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Refresh your morning with classical music

Georgia Mann plays the best in classical music, with discoveries and surprises rubbing shoulders with familiar favourites.

Georgia Mann plays the best classical music for your morning, with discoveries and surprises rubbing shoulders with familiar favourites. Including the Playlister challenge: our regular listener-created sequence inspired by a different piece of music each day. Plus a new classical release in focus for Album of the Week.

1000 Playlister starter: listen and send us your ideas for the next step in today's musical journey. Text 83111 or email essentialclassics@bbc.co.uk.

1030 Album of the Week: an exciting new classical release in focus throughout the week.

1115 Playlister reveal: an uninterrupted sequence of music suggested by you in response to today's starter piece.

1200 Feast of a Piece: indulge your ears with an orchestral masterpiece.

To listen on most smart speakers say "Ask ѿý Sounds to play Essential Classics”.

3 hours, 30 minutes

Music Played

  • Igor Stravinsky

    Pulcinella Suite (Sinfonia)

    Orchestra: Chamber Orchestra of Europe. Conductor: Alexander Janiczek.
    • Stravinsky: Apollon Musagète & Pulcinella Suite.
    • Linn Records.
    • 11.
  • Joseph Haydn

    Keyboard Concerto in D major, H.18.11 (1st mvt)

    Performer: Leif Ove Andsnes. Orchestra: Norwegian Chamber Orchestra.
    • EMI CLASSICS : CZS-574789 2.
    • EMI CLASSICS.
    • 7.
  • Ernest Walker

    Soft Music

    Conductor: Nigel Short. Choir: Tenebrae.
    • Music of the Spheres.
    • Signum Classics.
    • 13.
  • Johann Sebastian Bach

    Orchestral Suite No 1 in C Major, BWV 1066: I. Overture

    Orchestra: Bach Collegium Japan. Conductor: Masaaki Suzuki.
    • Bach, J.S.: 4 Orchestral Suites, Bwv 1066-1069.
    • BIS.
    • 201.
  • Jean Sibelius

    Finlandia, Op.26

    Orchestra: Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor: Mariss Jansons.
    • Sibelius: Orchestral Works.
    • Warner Classics.
    • 4.
  • Edvard Grieg

    A Dream (6 Songs Op.48)

    Singer: Louise Alder. Performer: Joseph Middleton.
    • CHANDOS.
  • Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

    Souvenir de Florence (4th mvt)

    Performer: Sarah Chang. Performer: Bernhard Hartog. Performer: Wolfram Christ. Performer: Tanja Christ. Performer: Georg Faust. Performer: Olaf Maninger.
    • Dvořák: String Sextet, Op. 48 - Tchaikovsky: Souvenir de Florence.
    • Warner Classics.
    • 4.
  • Cécile Chaminade

    Pierrette - Air de ballet, Op. 41

    Performer: Sir Stephen Hough.
    • Stephen Hough's New Piano Album: Encores by Schubert, Chaminade, Tchaikovsky, Ri.
    • Hyperion.
    • 7.
  • Ralph Vaughan Williams

    Symphony No 5 (1st mvt)

    Orchestra: London Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Sir Antonio Pappano.
    • LSO LIVE.
  • Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

    Domine Jesu (Requiem compl Süssmayr)

    Performer: Susan Addison. Singer: Barbara Bonney. Singer: Anne Sofie von Otter. Singer: Hans Peter Blochwitz. Singer: Sir Willard White. Choir: Monteverdi Choir. Ensemble: English Baroque Soloists. Conductor: Sir John Eliot Gardiner.
    • Mozart: Requiem K626/Kyrie K341: Monteverdi Choir/John Eliot Gardiner.
    • Philips.
  • Giovanni Battista Martini

    Toccata

    Performer: Matilda Lloyd. Performer: Richard Gowers.
    • CHANDOS.
  • Sergey Prokofiev

    Symphony No 5 (2nd mvt)

    Orchestra: Berliner Philharmoniker. Conductor: Herbert von Karajan.
    • Prokofiev: Symphony No. 5 in B-Flat Major, Op. 100 / Stravinsky: The Rite of Spr.
    • Deutsche Grammophon (DG).
    • 2.
  • David Popper

    Chanson villageoise (3 Pieces Op.62)

    Performer: Alban Gerhardt. Performer: Cécile Licad.
    • Hyperion.
  • Giuseppe Verdi

    Il Trovatore - Tacea la notte/Di tale amor

    Singer: Rachel Willis-Sørensen. Singer: Valentina Puskás. Orchestra: Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. Conductor: Giacomo Sagripanti.
  • Franz Schubert

    Symphony No 8 in B Minor, D 759 'Unfinished' (1st mvt)

    Orchestra: Pygmalion. Conductor: Raphaël Pichon.
    • HARMONIA MUNDI.
  • Florence Price

    Organ Suite No 1: IV Toccato

    Performer: Alexander Ffinch.
    • Parallels.
    • Divine Art.
    • 5.
  • Franz Schubert

    Nacht und Träume D.827

    Singer: Matthias Goerne. Performer: Alexander Schmalcz.
    • HARMONIA MUNDI.
  • Engelbert Humperdinck

    Hansel and Gretel (Dream-Pantomime)

    Orchestra: Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin. Conductor: Marek Janowski.
    • PENTATONE.
  • Giacomo Puccini

    La rondine: "Chi il bel sogno di Doretta" (Doretta's Dream)

    Singer: Angela Gheorghiu. Orchestra: London Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Sir Antonio Pappano.
    • Puccini: La rondine.
    • Warner Classics.
    • 3.
  • Aram Khachaturian

    Lezghinka (Gayane)

    Orchestra: Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Kirill Karabits.
    • Khachaturian: Spartacus; Gayaneh.
    • Onyx.
    • 9.
  • Francisco Guerrero

    Mi Ofensa's Grande (Canciones y Villanesacas Espirituales)

    Choir: El León de Oro. Conductor: Marco Antonio García de Paz.
    • HYPERION.
  • Ruth Gipps

    Oboe Concerto in D minor Op.20 (3rd mvt)

    Performer: Juliana Koch. Orchestra: ѿý Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor: Rumon Gamba.
    • CHANDOS.
  • Geoffrey Burgon

    Aslan's Theme from The Chronicles of Narnia (ѿý TV Series)

    Orchestra: Studio Orchestra. Conductor: Geoffrey Burgon.
    • Silva Screen.
  • Samuel Scheidt

    Canzon Cornetto a 4

    Ensemble: Amsterdam Loeki Stardust Quartet.
    • CHANNEL.
  • Maurice Ravel

    Pavane pour une infante défunte

    Performer: Steven Osborne.
    • Ravel: The Complete Solo Piano Music: Steven Osborne, Piano.
    • Hyperion.
    • 15.
  • Camille Saint‐Saëns

    Violin Concerto No 3 in B Minor

    Performer: Jean‐Jacques Kantorow. Orchestra: Tapiola Sinfonietta. Conductor: Kees Bakels.
    • Saint-Saens: Violin Concerto No. 3 / Caprice Andalous.
    • BIS.
    • 101.
  • Chiara Margarita Cozzolani

    Vespers: Domine ad adjuvandum me festina

    Ensemble: I Gemelli. Conductor: Emiliano Gonzalez‐Toro.
    • NAIVE.
  • Emil Nikolaus von Reznicek

    Donna Diana (Overture)

    Orchestra: Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Neeme Järvi.
    • Panorama: Famous Overtures.
    • Deutsche Grammophon.
    • 7.
  • Frédéric Chopin

    3 Waltzes Op.34 (no.1 in A flat major)

    Performer: Alexandre Tharaud.
    • Chopin Valses Tharaud.
    • Harmonia Mundi.
    • 16.
  • Leo Brouwer

    Preludio (Guitar suite no.2 in D)

    Performer: Gerald Garcia.
    • The Latin American Guitar.
    • NAXOS.
    • 5.
  • Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov

    The Story of the Kalendar Prince (Sheherazade)

    Performer: Maria Larionoff. Orchestra: Seattle Symphony. Conductor: Gerard Schwarz.
    • Rimsky-Korsakov: Sheherazade.
    • Naxos.
    • 2.

Broadcast

  • Fri 26 Sep 2025 09:30