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Celebrating classical greats

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 a masterpiece.

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28 days left to listen

3 hours, 30 minutes

Last on

Yesterday09:30
BBC Radio 3

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Music Played

  • George Gershwin

    Girl Crazy (Overture)

    Orchestra: Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor: Michael Tilson Thomas.
    • Gershwin: Rhapsody In Blue & Popular Orchestral Works.
    • Sony Classical.

  • Camille Saint‐Saëns

    Clarinet Sonata in E flat major, Op 167 - 1st movement, Allegretto

    Performer: Michael Collins. Performer: Michael McHale.
    • The Lyrical Clarinet.
    • Chandos.
    • 8.

  • Georg Philipp Telemann

    Viola Concerto in G major, TWV 51:G9

    Performer: Nils Mönkemeyer. Ensemble: Potsdam Chamber Academy.
    • Sony.

  • Ludwig van Beethoven

    Symphony no.7 in A major Op.92 (3rd mvt)

    Orchestra: Minnesota Orchestra. Conductor: Osmo Vänskä.
    • Beethoven: The Symphonies: Minnesota Orchestra, Osmo Vanska.
    • BIS.
    • 7.

  • Antonio Vivaldi

    Cum dederit dilectis (Nisi Dominus, RV 608)

    Singer: Andreas Scholl. Ensemble: Australian Brandenburg Orchestra. Conductor: Paul Dyer.
    • Decca.

  • Samuel Coleridge‐Taylor

    Violin Concerto in G Minor (3rd mvt)

    Performer: Elena Urioste. Orchestra: Chineke! Orchestra. Conductor: Kevin John Edusei.
    • Coleridge-Taylor.
    • Decca Music Group Ltd..

  • Cécile Chaminade

    Serenade in D major, Op 29

    Performer: Peter Jacobs.
    • Cécile Chaminade - Piano Music.
    • Helios.
    • 10.

  • Trevor Duncan

    Little suite for orchestra (March)

    Orchestra: Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Andrew Penny.
    • MARCO POLO.

  • Orlande de Lassus

    Requiem Mass for 5 voices (Introit)

    Choir: Vox Luminis. Conductor: Lionel Meunier.
    • Requiems.
    • Ricercar.
    • 7.

  • Pyotr Tchaikovsky

    Piano Concerto No 1 in B flat minor, Op 23 (3rd mvt)

    Performer: Simon Trpceski. Orchestra: Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor: Vasily Petrenko.
    • ONYX.

  • Josef Myslivecek

    Sinfonia in C major

    Orchestra: Concerto Köln. Director: Werner Ehrhardt.
    • Il Divino Boemo.
    • Archiv Produktion.
    • 016.

  • Franz Schubert

    'Trout' Quintet in A Major D.667 (4th mvt)

    Performer: Menahem Pressler. Ensemble: Quatuor Ébène.
    • Menahem Pressler - A 90th Birthday Celebration - Live in Paris.
    • Erato/Warner Classics.
    • 8.

  • Fela Sowande

    Akinla (African Suite)

    Orchestra: Chicago Sinfonietta. Conductor: Paul Freeman.
    • African Heritage Symphonic Series, Volume 1.
    • CEDILLE.
    • 8.

  • Reynaldo Hahn

    Venezia: 1. Sopra l'acqua indormenzada

    Performer: Graham Johnson. Singer: Anthony Rolfe Johnson.
    • Souvenirs de Venise - Songs of Venice.
    • Helios.
    • 13.

  • Pyotr Tchaikovsky

    Suite from Swan Lake, Op. 20a: I. Scene. Moderato

    Orchestra: The Philadelphia Orchestra. Conductor: Riccardo Muti.
    • Tchaikovsky: Symphonies 1-6; Ballet music, etc.
    • Warner Classics.
    • 1.

  • Alexander Borodin

    String Quartet No. 2 in D Major (3rd mvt. "Nocturne")

    Ensemble: Dragon Quartet.
    • Dragon Quartet: Borodin - Shostakovich - Weinberg.
    • Channel Classics Records.
    • 3.

  • Ivor Gurney

    Sleep (5 Elizabethan Songs)

    Singer: Ian Bostridge. Performer: Julius Drake.
    • EMI.

  • Pietro Locatelli

    Concerto grosso in F major Op.1`1

    Ensemble: Raglan Baroque Players. Director: Nicholas Kraemer.
    • HYPERION.

  • Giuseppe Verdi

    La Donna e Mobile (Rigoletto)

    Singer: Juan Diego Flórez. Orchestra: Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano Giuseppe Verdi. Conductor: Carlo Rizzi.
    • Decca.

  • Manuel Ponce

    Estrellita [Little Star]

    Performer: María Dueñas. Performer: Itamar Golan.
    • DG.

  • Emilie Mayer

    Symphony No 7 in F minor (3rd mvmt, Scherzo)

    Orchestra: Kammerorchester Berlin. Conductor: Jürgen Bruns.
    • Dreyer Gaido.

  • George Frideric Handel

    Music for the Royal Fireworks (Overture)

    Orchestra: Le Concert Spirituel. Director: Hervé Niquet.
    • Handel: Water Music & Fireworks: Concert Spirituel, Niquet.
    • Glossa.
    • 19.

  • Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

    Violin Concerto No. 5 in A Major, "Turkish"

    Performer: Vilde Frang. Ensemble: Arcangelo. Conductor: Jonathan Cohen.
    • Mozart: Violin Concertos Nos 1, 5 & Sinfonia concertante.
    • Warner Classics.
    • 4.

  • Stephen Sondheim

    'Sorry-grateful' from 'Company' (2018 London cast version)

    Singer: Gavin Spokes. Singer: Richard Henders. Singer: Ben Lewis. Orchestra: Studio Orchestra. Conductor: Joel Fram.
    • Company (2018 London Cast Recording).
    • Arts Music.

  • Florence Price

    Symphony no.1 in E Minor (3rd & 4th mvts)

    Orchestra: The Philadelphia Orchestra. Conductor: Yannick Nézet‐Séguin.
    • Florence Price: Symphonies Nos. 1 & 3.
    • Deutsche Grammophon (DG).
    • 3.

  • Frank Merrick

    Suite in the 18th Century Style (Siciliano)

    Performer: Steven Isserlis.
    • HYPERION.

  • Madeleine Dring

    Italian Dance

    Performer: Leslie Odom. Performer: Soomee Yoon.
    • Scene rustique.
    • RAVELLO RECORDS.
    • 10.

  • Eric Whitacre

    Lux aurumque

    Choir: Polyphony. Conductor: Stephen Layton.
    • Hyperion.

Broadcast

  • Yesterday09:30
    BBC Radio 3