The very best of classical music
Ian Skelly plays the best in classical music, with discoveries and surprises rubbing shoulders with familiar favourites.
Ian Skelly 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 ѿý Sounds to play Essential Classics”
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Music Played
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Ludwig van Beethoven
Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 61 (3rd mvt)
Performer: Isabelle Faust. Orchestra: Orchestra Mozart. Conductor: Claudio Abbado.- Harmonia Mundi.
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Francis Poulenc
Elegie [en accords alternes]
Performer: Louis Lortie. Performer: Hélène Mercier.- Chandos.
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Grażyna Bacewicz
Symphony no.3 (3rd mvt)
Orchestra: WDR Symphony Orchestra Cologne. Conductor: Łukasz Borowicz.- Bacewicz: Complete Symphonic Works, Vol. 1.
- CPO.
- 103.
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Ola Gjeilo
Still
Music Arranger: Geoff Lawson. Choir: VOCES8. Performer: Eleanor Turner.- Infinity.
- Decca Music Group Ltd..
- 10.
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Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Quintet in E flat major K.407 for horn and strings: 1st movement; Allegro
Performer: Felix Klieser. Ensemble: Zemlinsky Quartet.- Mozart & Haydn For Horn & String Quartet.
- Berlin Classics.
- 10.
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Eric Coates
By the sleepy lagoon
Orchestra: ѿý Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor: John Wilson.- Chandos.
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Georg Philipp Telemann
Triple Concerto in E major for flute, oboe d'amore and viola, TWV 53 E1
Performer: Stephen Preston. Performer: Clare Shanks. Performer: Monica Huggett. Orchestra: Academy of Ancient Music. Director: Christopher Hogwood.- ’O-۸鷡.
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Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Piano Concerto no.2 in G major (3rd mvt)
Performer: Sir Stephen Hough. Orchestra: Minnesota Orchestra. Conductor: Osmo Vänskä.- Tchaikovsky; The Three Piano Concertos, Concert Fantasia.
- Hyperion.
- 3.
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Trad.
Were you there when they crucified my Lord?
Performer: Lawrence Brown. Music Arranger: Harry Burleigh. Singer: Paul Robeson.- The Great Paul Robeson.
- Memoir Records.
- 21.
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Georges Bizet
Farandole (L'Arlesienne Suite no.2)
Ensemble: Les Musiciens du Louvre. Conductor: Marc Minkowski.- Naive.
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Rachel Portman
Emma "main theme"
Orchestra: The City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra.- Reel Love - The Cinematic Romance Album.
- Silva Screen Records.
- 13.
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Robert Schumann
Quintet for piano and strings (Op.44)in E flat major; 1st mvt; Allegro brillante
Performer: Jonathan Biss. Ensemble: Elias String Quartet.- ONYX.
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Frederick Delius
On hearing the first cuckoo in spring
Orchestra: Hallé. Conductor: Mark Elder.- HALLE.
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Johann Sebastian Bach
Easter Oratorio BWV.249 (opening)
Ensemble: Taverner Consort. Ensemble: Taverner Players. Conductor: Andrew Parrott.- Bach: Magnificat / Cantatas 4, 11 & 50 / Easter Oratorio.
- Erato.
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Francisco Guerrero
Maria Magdalene
Choir: Stile Antico.- Harmonia Mundi.
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Gian Piero Reverberi
The Adventures of Robinson Crusoe (Opening Titles)
Composer: Robert Mellin.- The Adventures of Robinson Crusoe (Original Television Soundtrack).
- Silva Screen Records Ltd.
- 1.
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Gian Piero Reverberi
The Adventures of Robinson Crusoe - Main Theme
Composer: Robert Mellin.- The Adventures of Robinson Crusoe (Original Television Soundtrack).
- Silva Screen Records Ltd.
- 2.
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John Ireland
Sea Fever
Singer: Bryn Terfel. Performer: Malcolm Martineau.- The Art of Bryn Terfel.
- Deutsche Grammophon.
- 5.
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Claude Debussy
En bateau (Petite suite)
Orchestrator: Henri Büsser. Orchestra: The Cleveland Orchestra. Conductor: Louis Lane.- The Debussy Collection.
- Sony Classical.
- 3.
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Samuel Coleridge-Taylor
Petite Suite (La Caprice de Nanette)
Orchestra: The New London Orchestra. Conductor: Ronald Corp.- British Light Music Classics, Vol. 4.
- HYPERION.
- 17.
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Frédéric Chopin
Nocturne in C sharp minor Op.posth
Music Arranger: Nathan Milstein. Performer: Bomsori. Performer: Rafał Blechacz.- DG.
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Giovanni Gabrieli
Canzon à 10, S.137
Performer: London Symphony Brass. Conductor: Eric Crees.- Gabrieli: Music for Brass Vol. 3.
- Naxos.
- 2.
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Giovanni Gabrieli
Canzon noni toni à 12, C183
Music Arranger: Eric Crees. Performer: London Symphony Brass. Conductor: Eric Crees.- Cathedral Brass: London Symphony Brass/Crees.
- Collins Classics.
- 9.
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Jean Sibelius
The Swan of Tuonela (Lemminkainen Suite)
Conductor: Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Hannu Lintu.- Winter with Sibelius.
- ONDINE.
- 2.
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Eugène Gigout
Toccata in B Minor
Performer: Nicolas Kynaston.- Essential Organ.
- Warner Classics.
- 5.
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Karl Jenkins
The Signs Still Point The Way
Choir: ѿý Singers. Orchestra: ѿý Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Gabriella Teychenné. -
Joe Hisaishi
Merry-Go-Round of Life (Howl's Moving Castle)
Orchestra: Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor: Joe Hisaishi.- A Symphonic Celebration - Music from the Studio Ghibli Films of Hayao Miyazaki.
- Universal Music LLC.
- 1.
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Alexander Glazunov
Violin Concerto in A minor, Op 82
Performer: Maxim Vengerov. Orchestra: Berliner Philharmoniker. Conductor: Claudio Abbado.- TELDEC.
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Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Sonata in C major K.545 for piano
Performer: Angela Hewitt.- Mozart: Piano Sonatas K457, K533, K545, K570, K576.
- Hyperion.
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William Henry Harris
Faire is the Heaven
Choir: Choir of The Queen's College, Oxford. Conductor: Owen Rees.- A New Heaven.
- Signum Classics.
- 1001.
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George Frideric Handel
Dopo notte (Ariodante)
Singer: Lorraine Hunt Lieberson. Ensemble: Freiburg Baroque Orchestra. Conductor: Nicholas McGegan.- Handel - Ariodante.
- Harmonia Mundi.
- 016.
Broadcast
- Thu 19 Jun 2025 09:30ѿý Radio 3