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Nature Week: Inspiring melodies from Pulborough Brooks

Broadcaster, author and counselling psychologist Dr Sian Williams explores the RSPB reserve at Pulborough Brooks with calming music to set you up for the day ahead.

Calming classical music to help you focus and set you up for the day ahead. Presented by broadcaster, author and counselling psychologist Dr Sian Williams from the RSPB nature reserve Pulborough Brooks in West Sussex, where Sian tunes into the relationship between birdsong, wellbeing and the brain.

Research suggests the positive effects associated with hearing birds can last for hours, and Sian spends all morning among the birds at Pulborough Brooks. Featuring peaceful and enchanting pieces from composers including Vivaldi, Moeran, and Cecilia McDowall, and a chance to Find Your Focus in the music of Ola Gjeilo. Sian spends time in a bird hide and finds joy in sitting still with nature for a time, and Professor Catherine Loveday explores how seasonal changes in birdsong reflect changes within birds’ brains, offering fascinating insights into the ability of adult human brains to change and rewire.

27 days left to listen

3 hours

Last on

Wednesday09:00
BBC Radio 3 Unwind

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Music Played

  • Johannes Brahms

    5 Songs, Op 104 (In Autumn)

    Choir: Norwegian Soloists Choir. Conductor: Grete Pedersen.
    • BIS.

  • Antonín Dvořák

    Symphony No 8 (3rd mvt)

    Conductor: Ryan Wigglesworth. Orchestra: BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra.

  • Helen Leach

    Diary of the Bee (2nd mvt, 'Thistle')

    Ensemble: Victoria String Quartet.
    • Divine Art.

  • Joseph Kosma

    Les feuilles mortes (Autumn Leaves)

    Performer: Christian-Pierre La Marca. Performer: Amandine Savary.
    • SONY.

  • Charlotte Sohy

    Symphony in C sharp minor (1st mvt)

    Conductor: Debora Waldman. Orchestra: Orchestre national de France.
    • Bru Zane.

  • Ola Gjeilo

    Autumn (Ambient Mix)

    Performer: Ola Gjeilo.
    • Decca.

  • Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

    Clarinet Concerto in A major, KV 622 (2nd mvt)

    Performer: Blaž Šparovec. Conductor: Howard Griffiths. Orchestra: Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra.
    • Alpha.

  • Ernest John Moeran

    3 Piano Pieces (Autumn Woods)

    Performer: Una Hunt.
    • Decca.

  • Trad.

    Aka tombo (Red Dragonfly)

    Music Arranger: Bob Chilcott. Ensemble: Tenebrae Consort.
    • Signum.

  • Pauline Viardot

    Violin Sonata No 2 in B flat major (2nd mvt)

    Performer: Reto Kuppel. Performer: Wolfgang Manz.
    • Naxos.

  • Ryuichi Sakamoto

    Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence

    Performer: David Le Page. Performer: Nick Stringfellow. Orchestra: Orchestra of the Swan.
    • Signum.

  • Ralph Vaughan Williams

    The Lark Ascending

    Performer: Jennifer Pike. Conductor: Salvatore Di Vittorio. Orchestra: Chamber Orchestra of New York.
    • Naxos.

  • Anton Bruckner

    Stille Betrachtung an einem Herbstabend, WAB 123

    Performer: Mari Kodama.
    • Pentatone.

  • Gustav Holst

    Songs from The Princess, Op 20a (4th mvt, 'O Swallow, Swallow')

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

  • Avril Coleridge-Taylor

    Sussex Landscape Op 27 (2nd mvt)

    Conductor: John Andrews. Orchestra: BBC Philharmonic Orchestra.
    • Resonus.

  • Maurice Ravel

    Trois beaux oiseaux du paradis

    Performer: Bertrand Chamayou.
    • ERATO.

  • Gabriel Fauré

    Pavane

    Conductor: Jac van Steen. Orchestra: BBC National Orchestra of Wales.

  • Louis Moreau Gottschalk

    Symphony No 2, 'a Montevideo' (1st mvt)

    Conductor: Richard Rosenberg. Orchestra: Hot Springs Music Festival Orchestra.
    • Naxos.

  • eden ahbez

    Nature Boy

    Performer: Sir Stephen Hough. Music Arranger: Sir Stephen Hough.
    • Hyperion.

  • Sarah Rimkus

    My Heart Is Like a Singing Bird

    Ensemble: Gesualdo Six. Conductor: Owain Park.
    • Hyperion.

  • Ethel Smyth

    Prelude in C major

    Performer: Liana Șerbescu.
    • CPO.

  • Hoagy Carmichael

    Skylark

    Performer: Wynton Marsalis. Performer: Ellis Marsalis. Performer: Herlin Riley.
    • Sony.

  • Antonio Vivaldi

    Concerto in F major, RV 293, 'Autumn' (The Four Seasons, 2nd mvt)

    Performer: Janine Jansen. Performer: Candida Thompson. Performer: Henk Rubingh.
    • Decca.

  • Samuel Coleridge‐Taylor

    5 Fairy Ballads (No 1, 'Sweet Baby Butterfly')

    Performer: Tom Poster. Performer: Amy Harman.
    • Chandos.

  • Charles Villiers Stanford

    8 Partsongs Op119 (No 6, The Swallow)

    Choir: Birmingham Conservatoire Chamber Choir. Conductor: Paul Spicer.
    • SOMM.

  • Joaquín Rodrigo

    Concierto de Aranjuez (2nd mvt)

    Performer: Raphaël Feuillâtre. Conductor: Gábor Takács‐Nagy. Orchestra: Verbier Festival Chamber Orchestra.
    • DG.

  • Enrique Granados

    Goyescas, Op 11, Book 1 (No 4, 'Quejas, o La maja y el ruisenor')

    Performer: Javier Perianes.
    • Harmonia Mundi.

  • Pyotr Tchaikovsky

    Sleeping Beauty Suite, Op 68a (4th mvt, 'Panorama')

    Conductor: Mariss Jansons. Orchestra: Vienna Philharmonic.
    • Sony.

  • Cecilia McDowall

    I know that my redeemer liveth

    Choir: BBC Singers. Conductor: David Hill.

  • Johan Halvorsen

    Symphony No 3 (2nd mvt)

    Conductor: Neeme Järvi. Orchestra: Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra.
    • Chandos.

  • Rued Langgaard

    Music of the Spheres, BVN 128 (2nd mvt, 'Like the Twinkling of Stars in the Blue Sky at Sunset')

    Conductor: Thomas Dausgaard. Orchestra: Danish National Symphony Orchestra.
    • Dacapo.

  • Billy Mayerl

    Pastoral Sketches (No 2, 'Lovers Lane')

    Conductor: Gary Carpenter. Orchestra: Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra.
    • NAXOS.

Broadcast

  • Wednesday09:00
    BBC Radio 3 Unwind