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Great classical music for your morning

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 a masterpiece.

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28 days left to listen

3 hours, 30 minutes

Last on

Wednesday 09:30
BBC Radio 3

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Music Played

  • George Frideric Handel

    Arrival of the Queen of Sheba (Solomon)

    Ensemble: The Brandenburg Consort. Conductor: Roy Goodman.
    • Rondeaux Royaux: The Brandenburg Consort, Roy Goodman.
    • Hyperion.
    • 4.

  • Frank Bridge

    Valse intermezzo

    Orchestra: BBC National Orchestra of Wales. Conductor: Richard Hickox.
    • Bridge: Orchestral works vol.5: BBC NOW/Hickox.
    • CHANDOS.
    • 14.

  • Mel Bonis

    Thème populaire grec recueilli par Bourgeault-Ducoudray (Violin Sonata in F sharp minor, Op. 112 mvt 3)

    Performer: Elena Urioste. Performer: Tom Poster.
    • Le Temps retrouvé.
    • CHANDOS.
    • 3.

  • Edvard Grieg

    Norwegian Dance no.2

    Orchestra: Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Neeme Järvi.
    • DG.

  • Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov

    Scheherazade, Op 35 (The Story of the Kalendar Prince)

    Performer: Christopher Warren‐Green. Orchestra: Philharmonia Orchestra. Conductor: Vladimir Ashkenazy.
    • Rimsky-Korsakov: Scheherazade: Philharmonia/Ashkenazy.
    • Decca.
    • 2.

  • Leroy Anderson

    March of the Two Left Feet

    Orchestra: BBC Concert Orchestra. Conductor: Leonard Slatkin.
    • Naxos.

  • Claude Debussy

    Beau Soir

    Performer: Yo‐Yo Ma. Performer: Kathryn Stott.
    • Songs from the Arc of Life.
    • Sony Classical.
    • 018.

  • Johann Sebastian Bach

    Overture (Partita) in the French style in B minor BWV.831

    Orchestra: Concerto Italiano. Conductor: Rinaldo Alessandrini.
    • Naïve.

  • William Walton

    Touch her soft lips, and part (Henry V Suite)

    Orchestra: Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Andrew Litton.
    • DECCA.

  • Sergey Rachmaninov

    Moments musicaux, Op.16 (No.6)

    Performer: Nikolai Lugansky.
    • Rachmaninov: Preludes, Moments musicaux: Nikolai Lugansky.
    • Erato.
    • 17.

  • Jean Langlais

    Missa in simplicitate: IV. Sanctus

    Performer: Charles Maxtone-Smith. Choir: Buckfast Abbey Choir. Conductor: Matthew Searles.
    • Messe modale: Upper voices music for Mass by Alain, Fauré and Langlais.
    • Ad Fontes.
    • 122.

  • Jean Langlais

    Missa in simplicitate: V. Agnus Dei

    Performer: Charles Maxtone-Smith. Choir: Buckfast Abbey Choir. Conductor: Matthew Searles.
    • Messe modale: Upper voices music for Mass by Alain, Fauré and Langlais.
    • Ad Fontes.
    • 123.

  • Karl Jenkins

    Palladio

    Orchestra: Metamorphosen Berlin. Conductor: Wolfgang Emanuel Schmidt.
    • Palladio: I. Allegretto.
    • Deutsche Harmonia Mundi.
    • 1.

  • Gustav Holst

    Symphony in F, Op 8 'The Cotswolds' (3rd mvt)

    Orchestra: BBC Philharmonic. Conductor: Andrew Davis.
    • Chandos.

  • Luise Adolpha Le Beau

    Piano Quartet in F Minor, Op 28 (1st mvt)

    Ensemble: Kaleidoscope Chamber Collective.
    • Brahms & Contemporaries, Vol. 1.
    • Chandos.
    • 5.

  • Gioachino Rossini

    La Gazza ladra (The thieving magpie): Overture

    Orchestra: Chamber Orchestra of Europe. Conductor: Claudio Abbado.
    • Rossini OverturesThe Chamber Orchestra Of Europe.
    • Deutsche Grammaphon.
    • 7.

  • William Grant Still

    Ennanga: II

    Performer: Ashley Jackson. Music Arranger: Ashley Jackson. Ensemble: The Harlem Chamber Players.
    • Ennanga.
    • Bright Shiny Things.
    • 5.

  • William Byrd

    The March before the Battle [The Earl of Oxford's march]

    Music Arranger: Elgar Howarth. Ensemble: Philip Jones Brass Ensemble.
    • La Battaglia: Philip Jones Brass Ensemble.
    • Decca.
    • 24.

  • Fats Waller

    Your feets too big

    Ensemble: Fats Waller and His Rhythm.
    • The Essential Fats Waller.
    • RCA/Legacy.
    • 15.

  • Derek Bourgeois

    Serenade Op.22

    Ensemble: Black Dyke Band. Conductor: Michael Antrobus.
    • Chandos.

  • George Frideric Handel

    How beautiful are the feet (Messiah)

    Singer: Annie Gill. Singer: Heather Cairncross. Ensemble: Dunedin Consort. Conductor: John Butt.
    • Handel: Messiah.
    • LINN.
    • 12.

  • Florence Price

    Dances in the Canebrakes (Nimble Feet)

    Music Arranger: William Grant Still. Orchestra: Chicago Sinfonietta. Conductor: Mei-Ann Chen.
    • Project W: Works by Diverse Women Composers.
    • Cedille.
    • 1.

  • Charles‐Marie Widor

    Toccata (Organ Symphony No.5 in F minor, Op.42`1)

    Performer: Olivier Latry.
    • BNL.

  • Joseph Haydn

    Piano Trio in C major, H.15.27 (1st mvt)

    Performer: The Florestan Trio.
    • Haydn: Piano Trios, Vol.1: The Florestan Trio.
    • Hyperion.
    • 10.

  • Rudy Wiedoeft

    Cloudy Days

    Music Arranger: Lanny Meyers. Orchestra: Sinfonia of London. Conductor: John Wilson.
    • Saxophobia: Celebrating the Sax Craze of the 1920s.
    • Chandos Records Ltd.
    • 9.

  • Rudy Wiedoeft

    Sax-O-Phun

    Music Arranger: Lanny Meyers. Performer: Chad Smith. Orchestra: Sinfonia of London. Conductor: John Wilson.
    • Saxophobia: Celebrating the Sax Craze of the 1920s.
    • Chandos Records Ltd.
    • 7.

  • Francis Poulenc

    Piano Concerto in C sharp minor (2nd mvt)

    Performer: Alexandre Tharaud. Orchestra: London Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor: Yannick Nézet‐Séguin.
    • Poulenc: Piano Concerto, Organ Concerto & Stabat Mater.
    • LPO.
    • 2.

  • Herbert Howells

    Requiem

    Choir: The Choir Of Trinity College, Cambridge. Conductor: Stephen Layton.
    • Howells: Requiem; St Paul's & Gloucester Services etc..
    • Hyperion.

  • Vladimir Valivov

    Ave Maria

    Composer: Giulio Caccini. Music Arranger: Maria Leszczynska-Thieu. Ensemble: SCS Cello Ensemble. Conductor: Jacob Shaw.
    • The Road to Vienna.
    • Evidence Classics.
    • 1.

  • Astor Piazzolla

    Primavera Porteno

    Ensemble: Cuarteto Alchemico.
    • Glossa.

  • Ralph Vaughan Williams

    On Wenlock Edge (Bredon Hill)

    Singer: Nicky Spence. Performer: Julius Drake. Ensemble: Piatti Quartet.
    • HYPERION.

  • Florence Price

    Adoration

    Music Arranger: Jarle Storløkken. Performer: Tine Thing Helseth. Ensemble: tenThing.
    • She Composes Like A Man.
    • Lawo Classics.
    • 4.

  • Moritz Moszkowski

    Caprice espagnole, Op 37

    Performer: Sir Stephen Hough.
    • Virgin Classics.

  • Max Richter

    Vivaldi Recomposed: Summer 3

    Performer: Daniel Hope. Orchestra: Konzerthaus Kammerorchester Berlin. Conductor: André de Ridder.
    • DG.

Broadcast

  • Wednesday 09:30
    BBC Radio 3