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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 BBC Sounds to play Essential Classics”.

28 days left to listen

3 hours, 30 minutes

Music Played

  • George Frideric Handel

    Zadok the priest HWV.258

    Ensemble: Apollo’s Singers. Orchestra: Apollo’s Fire. Director: Jeannette Sorrell.
    • Handel: Dixit Dominus, Zadok the Priest, Ode for Queen Anne: Apollo's Fire, Sorr.
    • Avie.
  • Sergey Rachmaninov

    10 Preludes Op.23 (no.5 in G minor)

    Performer: Nikolai Lugansky.
    • The Rachmaninov Experience.
    • Warner Classics and Jazz.
  • Joseph Haydn

    Symphony No 97 in C major (2nd mvt)

    Orchestra: Les Musiciens du Louvre. Conductor: Marc Minkowski.
    • Haydn, 12 London Symphonies: Marc Minkowski, Les Musiciens du Louvre-Grenobles.
    • Naive.
    • 10.
  • Felix Mendelssohn

    Violin Concerto in E minor, Op 64 (1st mvt)

    Performer: James Ehnes. Orchestra: Philharmonia Orchestra. Conductor: Vladimir Ashkenazy.
    • Mendelssohn: Violin Concerto/Octet: James Ehnes.
    • Onyx.
    • 1.
  • James McMillan

    The Gallant Weaver

    Choir: Gabrieli Consort. Conductor: Paul McCreesh.
    • SIGNUM.
  • Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach

    Harp sonata in G major, Wq.139 (3rd mvt)

    Performer: Anaïs Gaudemard.
    • Anaïs Gaudemard: Solo - harmonia nova #6.
    • harmonia mundi.
    • 5.
  • Maurice Ravel

    String Quartet in F major; 2. Assez vif - tres rythme

    Ensemble: Leonkoro Quartet.
    • Mirare.
  • Jean‐Philippe Rameau

    Naïs (Overture)

    Orchestra: Les Talens Lyriques. Conductor: Christophe Rousset.
    • Rameau: Ouvertures: Les Talens Lyriques, Rousset.
    • Decca.
    • 5.
  • Grace Williams

    Sea Sketches for String Orchestra: V. Calm Sea in Summer

    Conductor: John Andrews. Orchestra: BBC Philharmonic Orchestra.
    • Grace Williams: Orchestral Works.
    • Resonus Classics.
    • 14.
  • Gabriel Fauré

    Dolly - suite for piano duet, Op. 56, no. 3 Le Jardin de Dolly

    Performer: Pascal Rogé. Performer: Elena Font.
    • DECCA.
  • John Williams

    Jurassic Park (main theme)

    Orchestra: Studio Orchestra. Conductor: John Williams.
    • MCA Records.
  • Franz Krommer

    Concerto for Two Clarinets Op. 35 (3rd mvt)

    Performer: Paolo Beltramini. Performer: Corrado Giuffredi. Orchestra: Orchestra della Svizzera italiana. Conductor: Howard Griffiths.
    • Clarinet Concerto op.35 · Concertino op. 38.
    • CPO.
    • 103.
  • Luise Adolpha Le Beau

    Cello Sonata Op.17 (3rd mvt)

    Performer: Steven Isserlis. Performer: Connie Shih.
    • HYPERION.
  • Tarik O’Regan

    Gratias tibi

    Choir: Choir of Clare College, Cambridge. Director: Timothy Brown.
    • Tarik O'Regan - Voices.
    • Collegium Records.
    • 10.
  • Franz Schubert

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

    Orchestra: Pygmalion. Conductor: Raphaël Pichon.
    • HARMONIA MUNDI.
  • Benjamin Britten

    The foggy, foggy dew (Folk Song Arrangements, Vol. 3)

    Performer: Steuart Bedford. Singer: Philip Langridge.
    • English Song.
    • Naxos.
    • 1.
  • Aoife Ní Bhriain

    Woven

    Composer: Catrin Finch. Performer: Aoife Ní Bhriain. Performer: Catrin Finch.
    • Double You.
    • ARC Music Productions International Ltd.
    • 7.
  • Joseph Canteloube

    Lo fiolair (Songs of the Auvergne)

    Singer: Carolyn Sampson. Orchestra: Tapiola Sinfonietta. Conductor: Pascal Rophé.
    • Canteloube: Chants d'Auvergne.
    • BIS.
    • 301.
  • Giuseppe Torelli

    Concerto Grosso in G Minor, Op.8 No.6

    Orchestra: Arte dei Suonatori. Director: Martin Gester.
    • BIS.
  • Niccolò Paganini

    Moto perpetuo in C major, Op.11

    Performer: Gil Shaham. Performer: Göran Söllscher.
    • Paganini for Two: Gil Shaham/Goran Sollscher.
    • Deutsche Grammophon.
    • 22.
  • Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

    Piano Concerto No.18 in B flat (3rd mvt)

    Performer: Jean‐Efflam Bavouzet. Orchestra: Manchester Camerata. Conductor: Gábor Takács‐Nagy.
    • Chandos.
  • Anonymous

    Por coi me bait me maris?

    Ensemble: Duo Trobairitz.
    • The Language of Love – Troubadours & Trouvères of the 12th & 13th Centur.
    • Hyperion.
    • 1.
  • Antonio Vivaldi

    Concerto for 6 Instruments RV.569

    Orchestra: Les Ambassadeurs. Conductor: Alexis Kossenko.
    • Vivaldi: Per l'orchestra di Dresda.
    • Alpha Classics.
  • Ralph Vaughan Williams

    The Lark Ascending

    Performer: Nigel Kennedy. Orchestra: City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Sir Simon Rattle.
    • Nigel Kennedy's Greatest Hits.
    • EMI Classics.
    • 4.
  • Samuel Coleridge-Taylor

    Deep river (24 Folk melodies Op.59)

    Performer: Isata Kanneh‐Mason.
    • Summertime.
    • Decca.
  • Pyotr Tchaikovsky

    Serenade for Strings, Op 48 (Finale - Tema Russo)

    Ensemble: Scottish Ensemble. Director: Jonathan Morton.
    • Linn.
  • Alamiro Giampieri

    Carnival of Venice

    Performer: Michael Collins. Performer: Michael McHale.
    • CHANDOS.
  • Johann Sebastian Bach

    Brandenburg Concerto No 1 in F major, BWV 1046 (4th mvt)

    Orchestra: Academy of St Martin in the Fields. Conductor: Neville Marriner.
    • J.S.Bach: The Brandenburg Concertos: Marriner.
    • Philips.
    • 4.
  • Camille Saint‐Saëns

    Concerto no. 2 in G minor Op.22 for piano and orch; 3. Presto (finale)

    Performer: Vadym Kholodenko. Orchestra: Norwegian Radio Orchestra. Conductor: Miguel Harth-Bedoya.
    • HARMONIA MUNDI.

Broadcast

  • Friday09:30