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A feast of great music

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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17 days left to listen

3 hours, 30 minutes

Last on

Mon 29 Jun 202609:30
BBC Radio 3

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Music Played

  • Maurice Ravel

    Menuet antique

    Orchestra: London Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Claudio Abbado.
    • Deutsche Grammophon.

  • Bernhard Crusell

    Quartet No 3 in D major for clarinet and strings, Op 7 (4th mvt)

    Performer: Kari Kriikku. Performer: Sakari Oramo. Performer: Tuula Riisalo. Performer: Lea Pekkala. Ensemble: Avanti! Quartet.
    • Crusell: Complete Clarinet Quartets.
    • Ondine.
    • 12.

  • Ralph Vaughan Williams

    Suite for Viola & Orchestra (Group 2; 2nd mvt)

    Performer: Timothy Ridout. Orchestra: Lausanne Chamber Orchestra. Conductor: Jamie Phillips.
    • Music for Viola and Chamber Orchestra.
    • Claves.
    • 5.

  • Sergey Rachmaninov

    Valse (Suite no.2 Op.17)

    Performer: Martha Argerich. Performer: Nelson Freire.
    • PHILIPS.

  • Felix Mendelssohn

    Symphony no.4 in A major Op.90 'Italian' (1st mvt)

    Orchestra: Gewandhausorchester Leipzig. Conductor: Andris Nelsons.
    • Mendelssohn: Symphonies & Oratorios.
    • Deutsche Grammophon.
    • 114.

  • Wilhelm Peterson‐Berger

    Frösöblomster I, Op. 16: No. 3, Lawn Tennis

    Performer: Niklas Sivelöv.
    • Peterson-Berger: Flowers From Froso Island.
    • Naxos.
    • 3.

  • Dame Ethel Mary Smyth

    Serenade in D major (1st mvmt, Allegro non troppo)

    Orchestra: BBC Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor: Odaline de la Martínez.
    • Chandos.

  • James MacMillan

    O Radiant Dawn (The Strathclyde Motets)

    Choir: The Gesualdo Six. Conductor: Owain Park.
    • Radiant Dawn.
    • Hyperion.
    • 5.

  • Hector Berlioz

    Symphonie fantastique (March to the Scaffold)

    Orchestra: Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. Conductor: Mariss Jansons.
    • Berlioz: Symphonie Fantastique: Jansons.
    • EMI.
    • 5.

  • Carl Orff

    Carmina Burana: XII. Olim lacus colueram

    Singer: Reginald Mobley. Choir: Audivi. Orchestra: Detroit Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Jader Bignamini.
    • Orff: Carmina Burana.
    • Pentatone.
    • 112.

  • Johannes Brahms

    Violin Sonata No 3 in D minor, Op 108 (2nd mvt)

    Performer: Jack Liebeck. Performer: Katya Apekisheva.
    • Brahms: Complete Violin Sonatas: Jack Leibeck - Katya Apekisheva.
    • Sony Classical.
    • 8.

  • Claude Debussy

    Premiere rhapsodie

    Performer: Annelien Van Wauwe. Orchestra: Orchestre national de Lille. Conductor: Alexandre Bloch.
    • Belle époque.
    • PENTATONE.
    • 1.

  • Ludwig van Beethoven

    Piano Concerto No. 3 in C Minor, Op. 37: III. Rondo. Allegro

    Performer: Boris Giltburg. Orchestra: Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor: Vasily Petrenko.
    • Beethoven: Piano Concertos Nos. 3 & 4, Opp. 37 & 58.
    • Naxos.
    • 103.

  • William Lawes

    Royall consort suite no. 8 in C major

    Performer: Elizabeth Kenny. Ensemble: Phantasm. Director: Laurence Dreyfus.
    • LINN.

  • Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

    Piano Sonata in F major K.332 (3rd mvt)

    Performer: Mitsuko Uchida.
    • Mozart: Complete Piano Sonatas: Mitsuko Uchida.
    • Philips.
    • 3.

  • Dmitry Shostakovich

    The Golden Age, Op. 22a, Act I: Dance of the Tennis Players and Training Session

    Conductor: Gennady Nikolayevich Rozhdestvensky. Orchestra: Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra.
    • Shostakovich: The Golden Age.
    • Chandos.
    • 105.

  • Erik Satie

    Sports et Divertissements: Le Tennis

    Performer: Pascal Rogé.
    • Satie: Piano Music (Classic FM: The Full Works).
    • Decca (UMO) (Classics).
    • 26.

  • Darius Milhaud

    Entree de la championne de tennis - Couplet avec Beau Gosse (Le Train Bleu Op.84)

    Orchestra: Saarbrücken Radio Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Robert Reimer.
    • Hanssler.

  • Keith Mansfield

    Light And Tuneful

    • Small Screen Classics.
    • KPM Main Series.
    • 18.

  • Florence Price

    Symphony no.1 in E Minor (3rd & 4th mvts)

    Orchestra: The Philadelphia Orchestra. Conductor: Yannick Nézet‐Séguin.
    • Florence Price: Symphonies Nos. 1 & 3.
    • Deutsche Grammophon (DG).
    • 3.

  • Richard Wagner

    Der Engel (Wesendonck-Lieder)

    Performer: Pieter Schoeman. Singer: Lise Davidsen. Orchestra: London Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor: Mark Elder.
    • Decca.

  • Henriette Renié

    Trio for harp, violin & cello (3rd mvt)

    Ensemble: Des Équilibres.
    • Cordes rêvent.
    • Klarthe.
    • 4.

  • Arthur Sullivan

    The Lost Chord

    Singer: David Webb. Conductor: John Andrews. Orchestra: Academy of Ancient Music.
    • Sullivan: Songs for Tenor.
    • Resonus Classics.
    • 17.

  • Franz Schubert

    Rosamunde Overture

    Orchestra: Swedish Chamber Orchestra. Conductor: Thomas Dausgaard.
    • BIS.

  • Max Bruch

    String Octet in B flat major

    Ensemble: WDR Symphony Orchestra Cologne Chamber Players.
    • Bruch: String Quintets & Octet.
    • Alpha Classics.
    • 9-11.

  • Gabriel Fauré

    Requiem, Op 48 (Agnus Dei)

    Conductor: Laurence Equilbey. Choir: Accentus. Orchestra: Orchestre national de France.
    • Naive.

  • Amy Beach

    Masked Ball, Op.22

    Orchestra: Moravian Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor: Hector Valdivia.
    • CENTAUR.

  • Johann Sebastian Bach

    Keyboard Concerto No. 1 in D Minor, BWV 1052: I. Allegro

    Performer: Martin James Bartlett. Conductor: Howard Griffiths. Orchestra: Mozarteum Orchester Salzburg.
    • Bach: Piano Concerto No. 1, BWV 1052: I. Allegro.
    • Warner Classics.
    • 1.

  • Joseph Haydn

    String quartet in D major Op.71 no.2 (3rd mvt)

    Ensemble: Takács Quartet.
    • Haydn: String Quartets Op 71.
    • Hyperion.
    • 7.

  • Aaron Copland

    Buckaroo Holiday (Rodeo - 4 dance episodes)

    Orchestra: BBC Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor: John Wilson.
    • Chandos.

Broadcast

  • Mon 29 Jun 202609:30
    BBC Radio 3