Half an hour of the finest classical music

Today’s mixtape begins with the glowing warmth of Borodin’s nocturne from his String Quartet No.2 in D major, its long-breathed melodies unfolding with quiet tenderness. The gentle mood continues in the lament of Rameau’s Tristes apprêts from Castor et Pollux, before an unlikely pairing of bass guitar and saxophone reimagined in Scarlatti’s Sonata in F minor, in an arrangement by Jess Gillam and Becker. Boulanger’s Prelude in D-flat major for piano drifts in like a half-remembered dream, leading naturally to the expansive and deeply lyrical andante from Rachmaninov’s Sonata in G minor for cello and piano. The mixtape closes with Morricone’s unforgettable Love Theme from Cinema Paradiso.

Producer: Zara Siddiqi