Use BBC.com or the new BBC App to listen to BBC podcasts, Radio 4 and the World Service outside the UK.

Find out how to listen to other BBC stations

Episode details

Radio 3,25 May 2026,30 mins

Half an hour of the finest classical music

Classical Mixtape

Available for 27 days

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

Programme Website
More episodes

Tracklist

  1. Track
    Artist
  2. 1.
    String Quartet No 2 in D major (Nocturne)
    String Quartet No 2 in D major (Nocturne)
    Alexander Borodin
  3. 2.
    Tristes apprets (Castor et Pollux)
    Tristes apprets (Castor et Pollux)
    Jean‐Philippe Rameau
  4. 3.
    Sonata in F Minor
    Sonata in F Minor
    Domenico Scarlatti
  5. 4.
    Prelude in D flat major
    Prelude in D flat major
    Lili Boulanger
  6. 5.
    Sonata for cello and piano (Op.19) in G minor, 3rd mvt; Andante
    Sonata for cello and piano (Op.19) in G minor, 3rd mvt; Andante
    Sergey Rachmaninov
  7. 6.
    Cinema Paradiso (Love Theme - extract)
    Cinema Paradiso (Love Theme - extract)
    Ennio Morricone