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Three hours of classical sparkle

Join Sarah Walker for a wide-ranging Sunday mix, from vivid landscapes to Nordic choral stillness, colourful orchestral showpieces and moments of reflection.

This week, Sarah Walker weaves together a playlist that sets up a musical adventure spanning landscapes in central Asia, Rome and Czechia - via a pitstop in a blacksmith's smithy.

Sarah also heads off to Iceland for this week’s Choral Reflection with music by Anna Thorvaldsdottir, sung by the Schola Cantorum Reykjavicensis.

There’s also music by the astronomer-composer William Herschel, expressive piano music from Dora Pejačević, a movement from Mozart’s elegant Concerto for Flute and Harp, while Respighi’s Pines of Rome provides a vivid orchestral centrepiece.

Also, with thousands of runners pounding the streets of central London for today’s marathon, Sarah laces up her musical trainers…

A Tandem Production for BBC Radio 3.

26 days left to listen

3 hours

Last on

Sunday09:00
BBC Radio 3

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Music Played

  • Dora Pejačević

    6 Fantasiestücke, Op 17 (No 5, Bitte & No 6, Wahn)

    Performer: Nataša Veljković.
    • CPO.

  • Henry Purcell

    Chacony in G minor, Z 730

    Conductor: Bernard Labadie. Ensemble: Les Violons du Roy.
    • Les Violons du Roy: Encore!.
    • Sono Luminus.
    • 1.

  • Camille Saint‐Saëns

    Phaéton, Op 39

    Conductor: Charles Dutoit. Orchestra: Philharmonia Orchestra.
    • Decca Music Group Ltd.

  • Antoine Reicha

    Piano Trio No 1 in E flat major, Op 101 (4th mvt, Finale)

    Performer: Trio Bohémo.
    • SUPRAPHON.

  • Alexander Borodin

    In the Steppes of Central Asia

    Conductor: Vladimir Ashkenazy. Orchestra: Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.
    • Decca Music Group Ltd.

  • Joseph Haydn

    String Quartet in D major Op.20`4 (4th mvt)

    Ensemble: Chiaroscuro Quartet.
    • Haydn: String Quartets, Op. 20 Nos. 4-6.
    • BIS.
    • 4.

  • Anna Thorvaldsdottir

    Heyr þú oss himnum á [Hear us in the heavens]

    Choir: Schola Cantorum Reykjavicensis. Conductor: Hörður Áskelsson.
    • Meditatio: Music for Mixed Choir.
    • BIS.
    • 110.

  • Michel Fugain

    Une belle histoire

    Performer: Alexandre Tharaud.
    • Pianosong.
    • Warner Classics.
    • 14.

  • Gordon Langford

    The Worth Valley Railway (3 Haworth Impressions)

    Ensemble: Black Dyke Band. Conductor: Major Peter Parkes.
    • CHANDOS.

  • Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

    Concerto for Flute and Harp in C major, K 299 (2nd mvt)

    Performer: Emmanuel Pahud. Performer: Marie‐Pierre Langlamet. Conductor: Claudio Abbado. Orchestra: Berlin Philharmonic.
    • Warner Classics.

  • Lucy Walker

    Give me your stars

    Performer: VOCES8.

  • Ron Goodwin

    The Trap (Main Theme)

    Conductor: Rumon Gamba. Orchestra: BBC Philharmonic Orchestra.
    • The Film Music of Ron Goodwin.
    • Chandos Records Limited.
    • 12.

  • Felix Mendelssohn

    Songs Without Words, Op 30 (2nd mvt)

    Performer: Daniel Barenboim.
    • Deutsche Grammophon (DG).

  • Percy Grainger

    Youthful Suite (5th mvt, 'English Waltz')

    Conductor: Richard Hickox. Orchestra: BBC Philharmonic Orchestra.
    • Chandos.

  • Bedrich Smetana

    Ma Vlast, JB1:112: II. Vltava

    Orchestra: Czech Philharmonic. Conductor: Semyon Bychkov.
    • Pentatone.

  • Nikolai Karlovich Medtner

    Tales, 'Skazki', Op 34 (1st mvt, 'The Magic Violin')

    Performer: Hamish Milne.
    • Hyperion.

  • Leonel Power

    Missa Alma redemptoris mater: Gloria

    Ensemble: Trio Mediæval.
    • ECM.

  • George Frideric Handel

    Suite No 5 in E major, HWV 430 (4th mvt, 'The Harmonious Blacksmith')

    Performer: Murray Perahia.
    • Sony Classical.

  • Ottorino Respighi

    The Pines of Rome

    Conductor: John Wilson. Orchestra: Sinfonia of London.
    • Chandos.

  • Cristóbal de Morales

    Parce Mihi Domine (Var 1)

    Ensemble: The Hilliard Ensemble. Conductor: Jan Garbarek.
    • Officium.
    • ECM New Series.
    • 8.

  • Yu-Chun Huang

    Determined

    Performer: Franziska Pohlmann. Performer: Doro Bohr. Orchestra: Deutsches Filmorchester Babelsberg.
    • LIVE STRINGS - The Women's Collective.
    • SCDV.
    • 004.

  • Flute Sonata in E flat major, H 545, arr for trumpet & organ (2nd mvt, 'Siciliano')

    • Naxos Special Projects.

  • Édouard Lalo

    Cello Concerto in D minor (1st mvt, Prelude)

    Performer: Jan Vogler. Conductor: Josep Caballé‐Domenech. Orchestra: Moritzburg Festival Orchestra.
    • Sony.

  • Sergey Rachmaninov

    13 Preludes, Op 32 (No 5 in G major)

    Performer: Vladimir Ashkenazy.
    • Decca Music Group Ltd.

  • John Wilbye

    Flora gave me fairest flowers

    Ensemble: I Fagiolini. Conductor: Robert Hollingworth.
    • John Wilbye: Draw On Sweet Night.
    • CORO.
    • 22.

  • Pyotr Tchaikovsky

    Symphony No 5 in E minor, Op 64 (4th mvt, Finale)

    Conductor: Vladimir Jurowski. Orchestra: London Philharmonic Orchestra.
    • London Philharmonic Orchestra.

Broadcast

  • Sunday09:00
    BBC Radio 3