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Your perfect classical playlist

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, 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.

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”.

3 hours, 30 minutes

Last on

Fri 25 Jul 2025 09:30

Music Played

  • Johann Sebastian Bach

    Concerto in D minor for two violins, BWV 1043 (3rd mvt)

    Performer: Jaap Schröder. Performer: Christopher Hirons. Conductor: Christopher Hogwood. Orchestra: Academy of Ancient Music.
    • Bach: Double Concertos: Academy of Ancient Music/Hogwood.
    • L'Oiseau-Lyre.
    • 12.
  • Franz Liszt

    Les Jeux d'eaux à la Villa d'Este (Années de pèlerinage (3eme annee)

    Performer: Imogen Cooper.
    • Le temps perdu.
    • CHANDOS.
    • 12.
  • Ivo Antognini

    Hope is the thing with feathers

    Lyricist: Emily Dickinson. Choir: The Choir Of Trinity College, Cambridge. Conductor: Stephen Layton.
    • HYPERION.
  • Florence Price

    Piano Quintet in A minor (3rd mvt: Juba)

    Performer: Marc-André Hamelin. Ensemble: Takács Quartet.
    • Hyperion.
  • John Barry

    The Beyondness of Things

    Orchestra: English Chamber Orchestra. Conductor: John Barry.
    • Decca.
  • Joseph Haydn

    Symphony no.83 in G minor 'The Hen' (1st mvt)

    Ensemble: Le Concert de la Loge. Conductor: Julien Chauvin.
    • Haydn : Symphony No. 83 "La Poule".
    • 貹é.
    • 101.
  • Gerald Finzi

    Clarinet Concerto in C minor, Op 31 (3rd mvt)

    Performer: Michael Collins. Orchestra: ѿý Symphony Orchestra.
    • Chandos.
  • Frank Merrick

    Suite in the 18th Century Style (Gigue)

    Performer: Steven Isserlis.
    • British Solo Cello Music.
    • HYPERION.
    • 29.
  • Felix Mendelssohn

    Symphony No. 3 in A Minor "Scottish", Op. 56: IV. Allegro vivacissimo - Allegro

    Orchestra: Scottish Chamber Orchestra. Conductor: Maxim Emelyanychev.
    • Felix Mendelssohn: Symphonies Nos. 3 & 5.
    • Linn Records.
    • 4.
  • Roger Quilter

    I Arise from Dreams of Thee, Op. 29

    Performer: Graham Johnson. Singer: Anthony Rolfe Johnson.
    • NAXOS.
  • Gabriel Fauré

    Sicilienne (Pelleas & Melisande)

    Orchestra: Paris Chamber Orchestra. Conductor: Thomas Zehetmair.
    • Mirare.
  • Errollyn Wallen

    Chorale

    Orchestra: Orchestra of the Swan. Director: David Le Page.
    • Timelapse.
    • Signum Classics.
    • 1201.
  • Jacques Ibert

    3 Pieces breves

    Performer: Les Vents Français.
    • Warner Classics.
  • Hamish MacCunn

    The Land of the Mountain and the Flood (Overture)

    Orchestra: ѿý Scottish Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Martyn Brabbins.
    • MacCunn - Land of the Mountain and the Flood.
    • Hyperion.
    • 001.
  • Nadia Boulanger

    3 Pieces for Cello and Piano: Piece for Cello and Piano No. 1 in E-Flat Minor

    Performer: Astrig Siranossian. Performer: Daniel Barenboim.
    • "Dear Mademoiselle": A Tribute to Nadia Boulanger.
    • Alpha Classics.
    • 1.
  • George Frideric Handel

    Air (Water Music - Suite in F major, HWV 348)

    Orchestra: English Baroque Soloists. Conductor: Sir John Eliot Gardiner.
    • Handel Edition Volume 9 - Orchestral Music.
    • Warner Classics International.
    • 92.
  • Ferdinand Hérold

    Introduction & Dance of the Cock and Hens (La fille mal gardée)

    Music Arranger: John Lanchbery. Orchestra: Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. Conductor: John Lanchbery.
    • Hérold: La fille mal gardée; LeCocq: Mam'zelle Angot.
    • Decca Music Group Ltd..
    • 1.
  • Jean‐Philippe Rameau

    La Poule (Nouvelles suites de pièces de clavecin, Book 2)

    Performer: Sophie Yates.
    • La Sophie: Sophie Yates.
    • Chandos.
    • 16.
  • Karl Jenkins

    Quirk (3rd mvt, Chasing the Goose)

    Performer: Gareth Davies. Performer: John Alley. Performer: Neil Percy. Orchestra: London Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Karl Jenkins.
    • Quirk.
    • Decca (UMO) (Classics).
    • 6.
  • Bastian Chilese

    Canzon in echo à 8

    Ensemble: Hespèrion XXI. Director: Jordi Savall.
    • Battaglie and Lamenti: 1600-1660 Monteverdi, Peri, Fontei, Strozzi.
    • Alia Vox.
    • 5.
  • Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

    String Quartet No 1 in D major, Op 11 (1st mvt)

    Performer: Yuri Yurov. Performer: Mikhail Milman. Ensemble: Borodin Quartet.
    • Tchaikovsky: String Quartets Nos. 1-3, Souvenir De Florence.
    • Teldec.
    • 1.
  • Frédéric Chopin

    Nocturne in D flat major, Op 27 No 2

    Performer: Sir Stephen Hough.
    • In the Night.
    • HYPERION.
    • 6.
  • Edgar Bainton

    And I saw a new Heaven

    Choir: The Sixteen. Performer: Robert Quinney. Conductor: Harry Christophers.
    • A New Heaven, The Sixteen.
    • UCJ.
    • 9.
  • Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

    Concerto No. 4 in E-Flat Major, K.495

    Performer: Felix Klieser. Orchestra: Camerata Salzburg.
    • Berlin Classics.
  • Jerome Moross

    The Big Country (main theme)

    Orchestra: The City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor: Nic Raine.
    • The Big Country.
    • Silva Screen Records.
    • 1.
  • Emma Rawicz

    Journey's End

    Performer: Elliot Galvin. Performer: Dominic Ingham. Performer: Jenny Clare. Performer: Abby Bowen. Performer: Cubby Howard.
  • Robert Kajanus

    Finnish Rhapsody No. 2 in F Major, Op. 8

    Orchestra: Oulu Sinfonia. Conductor: Rumon Gamba.
    • Pictures from Finland.
    • Chandos.
    • 113.
  • Giacomo Puccini

    Turandot, Act 3: "Nessun dorma!"

    Singer: Pene Pati. Choir: Chœurs de l’Opéra de Bordeaux. Orchestra: Orchestre National Bordeaux Aquitaine. Conductor: Emmanuel Villaume.
    • Puccini: Turandot: "Nessun dorma".
    • Warner Classics.
    • 1.
  • Ludwig van Beethoven

    Quintet in E flat major Op.16 (3rd mvt)

    Performer: Eric Le Sage. Ensemble: Les Vents Français.
    • WARNER CLASSICS.
  • Johann Strauss II

    The Blue Danube

    Orchestra: Vienna Philharmonic. Conductor: Riccardo Muti.
    • New Year's Concert 2004: Wiener Philharmoniker/Muti.
    • Deutsche Grammophon.
    • 14.

Broadcast

  • Fri 25 Jul 2025 09:30

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