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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 favorites.

Georgia Mann plays the best in classical music, featuring new discoveries, some musical surprises and plenty of familiar favourites.

1000 Playlist starter – listen and send us your ideas for the next step in our musical journey today.

1030 Song of the Day – harnessing the magic of words, music and the human voice.

1115 Playlist reveal – a sequence of music suggested by you in response to our starter today.

1145 Slow Moment – time to take a break for a moment's musical reflection.

1200 “25 for 25: Sounds of the Century” – a series of brand new commissions celebrating and commemorating some of the biggest events of the 21st century so far.

1230 Album of the Week.

To listen on most smart speakers, say "Ask BBC Sounds to play Essential Classics”.

29 days left to listen

3 hours, 30 minutes

Music Played

  • Bedrich Smetana

    The Bartered Bride (Overture)

    Orchestra: Philharmonia Orchestra. Conductor: Charles Mackerras.
    • Smetana: The Bartered Bride.
    • Chandos.
    • 101.
  • Johann Sebastian Bach

    Concerto in D minor for two violins, BWV 1043 (3rd mvt)

    Performer: Nigel Kennedy. Performer: Daniel Stabrawa. Orchestra: Berliner Philharmoniker.
    • Kennedy plays Bach with the Berlin Philharmonic.
    • EMI.
    • 12.
  • Clara Schumann

    Evening celebration in Venice (3 Part Songs)

    Choir: North German Radio Choir. Conductor: Philipp Ahmann.
    • Es-Dur.
  • Manuel de Falla

    Nights in the Gardens of Spain (i. En el Generalife)

    Performer: Steven Osborne. Orchestra: BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Ludovic Morlot.
    • Hyperion CDA68148.
    • Hyperion.
    • 4.
  • Lowell Liebermann

    Revelry

    Orchestra: BBC Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Grant Llewellyn.
    • Lowell Liebermann: Revelry.
    • Albany Records.
    • 4.
  • Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

    A Musical Joke, K.522: IV. Presto

    Orchestra: The English Concert. Director: Andrew Manze.
    • HARMONIA MUNDI.
  • Ralph Vaughan Williams

    Norfolk Rhapsody No.1

    Orchestra: City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Norman Del Mar.
    • EMI.
  • Luise Adolpha Le Beau

    Quartet in F Minor, Op. 28: I. Adagio - Allegro con fuoco

    Ensemble: Kaleidoscope Chamber Collective.
    • Brahms & Contemporaries, Vol. 1.
    • Chandos.
    • 105.
  • Ernest Chausson

    Le colibri Op 2, No 7

    Performer: Kunal Lahiry. Singer: Helen Charlston.
  • Carl Maria von Weber

    Invitation to the dance

    Orchestrator: Hector Berlioz. Orchestra: Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor: Andrew Manze.
    • HYPERION.
  • Élisabeth Jacquet de La Guerre

    Sonata No 4 for violin, viol and continuo in G minor

    Ensemble: La Rêveuse. Director: Benjamin Perrot.
    • MIRARE.
  • Francis Poulenc

    Rondeau (Les biches)

    Orchestra: Orchestre de Paris – Philharmonie. Conductor: Semyon Bychkov.
    • Paris 1920: Orchestre de Paris/Semyon Bychkov.
    • Philips.
    • 2.
  • Gabriel Fauré

    Valse-caprice no.1 in A major Op.30

    Performer: Kathryn Stott.
    • HYPERION.
  • Frank Bridge

    Pensiero in F Minor, H. 53 No. 1

    • A Lionel Tertis Celebration.
    • harmonia mundi.
    • 5.
  • Anna Clyne

    Masquerade

    Orchestra: BBC Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Marin Alsop.
    • Anna Clyne: Mythologies.
    • Avie.
    • 1.
  • Leonard Bernstein

    Wonderful Town (Conga!)

    Singer: Alysha Umphress. Choir: London Symphony Chorus. Orchestra: London Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Sir Simon Rattle.
    • LSO Live.
  • Percy Grainger

    Shepherd's Hey

    • Grainger - Piano Works.
    • Australian Broadcasting Corp (ABC).
    • 28.
  • Giuseppe Verdi

    Libiamo ne' lieti calici (La traviata)

    Singer: Angela Gheorghiu. Singer: Frank Lopardo. Choir: Chorus of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. Orchestra: Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. Conductor: Georg Solti.
    • Verdi: La Traviata.
    • Decca Music Group Ltd..
    • 3.
  • Johannes Brahms

    Academic Festival Overture Op.80

    Orchestra: Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra. Conductor: Riccardo Chailly.
    • Brahms: The Symphonies.
    • Decca.
    • 2.
  • Ludwig van Beethoven

    String Quartet in B flat, Op. 130, 'Cavatina'

    Ensemble: Belcea Quartet.
    • Zig Zag.
  • Florence Price

    Symphony no.4 in D Minor (Juba Dance)

    Orchestra: Fort Smith Symphony. Conductor: John Jeter.
    • Price: Symphonies Nos. 1 & 4.
    • Naxos.
    • 203.
  • Antonio Vivaldi

    Gloria in excelsis Deo from Gloria for soloists, chorus and orchestra (RV.589)

    Choir: The English Concert Choir. Orchestra: The English Concert. Conductor: Trevor Pinnock.
    • Vivaldi: Gloria/Scarlatti: Dixit Dominus: The English Concert/Pinnock.
    • Archiv Produktion.
    • 1.
  • Max Bruch

    Concerto for clarinet, viola and orchestra in E minor, Op 88

    Performer: Paul Meyer. Performer: Gérard Caussé. Orchestra: Orchestre de l’Opéra de Lyon. Conductor: Kent Nagano.
    • Bruch - works for clarinet and viola.
    • ERATO.
    • 1-3.
  • Elena Kats‐Chernin

    Rainbow Promise

    Orchestra: BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Alpesh Chauhan.
  • Franz Schubert

    Moments Musicaux, D.780 (no.2)

    Performer: Imogen Cooper.
    • Schubert 3: Imogen Cooper.
    • Ottavo.
    • 3.
  • Heitor Villa‐Lobos

    Chôros No. 1, W. 161 "Chôro típico"

    Performer: Franz Halász.
    • Villa-Lobos: Complete Works for Solo Guitar.
    • BIS.
    • 104.
  • Felix Mendelssohn

    Concerto no.1 in E major for 2 pianos (3rd mvt)

    Performer: Marielle Labèque. Performer: Katia Labèque. Orchestra: Philharmonia Orchestra. Conductor: Semyon Bychkov.
    • Mendelssohn: Concerto for 2 Pianos & Orchestra: Katia & Marielle Labeque / Bychk.
    • Philips.
    • 3.
  • Henryk Wieniawski

    Légende Op.17

    Performer: María Dueñas. Orchestra: Wiener Symphoniker. Conductor: Manfred Honeck.
    • Beethoven and Beyond.
    • Deutsche Grammophon.
    • 7.

Broadcast

  • Yesterday 09:30

Our Classical Century

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