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Celebrating classical greats

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 an orchestral masterpiece.

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11 days left to listen

3 hours, 30 minutes

Last on

Fri 26 Jun 202609:30
BBC Radio 3

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Music Played

  • Carl Orff

    Carmina Burana: Dance & Floret silva nobilis

    Choir: Audivi. Orchestra: Detroit Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Jader Bignamini.
    • PENTATONE.

  • Edward Elgar

    Symphony no.2 in E flat major Op.63 (3rd mvt)

    Orchestra: BBC Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Edward Gardner.
    • CHANDOS.

  • Charles Avison

    Concerto Grosso in E flat major Op.9'7

    Performer: Pavlo Beznosiuk. Ensemble: Avison Ensemble.
    • The Avison Ensemble: Avison: Concerti Grossi, op. 9 & op. 10.
    • Divine Art.
    • 25.

  • Paul Dukas

    The Sorcerer's Apprentice

    Conductor: John Wilson. Orchestra: Sinfonia of London.
    • French Orchestral Favourites.
    • Chandos.
    • 101.

  • Anders Hillborg

    Oh those eyes

    Singer: Hannah Holgersson. Orchestra: Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor: Sakari Oramo.
    • BIS.

  • Cécile Chaminade

    Carnival Waltz, Op.73

    Performer: Bengt Forsberg. Performer: Peter Jablonski.
    • Mots D' Amour.
    • Deutsche Grammophon.
    • 29.

  • Sergey Rachmaninov

    Symphony No 3 (3rd mvt)

    Orchestra: Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. Conductor: Vladimir Ashkenazy.
    • Rachmaninov: Symphonies Nos.1 - 3.
    • DECCA.

  • Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

    Domine Jesu (Requiem)

    Singer: Barbara Bonney. Singer: Anne Sofie von Otter. Singer: Hans Peter Blochwitz. Singer: Sir Willard White. Choir: Monteverdi Choir. Ensemble: English Baroque Soloists. Conductor: Sir John Eliot Gardiner.
    • Mozart: Requiem K626/Kyrie K341: Monteverdi Choir/John Eliot Gardiner.
    • Philips.

  • Nikolai Girshevich Kapustin

    Variations, Op 41

    Performer: Nikolay Medvedev.
    • Fusions.
    • SOMM Recordings.
    • 601.

  • Germaine Tailleferre

    Trois danses de "La Nouvelle Cythère", for Clarinet and Piano: No. 3, Galop. Trè

    Performer: Anastasia Schmidlin. Performer: Denis Zhdanov.
    • Tailleferre: Trois danses de "La Nouvelle Cythère", for Clarinet and Piano.
    • Prospero Classical.
    • 3.

  • Johann Sebastian Bach

    Solo Cello Suite no.1 in G major BWV.1007 (Prelude)

    Performer: Yo‐Yo Ma.
    • CBS.

  • Richard Wagner

    Siegfried Idyll

    Orchestra: Budapest Festival Orchestra. Conductor: Iván Fischer.
    • CHANNEL.

  • Fritz Kreisler

    Marche miniature viennoise

    Performer: Hana Chang. Performer: Jonathan Ware.

  • Louis James Alfred Lefébure‐Wély

    Sortie in E flat major (L'Orgue moderne, Bk.11)

    Performer: David Sanger.
    • Lefebure-Wely Organ Music played by David Sanger.
    • MERIDIAN.
    • 8.

  • Ralph Vaughan Williams

    The Dark-eyed sailor (5 English folk songs)

    Choir: Holst Singers. Conductor: Stephen Layton.
    • HYPERION.

  • Henryk Górecki

    Symphony No 3, Op 36 'Symphony of Sorrowful Songs' (2nd mvt)

    Singer: Dawn Upshaw. Orchestra: London Sinfonietta. Conductor: David Zinman.
    • Elektra Nonesuch.

  • Charles Wood

    Oculi omnium

    Choir: St Paul's Cathedral Choir. Conductor: John Scott.
    • The English Anthem 7.
    • Hyperion.
    • 13.

  • Johann Strauss II

    Trisch-Tratsch Polka

    Music Arranger: Georges Cziffra. Performer: Benjamin Grosvenor.
    • Galton Concert Productions.

  • Franz Schubert

    Symphony No 6 in C Major, D 589 (3rd mvt)

    Orchestra: The Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen. Conductor: Paavo Järvi.
    • Schubert: Symphonies No. 5 & No. 6.
    • Sony Music Labels Inc..
    • 3.

  • Amy Beach

    Dusk in June

    Ensemble: Lyyra.
    • Rising.
    • Warner Classics.
    • 3.

  • Giovanni Gabrieli

    Canzon a 10 [1597 no.9]

    Ensemble: Gabrieli Players. Director: Paul McCreesh.
    • Archiv.

  • Ralph Vaughan Williams

    Symphony No 5 in D major (3rd mvt0

    Orchestra: London Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Richard Hickox.
    • Vaughan Williams: Symphony no.5: LSO/Hickox.
    • Chandos.
    • 4.

  • George Frideric Handel

    Suite No 3 in D Minor, HWV 428

    • Händel: Die 8 Grossen Suiten.
    • ECM New Series.
    • 1.

  • François‐Joseph Gossec

    Tambourin (Le Triomphe de la Republique)

    Music Arranger: Charles Gerhardt. Performer: James Galway. Orchestra: National Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor: Charles Gerhardt.
    • James Galway - Celebrating 70 - A collection of Personal Favourites.
    • RCA.
    • 3.

  • Giacomo Puccini

    Turandot - opera in 3 acts: Act 1, conclusion

    Singer: Montserrat Caballé. Singer: Luciano Pavarotti. Singer: Nicolaï Ghiaurov. Singer: Tom Krause. Singer: Pier Francesco Poli. Singer: Piero de Palma. Choir: John Alldis Choir. Orchestra: London Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor: Zubin Mehta.
    • DECCA.

  • Gabriel Fauré

    Berceuse (Dolly Suite, Op.56)

    Performer: Katia Labèque. Performer: Marielle Labèque.
    • Bizet, Ravel, Faure: Katia & Marielle Labeque.
    • Philips.
    • 13.

  • Emilie Mayer

    String Quartet in G Minor, Op. 14: IV. Finale. Allegro molto

    Ensemble: Erato Quartett Basel.
    • String Quartets.
    • CPO.
    • 204.

  • Pyotr Tchaikovsky

    Piano Concerto no.1 in B flat minor Op.23 (3rd mvt)

    Performer: Beatrice Rana. Orchestra: Orchestra of the Academy of Santa Cecilia, Rome. Conductor: Sir Antonio Pappano.
    • Warner.

Broadcast

  • Fri 26 Jun 202609:30
    BBC Radio 3