also Bennett.
    • Christina Vantzou, Michael Harrison and John Also Bennett.
  • Erland Cooper

    Sula bassana - Excerpt II - Sula bassana

    Performer: Erland Cooper. Performer: BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra.
    • Sula bassana.
  • Cyril Scott

    Danse Negre, Op. 58/5: 5th (For One Piano)

    Performer: Leslie De’Ath. Performer: Anya Alexeyev.
    • Cyril Scott: Complete Piano Music, Vol. 5 (Lotus Land).
  • Claude Debussy

    Petite suite, L. 65: I. En bateau (Arr. for Orchestra by Henri Büsser)

    Performer: Orchestre national de Lyon. Performer: Jun Märkl.
    • Debussy: Orchestral Works, Vol. 6.
  • Ralph Vaughan Williams

    Nocturne No. 5 in B-Flat Major, H. 37 (Arr. for Piano by Ignaz Friedman)

    Performer: Joseph Banowetz.
    • Friedman: Piano Transcriptions.
  • Chilly Gonzales

    Gentle Threat

    Performer: Chilly Gonzales.
    • Solo Piano.
  • Marie Awadis

    Day VII

    Performer: Marie Awadis.
    • Una Corda Diaries.
  • Lara Downes

    Going to Bed (Homage to Philip Glass)

    Performer: Lara Downes.
    • The Bedtime Sessions.
  • Aphex Twin

    Nanou2

    Performer: Richard D. James.
    • Drukqs.
  • Dmitry Shostakovich

    Piano Concerto No. 2 in F Major, Op. 102: II. Andante

    Performer: Maxim Dmitrievich Shostakovich. Ensemble: I Musici de Montréal.
    • Shostakovich: Piano Concerto No. 2 / Symphony for Strings.
  • Ralph Vaughan Williams

    Fantasia on Greensleeves

    Performer: Academy of St Martin in the Fields. Performer: Neville Marriner.
    • 50 Revision Classics by Classic FM.
  • Maurice Ravel

    Gaspard de la nuit: II. Le gibet

    Music Arranger: Marius Constant. Orchestra: Orchestre national de Lyon. Conductor: Leonard Slatkin.
    • Ravel: Orchestral Works, Vol. 2.
  • Nininha Velloso Guerra

    Com as Crianças: Boa Noite, Mamãe

    Performer: Cristian Budu.
    • Pianolatria.
  • A Winged Victory for the Sullen

    We Played Some Open Chords and Rejoiced, for the Earth Had Circled the Sun...

    Composer: Adam Wiltzie. Performer: Adam Wiltzie. Performer: Dustin O’Halloran.
    • A Winged Victory for the Sullen.
  • Sova

    K.B

    Performer: Sova.
    • In Our Softening.
  • Emile Mosseri

    Big Country

    Performer: Emile Mosseri.
    • Minari (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack).
  • Edvard Grieg

    Lyric Pieces Book III, Op.43 - 5. Erotik

    Performer: Tom Borrow.
    • Lyric Pieces Book III, Op.43 - 5. Erotik.
  • Nadia Boulanger

    3 Pièces: No. 1, Modéré (Version for cello and piano)

    Performer: Nicolas Altstaedt. Performer: José Gallardo.
    • 3 Pièces: No. 1, Modéré (Version for cello and piano).
  • John Cage

    In a Landscape

    Performer: Floraleda Sacchi.
    • Happy Birthday John!.
  • Stephen Baysted

    Pagodesque no.4

    Performer: Stephen Baysted.
    • The Impressionists: And the Man Who Made Them (Original Motion Picture Soundtrac.
  • James Oldrini

    Solstice

    Performer: James Oldrini.
    • Solstice.
  • Alanna Crouch

    False Belief

    Performer: Alanna Crouch.
    • False Belief.
  • Rachel Portman

    Flight

    Performer: Anna Lapwood. Performer: Jess Gillam. Featured Artist: Jess Gillam.
    • Firedove.
  • Lili Boulanger

    Trois morceaux pour piano: No. 2, D'un jardin claire

    Performer: Sheila Arnold.
    • Thème varié.
  • Dorothy Howell

    Nocturne (2 Pieces)

    Orchestra: South-West German Chamber Orchestra Pforzheim. Conductor: Douglas Bostock.
    • British Music for Strings, Vol. 5.
  • Volodja Brodsky

    Fogbound Streets of Maardu

    Performer: Volodja Brodsky.
    • Raindrops.
  • Giya Kancheli

    Yellow Leaves - Waltz from Mimino [EXTRACT]

    Performer: Giorgi Gigashvili.
    • BBC Next Gen.
  • Hania Rani

    Intermezzo cis-moll

    Performer: Hania Rani.
    • Biała flaga.
  • Marie Awadis

    Étude No. 8: Through the Window

    Performer: Marie Awadis.
    • Études Mélodiques.
  • Iryna Gould

    Ukrainian Waltz

    Performer: Iryna Gould.
    • Ukrainian Waltz.
  • Hans Otte

    Das Buch der Klange: Part 7

    Performer: Hans Otte.
    • Otte: Das Buch Der Klänge.
  • Michael Price

    Welcome Home

    Performer: Michael Price.
    • Diary 2.
  • John Foxx

    Once I Had A Love

    Performer: John Foxx.
    • Wherever You Are.
  • Lucinda Gallant

    Sweet Melancholy

    Performer: Lucinda Gallant.
    • BBC Introducing.

Broadcasts

  • Thu 19 Jun 202512:00
  • Sat 19 Jul 202512:00
  • Wed 29 Oct 202512:00
  • Wed 14 Jan 202612:00
  • Wed 1 Apr 202612:00
  • Mon 18 May 202612:00
  • Last Saturday12:00