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Your perfect classical playlist

Ian Skelly plays the best in classical music for your morning, with discoveries and surprises rubbing shoulders with familiar favourites.

Ian Skelly 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 a masterpiece.

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28 days left to listen

3 hours, 30 minutes

Last on

Friday09:30
BBC Radio 3

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Music Played

  • Igor Stravinsky

    Danse russe (3 Movements from Petrushka)

    Performer: Maurizio Pollini.
    • 111 Years Of Deutsche Grammophon The Collector's Edition Vol.2.
    • Deutshe Grammophon.
    • 1.

  • Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach

    Cello Concerto no.3 in A major Wq.172 (3rd mvt)

    Performer: Nicolas Altstaedt. Ensemble: Arcangelo. Director: Jonathan Cohen.
    • HYPERION.

  • Claudio Monteverdi

    Al lume delle stelle

    Ensemble: Concerto Italiano. Conductor: Rinaldo Alessandrini.
    • NAIVE.

  • Johannes Brahms

    String Quartet in C minor, Op 51 No 1 (4th mvt)

    Ensemble: Leonkoro Quartet.

  • Felix Mendelssohn

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

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

  • Richard Strauss

    Die Nacht

    Performer: Simon Lepper. Singer: Johanna Wallroth.

  • Cécile Chaminade

    Carnival Waltz, Op.73

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

  • Johann Sebastian Bach

    Orchestral Suite No 1 in C Major, BWV 1066: I. Overture

    Orchestra: Bach Collegium Japan. Conductor: Masaaki Suzuki.
    • Bach, J.S.: 4 Orchestral Suites, Bwv 1066-1069.
    • BIS.
    • 201.

  • Joseph Haydn

    Trumpet Concerto in E flat (3rd mvt)

    Performer: Alison Balsom. Orchestra: The Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen.
    • Haydn; Hummel etc.: Trumpet Concertos.
    • EMI Classics.
    • 6.

  • Ary Barroso

    Aquarela do Brasil

    Performer: Daniil Trifonov. Performer: Gonzalo Grau. Orchestra: São Paulo Symphony Orchestra.
    • DG.

  • Dora Pejačević

    Symphony in F sharp minor Op.41 (3rd mvt)

    Orchestra: BBC Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Sakari Oramo.
    • Chandos.

  • James MacMillan

    A New Song

    Performer: Andrew Reid. Choir: Westminster Cathedral Choir. Conductor: Martin Baker.
    • MacMillan: Mass & Other Sacred Music.
    • Hyperion.
    • 1.

  • Antonín Dvořák

    Czech Suite, Op.39 (Furiant)

    Orchestra: Scottish Chamber Orchestra. Conductor: Joseph Swensen.
    • Linn.

  • Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

    Piano Sonata No 16 in C major, K 545

    Performer: Maria João Pires.
    • Deutsche Grammophon.

  • Béla Bartók

    Rhapsody for violin and orchestra No 1 (2nd mvt)

    Performer: Alena Baeva. Orchestra: The Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen. Conductor: Paavo Järvi.
    • ALPHA.

  • Robert Schumann

    Mondnacht (Liederkreis Op.39)

    Singer: Margaret Price. Performer: James Lockhart.
    • ORFEO.

  • Gustav Mahler

    Symphony no.7 (2nd mvt)

    Orchestra: Budapest Festival Orchestra. Conductor: Iván Fischer.
    • Mahler: Symphony No. 7.
    • Channel Classics.
    • 2.

  • Arthur Sullivan

    The long day closes

    Music Arranger: Philip Lawson. Choir: Tenebrae. Conductor: Nigel Short.
    • Signum.

  • Jacques Offenbach

    Can-Can (Orpheus in the Underworld)

    Orchestra: Cincinnati Pops Orchestra. Conductor: Erich Kunzel.
    • William Tell and other favourites: Cincinnati Pops Orchestra/Kunzel.
    • Telarc.

  • Antonio Vivaldi

    Sonata for violin, cello & continuo in G Major, RV 820 (mvt 7)

    Ensemble: La Serenissima. Director: Adrian Chandler.
    • SIGNUM.

  • Dana Suesse

    Piano Concerto in Three Rhythms (3rd mvt)

    Music Arranger: Ferde Grofé. Performer: Michael Gurt. Orchestra: Hot Springs Music Festival Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Richard Rosenberg.
    • Jazz Nocturne.
    • Naxos.
    • 009.

  • Jacques Ibert

    3 Pieces breves for wind quintet: No 1

    Performer: Les Vents Français.
    • Warner Classics.

  • Henry Purcell

    Dido & Aeneas: Overture; Thy hand, Belinda...When I am laid in earth; With drooping wings

    Singer: Catherine Bott. Orchestra: Academy of Ancient Music. Conductor: Christopher Hogwood.
    • OISEAU LYRE.

  • William Walton

    Violin Concerto (2nd mvt)

    Performer: Charlie Lovell-Jones. Orchestra: Sinfonia of London. Conductor: John Wilson.
    • Walton: Orchestral Works.
    • CHANDOS.
    • 6.

  • Johann Pachelbel

    Improvisation on Pachelbel's Canon in D major

    Performer: Gabriela Montero. Music Arranger: Gabriela Montero.
    • WARNER CLASSICS.

  • Ludwig van Beethoven

    String Quartet No 9 in C Major, Op 59 No 3 "Razumovsky" (4th mvt)

    Ensemble: Chiaroscuro Quartet.
    • Beethoven: String Quartets, Op. 59 No. 3, Op. 95 & Op. 133.
    • BIS.
    • 104.

  • William Byrd

    Laudate Dominum omnes gentes

    Choir: Stile Antico.
    • William Byrd: The Golden Renaissance.
    • Decca.
    • 12.

  • Pyotr Tchaikovsky

    Piano Concerto No 1 in B flat minor, Op 23 (3rd mvt)

    Performer: Simon Trpceski. Orchestra: Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor: Vasily Petrenko.
    • ONYX.

Broadcast

  • Friday09:30
    BBC Radio 3