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Clear your mind and destress with calming classical music

Calming classical music to inspire focus and set you up for the day ahead. Presented by broadcaster, author and counselling psychologist Dr Sian Williams.

Calming classical music to help you focus and set you up for the day ahead. Presented by broadcaster, author and counselling psychologist Dr Sian Williams.

For ѿý Wellbeing week, today Sian features uplifting, and soothing melodies from Rachmaninov, Schubert, and Laure Chan. Professor Catherine Loveday explores how group singing can reduce anxiety, and Sian explains how bookending your day with natural light can encourage positivity.

11 days left to listen

3 hours

Music Played

  • Jules Massenet

    Meditation (Thais)

    Orchestra: Sinfonia of London. Conductor: John Wilson.
    • CHANDOS.
  • John Foulds

    Holiday Sketches (3rd mvt, 'Evening in the Odenwald')

    Performer: Katherine Ellis. Conductor: Ronald Corp. Orchestra: ѿý Concert Orchestra.
    • Dutton.
  • Rutland Boughton

    Symphony No 3 in B minor (2nd mvt)

    Conductor: Vernon Handley. Orchestra: Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.
    • Hyperion.
  • Germaine Tailleferre

    Valse Lente

    Performer: Lang Lang.
    • DG.
  • Anonymous

    Remember Me My Dear (Live)

    Composer: Jan Garbarek. Performer: Jan Garbarek. Ensemble: The Hilliard Ensemble.
    • ECM.
  • Samuel Coleridge-Taylor

    Petite Suite de Concert, Op 77 (3rd mvt, 'Un sonnet d'amour')

    Conductor: Anthony Parnther. Orchestra: Chineke! Orchestra.
    • Decca.
  • Sergey Rachmaninov

    Prelude No 5 in G major (13 Preludes, Op 32)

    Performer: Steven Osborne.
    • Hyperion.
  • Francesco Manfredini

    Pastoral Symphony for the Holy Nativity in D major, No 12 Op 2 (3rd mvt)

    Conductor: Hartmut Haenchen. Orchestra: Kammerorchester Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach.
    • Sony.
  • Hugo Alfvén

    Symphony No 3 in E major, Op 23 (2nd mvt)

    Conductor: Nils Grevillius. Orchestra: Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra.
    • Swedish Society.
  • Florence Price

    The Deserted Garden

    Performer: Tosca Opdam. Performer: Alexander Ullman.
    • Challenge.
  • Christoph Willibald Gluck

    Orphee et Eurydice (Act II: Dance of the Blessed Spirits)

    Performer: Sarah Brooke. Performer: Robert Haydon Clark. Ensemble: Consort of London.
    • Collins Classics.
  • Jonathan Dove

    The Passing of the Year (5th mvt, 'Ah, sun-flower!')

    Performer: Alexandra Standing. Choir: ѿý Singers. Conductor: Benjamin Goodson.
  • Louise Farrenc

    Violin Sonata No 2 Op 39 (3rd mvt)

    Performer: Daniele Orlando. Performer: Linda di Carlo.
    • Brilliant.
  • John Williams

    Princess Leia's Theme (Star Wars: A New Hope)

    Conductor: John Williams. Orchestra: London Symphony Orchestra.
    • Walt Disney Records.
  • Philip Glass

    Light in the Dark

    Performer: Philip Glass. Performer: Paul Leonard‐Morgan.
    • HOLLYWOOD RECORDS.
  • Aaron Copland

    Dance Panels (No 4, 'Pas de Trois')

    Conductor: Leonard Slatkin. Orchestra: Detroit Symphony Orchestra.
    • Naxos.
  • William Levi Dawson

    Negro Folk Symphony (2nd mvt, 'Hope in the Night')

    Conductor: Arthur Fagen. Orchestra: Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra.
    • Naxos.
  • Igor Stravinsky

    The Firebird Suite, K010 (No 9, 'Berceuse')

    Conductor: Mariss Jansons. Orchestra: Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra.
    • BR Klassik.
  • Ottorino Respighi

    Pines of Rome (The Pines of the Janiculum)

    Conductor: Xian Zhang. Orchestra: ѿý National Orchestra of Wales.
  • Laure Chan

    Lost in Translation

    Performer: Laure Chan. Ensemble: Curve Ensemble.
    • Bigo & Twigetti.
  • Johannes Brahms

    Symphony No 2 in D major, Op 73 (2nd mvt)

    Conductor: Jiří Bělohlávek. Orchestra: ѿý Symphony Orchestra.
  • Lera Auerbach

    Prelude No 15, arr for saxophone & piano (24 Preludes for Violin & Piano, Op 46)

    Performer: Jess Gillam. Performer: Sam Becker. Performer: Leif Kaner‐Lidström. Performer: Elsa Bradley. Ensemble: Jess Gillam Ensemble.
    • DG.
  • Edward Elgar

    Dream Children, Op 43 (1st mvt)

    Conductor: Mark Elder. Orchestra: Hallé.
    • Halle Concerts Society.
  • Gang Chen

    Butterfly Lovers Violin Concerto (7th mvt)

    Performer: Joshua Bell. Conductor: Tsung Yeh. Orchestra: Singapore Chinese Orchestra.
    • Sony.
  • Franz Schubert

    Symphony No 3 in D major, D 200 (2nd mvt)

    Conductor: Nikolaus Harnoncourt. Orchestra: Chamber Orchestra of Europe.
    • ICA Classics.
  • Dora Pejačević

    Life of Flowers (4th mvt, 'Forget-Me-Not')

    Performer: Ekaterina Litvintseva.
    • Piano Classics.
  • William Byrd

    Sing Joyfully

    Conductor: Timothy Brown. Choir: Choir of Clare College, Cambridge.
    • GUILD.
  • Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson

    Sinfonietta No 2, 'Generations' (2nd mvt)

    Conductor: Paul Freeman. Orchestra: Chicago Sinfonietta.
    • Cedille.
  • María Teresa Prieto

    Symphony No 1, 'Asturiana' (2nd mvt)

    Conductor: José Luis Temes. Orchestra: Cordoba Orchestra.
    • Verso.
  • Hubert Perry

    Symphony No 5 in B minor, 'Symphonic Fantasia' (2nd mvt, 'Love')

    Conductor: Adrian Boult. Orchestra: London Philharmonic Orchestra.
    • Warner.
  • Roman Hoffstetter

    String Quartet in F major, No 5 Op 3 (2nd mvt, 'Serenade')

    Ensemble: Alban Berg Quartett.
    • Warner.
  • Gabriel Fauré

    Masques et Bergamasques Suite, Op 112 (No 4, 'Pastorale')

    Conductor: Kazuki Yamada. Orchestra: Orchestre de la Suisse Romande.
    • Pentatone.
  • Douglas Guest

    For the Fallen

    Choir: Choir of Jesus College Cambridge. Director: Mark Williams.
    • SIGNUM.

Broadcast

  • Mon 12 May 2025 09:00