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Half an hour of calming classical music

Half an hour of back to back calming classical music including works by Borodin, Mel Bonis, Handel and Frank Martin.

Take time out to relax for half an hour with some calming classical music. Today's mix begins with a gentle serenade by Borodin, an entrancing depiction of the evening by Mel Bonis, and a mysterious slow waltz by Debussy. The incomparable Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau treats us to an interpretation of a well-known Schubert song, and there's a reflective adagio from Weber's 2nd piano concerto. The sequence ends with one of Handel's most poignantly beautiful vocal duets, and we're taken to a higher plane by the Agnus Dei from Frank Martin's Mass for double choir.

Producer: Helen Garrison

29 days left to listen

30 minutes

Music Played

  • Alexander Borodin

    Serenade (Petite Suite)

    Orchestrator: Alexander Glazunov. Orchestra: Philharmonia Orchestra. Conductor: Geoffrey Simon.
    • Borodin: Requiem, Polovtsian Dances, In the Steppes of Central Asia, Nocturne, P.
    • Cala Records.
    • 13.
  • Mel Bonis

    Soir, Matin, Op. 76: I. Andante cantabile

    Performer: Thomas Albertus Irnberger. Performer: David Geringas. Performer: Barbara Moser.
    • It’s a Girl!.
    • Gramola Records.
    • 201.
  • Claude Debussy

    La plus que lente

    Orchestra: Ჹé. Conductor: Sir Mark Elder.
    • Ჹé.
  • Franz Schubert

    Ständchen (Schwanengesang, D 957)

    Performer: Gerald Moore. Singer: Dietrich Fischer‐Dieskau.
    • DG.
  • Carl Maria von Weber

    Piano Concerto No 2 in E flat major, Op 32 (2nd mvt, Adagio)

    Performer: Benjamin Frith. Orchestra: RTÉ Sinfonietta. Conductor: Proinnsías Ó Duinn.
    • Weber: Piano Concertos Nos. 1 and 2 / Polacca Brillante.
    • Naxos.
    • 2.
  • George Frideric Handel

    De torrente in via bibet (Dixit Dominus HWV.232)

    Singer: Arleen Augér. Singer: Lynne Dawson. Choir: Choir of Westminster Abbey. Orchestra: Orchestra of Westminster Abbey. Conductor: Simon Preston.
    • Handel: Dixit Dominus.
    • DG Archiv.
  • Frank Martin

    Mass for Double Choir: Agnus Dei

    Choir: Choir of King’s College, Cambridge. Conductor: Stephen Cleobury.
    • The Music of King's: Choral Favourites from Cambridge.
    • Kings College Cambridge.
    • 14.

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