
Your perfect classical playlist
Ian Skelly plays the best in classical music, with familiar favourites alongside new discoveries and musical surprises.
Ian Skelly plays the best in classical music, with familiar favourites alongside new discoveries and musical surprises.
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 ѿý Sounds to play Essential Classics”
Last on
More episodes
Previous
Music Played
-
Johann Sebastian Bach
Brandenburg Concerto No 6 in B flat major, BWV 1051 (1st mvt)
Performer: Trevor Pinnock. Ensemble: The English Concert. Conductor: Trevor Pinnock.- Bach: Works for Orchestra: The English Concert/Pinnock.
- Archiv Produktion.
- 7.
-
Sergey Rachmaninov
Vocalise
Performer: Alban Gerhardt. Performer: Markus Becker.- Hyperion.
-
Joseph Haydn
Symphony No 6 in D major, 'Le matin' - 1st movement, - Adagio-Allegro
Orchestra: Philharmonia Hungarica. Conductor: Antal Doráti.- Haydn Symphonies 'Morning', 'Noon' and 'Evening'.
- Decca.
- 1.
-
Nino Rota
Nonetto: IV. Canzone con variazioni, allegretto calmo
Performer: Daishin Kashimoto. Performer: Joaquín Riquelme. Performer: Claudio Bohórquez. Performer: Emmanuel Pahud. Performer: Paul Meyer. Performer: François Meyer. Performer: Gilbert Audin. Performer: Benoît de Barsony. Performer: Olivier Thiery.- Nino Rota: Chamber Music.
- Alpha.
- 10.
-
Arnold Bax
Morning song (Maytime in Sussex)
Performer: Ashley Wass. Orchestra: Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: James Judd.- Bax: Winter Legends: Ashley Wass, Bournemouth SO, James Judd.
- Naxos.
- 5.
-
Camille Saint‐Saëns
Tarantelle in A minor Op.6
Performer: Sharon Bezaly. Performer: Harri Mäki. Orchestra: Tapiola Sinfonietta. Conductor: Jean‐Jacques Kantorow.- BIS.
-
Anton Bruckner
Os justi
Choir: Polyphony. Choir: Polyphony. Conductor: Stephen Layton. Conductor: Stephen Layton.- Bruckner: Mass in E minor/Motets: Polyphony/Britten Sinfonia/Layton.
- Hyperion.
- 11.
-
Leos Janáček
The Street Leading to the Castle (Sinfonietta)
Orchestra: Vienna Philharmonic. Conductor: Charles Mackerras.- Janacek: Sinfonietta/Taras Bulba: Wiener Philharmoniker/Mackerras.
- Decca.
- 5.
-
Aaron Copland
12 Poems of Emily Dickinson (Nature, the gentlest mother)
Singer: Sanford Sylvan. Performer: David Breitman.- NONESUCH.
-
Nicolas Vallet
Suite for four lutes
Performer: Jakob Lindberg. Performer: Nigel North. Performer: Paul O’Dette. Performer: Robert Meunier.- Three, Four and Twenty Lutes, Lindberg etc..
- BIS.
- 10.
-
Ludwig van Beethoven
Symphony No.8 in F major (1st mvt)
Orchestra: Danish National Chamber Orchestra. Conductor: Ádám Fischer.- Beethoven: Complete Symphonies.
- Naxos.
- 401.
-
Frédéric Chopin
Polonaise in A major, Op 40 No 1, 'Military'
Performer: Vladimir Ashkenazy.- Decca.
-
Alexander Glazunov
Romantic Intermezzo, Op 69
Orchestra: Philharmonia of Russia. Conductor: Dmitry Yablonsky.- NAXOS.
-
Henry Purcell
Strike the Viol (Birthday Ode for Queen Mary)
Singer: Tim Mead. Ensemble: Les Musiciens de Saint-Julien. Director: François Lazarevitch.- ALPHA.
-
Avril Coleridge-Taylor
Sussex Landscape, Op. 27: III. Largo - Maestoso
Orchestra: Chineke! Orchestra. Conductor: Roderick Cox.- Coleridge-Taylor.
- Decca Music Group Ltd..
- 8.
-
George Butterworth
Roving in the dew (11 Folk-songs from Sussex)
Performer: Iain Burnside. Singer: Roderick Williams.- George Butterworth, Songs from A Shropshire Lad: Williams / Burnside.
- Naxos.
- 9.
-
John Ireland
Prelude (A Downland Suite)
Ensemble: Cory Band. Conductor: Philip Harper.- Doyen.
-
Antonín Dvořák
Slavonic Dance in B major Op.72 no.9
Orchestra: Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor: Andrew Davis.- Nobel Prize Ceremony Music.
- FINLANDIA.
- 6.
-
Georg Philipp Telemann
Quartet in E minor, TWV 43:E2 (Tafelmusik 3, No 2)
Performer: Karl Kaiser. Performer: Petra Müllejans. Performer: Stefan Mühleisen. Performer: Hille Perl. Performer: Lee Santata. Performer: Torsten Johann.- Harmonia Mundi.
-
Ethel Smyth
Concerto for violin, horn and orchestra - II. Elegy (In Memoriam)
Performer: Richard Watkins. Performer: Sophie Langdon. Ensemble: Lontano. Conductor: Odaline de la Martínez.- Ethel Smyth Premiere Recordings.
- Chandos.
- 6.
-
William Byrd
Mass for 4 voices (Gloria)
Choir: Tallis Scholars. Director: Peter Phillips.- The Tallis Scholars Sing William Byrd.
- Gimell.
- 7.
-
Sergey Prokofiev
Sinfonietta in A major, Op 48
Orchestra: Lausanne Chamber Orchestra. Conductor: Alberto Zedda.- Prokofiev/Debussy/Milhaud: Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne/Zedda.
- Virgin Classics.
- 5.
-
Robert Schumann
Arabeske in C major, Op 18
Performer: Vladimir Horowitz.- Sony Classical.
-
Luigi Boccherini
String Quintet in D Minor, G. 280: III. Fuga. Allegro giusto
Performer: Jonian Ilias Kadesha. Performer: Irène Duval. Performer: Eivind Holtsmark Ringstad. Performer: Steven Isserlis. Performer: Tim Posner.- Boccherini: Cello Concertos, Sonatas & Quintets.
- Hyperion.
- 9.
-
Hector Berlioz
Roman Carnival Overture
Orchestra: Staatskapelle Dresden. Conductor: Colin Davis.- RCA.
-
Johann Sebastian Bach
Prelude and Fugue in F sharp major, BWV 858 (Fugue)
Performer: Maurizio Pollini.- J. S. Bach: The Well-Tempered Clavier 1: Maurizio Pollini.
- Deutsche Grammaphon.
- 2.
-
Johann Strauss II
Rosen aus dem Süden
Music Arranger: Arnold Schoenberg. Ensemble: Opéra de Lyon.- Schoenberg/Kaiserwalzer and Other Transcriptions.
- Erato.
- 5.
Broadcast
- Mon 3 Feb 2025 09:30ѿý Radio 3