Use BBC.com or the new BBC App to listen to BBC podcasts, Radio 4 and the World Service outside the UK.

Find out how to listen to other BBC stations

Episode details

Radio 3,02 Nov 2026,180 mins

Pianist Steven Osborne live from Wigmore Hall

Classical Live

Available for 29 days

Mark Forrest brings you an afternoon of exclusive music-making including a live concert from London's Wigmore Hall and music-making from the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra beginning a week focusing on recent performances from some of Germany's great orchestras. The Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, conducted by Vasily Petrenko, brings Rachmaninov’s Symphonic Dances to life, alongside Arvo Pärt’s Greater Antiphons, a work of profound stillness and ritual beauty. From the Imperial Hall Concerts in the Bavarian town of Füssen, a performance of Beethoven’s Gassenhauer - or 'Street Song '- Piano Trio, a spirited and witty work for clarinet, cello and piano. Its playful finale takes a popular tune of the day and transforms it through a series of inventive variations. But we begin with live music from Wigmore Hall, introduced for Classical Live by Petroc Trelawny. The acclaimed British pianist Steven Osborne performs Beethoven's monumental set of variations on a waltz by Diabelli, an epic display of pianism taking the listener on an hour-long emotional rollercoaster. Beethoven: 33 Variations on a waltz by Diabelli Steven Osborne (piano) ***** Sergey Rachmaninov Symphonic Dances Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra Vasily Petrenko (conductor) Imperial Hall Concerts, Füssen: Ludwig van Beethoven Piano Trio No 4 in B flat ('Gassenhauer') Ib Hausmann (clarinet) Samuel Shepherd (cello) Mengjie Han (piano) Arvo Pärt Greater Antiphons Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra Vasily Petrenko (conductor) To listen to this programme (using most smart speakers) just say "Ask BBC Sounds to play Classical Live"

Programme Website
More episodes

Tracklist

  1. Track
    Artist
  2. 1.
    Improvisation On The Vienna Concert
    Improvisation On The Vienna Concert
    Steven Osborne
  3. 2.
    33 Variations On A Waltz By Diabelli in C Major
    33 Variations On A Waltz By Diabelli in C Major
    Ludwig van Beethoven
  4. 3.
    Symphonic Dances, Op. 45
    Symphonic Dances, Op. 45
    Sergey Rachmaninov