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The best classical morning music

Georgia Mann plays the best in classical music, with discoveries and surprises rubbing shoulders with familiar favourites.

Georgia Mann plays the best in classical music, with discoveries and surprises rubbing shoulders with 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.

1230 Album of the Week.

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

27 days left to listen

3 hours, 30 minutes

Music Played

  • Luigi Boccherini

    String Quintet No 11 in E major, G 275 (Minuetto)

    Orchestra: Academy of St Martin in the Fields. Conductor: Neville Marriner.
    • The Best of The Academy.
    • EMI Classics.
    • 9.
  • Giulio Caccini

    Ave Maria

    Performer: Masako Shirabe.
    • Mclassics.
  • Alexander Glazunov

    Concert waltz for orchestra no. 2 (Op.51) in F major

    Orchestra: Bamberg Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Neeme Järvi.
    • Orfeo.
  • Madeleine Dring

    Take, O take those lips away (7 Shakespeare Songs)

    Orchestrator: Roderick Williams. Singer: Roderick Williams. Orchestra: Hallé. Conductor: Mark Elder.
    • Halle.
  • Joaquín Turina

    Piano Trio No 1 in D minor, Op 35 (3rd mvt)

    Orchestra: Nash Ensemble.
    • Turina Chamber Music The Nash Ensemble.
    • Hyperion.
  • Joby Talbot

    Transit of Venus

    Orchestra: Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor: Christopher Austin.
    • Wayne McGregor: Collaboration.
    • Mercury Classics.
    • 12.
  • Scott Joplin

    Maple Leaf Rag

    Performer: Joshua Rifkin.
    • Scott Joplin: Piano Rags: Joshua Rifkin.
    • Elektra Nonesuch.
    • 1.
  • George Frideric Handel

    Concerto Grosso in B flat major Op.3`1

    Orchestra: Les Musiciens du Louvre. Conductor: Marc Minkowski.
    • Warner.
  • Leos Janáček

    Sinfonietta 1st Movt

    Orchestra: BBC Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Dalia Stasevska.
  • Claude Debussy

    String Quartet in G minor, Op.10 (1st mvt)

    Ensemble: Belcea Quartet.
    • String Quartets: Belacea Quartet.
    • EMI Classics.
  • Robert Ramsey

    Sleep fleshly birth

    Ensemble: Gallicantus. Conductor: Gabriel Crouch.
    • Dialogues of Sorrow: Passions on the Death of Prince Henry, 1612.
    • Signum Classics.
    • 1201.
  • Antonín Dvořák

    Symphony no.6 in D major, Op.60 (3rd mvt)

    Orchestra: Czech Philharmonic. Conductor: Jiří Bělohlávek.
    • Decca.
  • Joby Talbot

    Transit of Venus

    Orchestra: Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor: Christopher Austin.
    • Wayne McGregor: Collaboration.
    • Mercury Classics.
    • 12.
  • Margaret Bonds

    Troubled Water

    Performer: Martin James Bartlett.
    • Till I Wake.
    • Warner Classics.
    • 2.
  • Philip Glass

    Violin Concerto no.1 (2nd mvt)

    Performer: Gidon Kremer. Orchestra: Vienna Philharmonic. Conductor: Christoph von Dohnányi.
    • 111 Years Of Deutsche Grammophon The Collector's Edition Vol.2.
    • Deutsche Grammophon.
    • 2.
  • Franz Schubert

    Mignon (Kennst du das Land) D.321

    Singer: Carolyn Sampson. Performer: Joseph Middleton.
    • BIS.
  • Tomaso Giovanni Albinoni

    Concerto a 5 in C major Op.7`11

    Performer: Anthony Robson. Performer: Catherine Latham. Ensemble: Collegium Musicum 90. Director: Simon Standage.
    • Albinoni: Double Oboe/String Concertos Vol. 2.
    • Chandos.
    • 16-18.
  • Jean Sibelius

    At The Castle Gate (Pelleas et Melisande Op.46)

    Orchestra: Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Neeme Järvi.
    • Sibelius - Symphony no.6, Pelleas & Melisande Op.46.
    • BIS.
    • 5.
  • Franz Schubert

    Winterreise D911: XXIII. Die Nebensonnen

    Performer: James Baillieu. Singer: Benjamin Appl.
    • Schubert: Winterreise.
    • Alpha.
    • 23.
  • Jonathan Dove

    Seek Him that maketh the Seven Stars

    Performer: Jeremy Filsell. Choir: Tenebrae. Conductor: Nigel Short.
    • SIGNUM.
  • Charles Gounod

    Funeral march of a marionette

    Orchestra: BBC Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor: Yan Pascal Tortelier.
    • CHANDOS.
  • Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

    Piano Quartet in G minor K.478 (3rd mvt)

    Ensemble: Skride Piano Quartet.
    • Mozart, Brahms & Mahler: Piano Quartets.
    • Orfeo.
    • 103.
  • Debbie Wiseman

    A Day May Come (Anthem for VE Day 80)

    Lyricist: Grahame Davies. Ensemble: VOCES8. Director: Debbie Wiseman.
    • Silva Screen.
  • Arthur Sullivan

    The Gondoliers : Overture

    Orchestra: Royal Ballet Sinfonia. Conductor: Andrew Penny.
    • Sullivan: Gilbert and Sullivan Overtures.
    • Naxos.
    • 1.
  • Francis Poulenc

    Concerto for Organ, Strings and Timpani in G Minor

    Performer: Gillian Weir. Orchestra: City of London Sinfonia. Conductor: Richard Hickox.
    • Poulenc: Piano, Harpsichord & Organ Concertos.
    • Warner Classics.
    • 7.
  • Eric Coates

    London Suite: III. Knightsbridge (March)

    Orchestra: The New London Orchestra. Conductor: Ronald Corp.
    • British Light Music Classics 2: New London Orchestra/Corp.
    • Hyperion.
  • Amy Beach

    A Hermit Thrush at Eve, Op. 92 No. 1

    Performer: Finghin Collins.
    • The bright day is done.
    • Claves Records.
    • 6.
  • Heitor Villa‐Lobos

    Prelude No 3 for guitar

    Performer: Franz Halász.
    • Villa-Lobos: Complete Works for Solo Guitar.
    • BIS.
    • 107.
  • Alexander Borodin

    Polovtsian dances (Prince Igor)

    Orchestra: New York Philharmonic. Conductor: Leonard Bernstein.
    • SONY CLASSICAL.

Broadcast

  • Friday 09:30

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