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The best classical music wake-up call

Tom McKinney presents Radio 3’s classical breakfast show, including this week's 25 for 25: Sounds of the Century piece. You can contact the show by emailing 3breakfast@bbc.co.uk

Tom McKinney presents Radio 3’s Breakfast show live from Salford, including ѿý Radio 3’s 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. This week, in a new work for the ѿý Philharmonic British-Armenian composer Kristina Arakelyan celebrates ‘the year of the aurora’, with the Northern Lights being visible unusually far south more often in 2024 than in any other year of the century so far.

You can contact the show by emailing 3breakfast@bbc.co.uk

To listen on most smart speakers, just say 'Ask ѿý Sounds to play 3 Breakfast’

3 hours

Music Played

  • Mel Bonis

    Scenes de la Foret: i. Nocturne; ii. A l'Aube

    Performer: Tatjana Ruhland. Performer: Florian Wiek. Ensemble: Stuttgart Soloists.
    • Hanssler.
  • Eric Whitacre

    Sleep

    Choir: Kantos Chamber Choir. Conductor: Ellie Slorach.
    • In Your Dreams.
    • Delphian Records.
    • 2.
  • Franz Schubert

    Symphony no.3 in D major D.200 (2nd mvt)

    Orchestra: Chamber Orchestra of Europe. Conductor: Claudio Abbado.
    • Schubert: 8 Symphonies: Chamber Orchestra of Europe/Abbado.
    • Deutsche Grammophon.
    • 2.
  • Johann Sebastian Bach

    Cello Suite No. 4 in E-Flat Major, BWV 1010: I. Prelude and II. Allemande

    Performer: Jian Wang.
    • Bach: The Cello Suites.
    • Decca.
  • William Walton

    Death of Falstaff & Touch her soft lips and part (Henry V Suite)

    Music Arranger: Muir Mathieson. Music Arranger: Muir Mathieson. Orchestra: Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra. Orchestra: Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Andrew Litton. Conductor: Andrew Litton.
    • DECCA.
  • Joseph Haydn

    String Quartet Op.33 No.4 in B flat major (1st mvt)

    Ensemble: Chiaroscuro Quartet.
    • Haydn: String Quartets Op. 33, Nos. 4-6.
    • BIS.
    • 1.
  • Fela Sowande

    Joyful Day (African Suite)

    Orchestra: CBC Radio Orchestra. Conductor: Mario Bernardi.
    • CBC.
  • Gerald Finzi

    White-Flowering Days, Op.37

    Choir: The Choir Of Trinity College, Cambridge. Director: Stephen Layton.
    • Hyperion.
  • Antonio Vivaldi

    Concerto in A minor 'con due violini obligati', RV 522

    Performer: Rachel Podger. Performer: Johannes Pramsohler. Ensemble: Brecon Baroque.
    • CHANNEL CLASSICS.
  • Cécile Chaminade

    Carnival Waltz, Op.73

    Performer: Bengt Forsberg. Performer: Peter Jablonski.
    • Mots D' Amour.
    • Deutsche Grammophon.
    • 29.
  • Hector Berlioz

    Grande Messe des morts (Rex tremendae majestatis)

    Choir: London Philharmonic Choir. Orchestra: London Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Colin Davis.
    • Berlioz: Grande Messe des Morts, Op. 5 (Requiem): LSO/Davis.
    • LSO Live.
    • 4.
  • Maurizio Cazzati

    Ciaccona

    Music Arranger: Christina Pluhar. Ensemble: L’Arpeggiata. Director: Christina Pluhar.
    • All'Improviso.
    • ALPHA.
    • 3.
  • Gioachino Rossini

    Largo al factotum (The Barber of Seville)

    Singer: Michael Spyres. Orchestra: Orchestre philharmonique de Strasbourg. Conductor: Marko Letonja.
    • Baritenor.
    • Warner Classics.
    • 6.
  • Clara Schumann

    3 Romances Op.11 (no.3 in A flat major)

    Performer: Isata Kanneh‐Mason.
    • Romance – The Piano Music of Clara Schumann.
    • Decca.
    • 6.
  • Ralph Vaughan Williams

    Sinfonia Antarctica, 1st Mvt.

    Orchestra: Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra. Choir: Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Choir. Conductor: Vernon Handley. Singer: Alison Hargan.
    • Vaughan Williams: Serenade to Music / Sinfonia Antarctica.
    • EMI.
    • 2.
  • Jean‐Philippe Rameau

    La Pantomime (Pièces de clavecin en concert)

    Performer: Christophe Rousset. Performer: Ryo Terakado. Performer: Kaori Uemura.
    • Rameau/Pieces de Clavecin en Concerts/Rousset.
    • Harmonia Mundi.
    • 14.
  • Frank Bridge

    The Story of My Heart (2 Poems of Richard Jefferies)

    Orchestra: ѿý National Orchestra of Wales. Conductor: Richard Hickox.
    • Chandos.
  • Edvard Grieg

    Piano Concerto in A minor, Op 16 (2nd mvt)

    Performer: Leif Ove Andsnes. Orchestra: Berliner Philharmoniker. Conductor: Mariss Jansons.
    • Grieg, Schumann: Piano Concertos: Andsnes, Jansons.
    • EMI Classics.
    • 2.
  • Kristina Arakelyan

    Aurora Borealis

    Performer: Kristina Arakelyan. Orchestra: ѿý Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor: Naomi Woo.
  • Ludwig van Beethoven

    String Quartet in F major Op.59`1 'Rasumovsky' (1st mvt)

    Ensemble: Casals Quartet.
    • Beethoven: Inventions 2.
    • harmonia mundi.
    • 4.
  • Jean Sibelius

    Symphony No 5 in E flat major, Op 82 (3rd mvt)

    Orchestra: Hallé. Performer: Sir Mark Elder.
    • SIBELIUS: SYMPHONY NO.5 & No.7; EN SAGA.
    • HALLE.
    • 3.
  • Claude Debussy

    Cello Sonata in D minor (3rd mvt)

    Performer: Mstislav Rostropovich. Performer: Benjamin Britten.
    • Rostropovich and Britten Recital.
    • Decca.
    • 10.
  • Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

    Horn Concerto no.4 in E flat major K.495 (3rd mvt)

    Performer: Felix Klieser. Ensemble: Camerata Salzburg.
    • Mozart Horn Concertos 1-4.
    • Berlin Classics.
    • 3.
  • Carl Nielsen

    Aladdin's Dream & Dance of the Morning Mists (Aladdin Suite)

    Orchestra: South Jutland Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Niklas Willén.
    • Nielsen: Aladdin Suite; Pan and Syrinx.
    • Naxos.
    • 2.
  • Johann Strauss II

    Roses from the South - waltz

    Orchestra: Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Fritz Reiner.
    • RCA LIVING STEREO.

Broadcast

  • Mon 14 Jul 2025 06:30