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The very best of classical music

Ian Skelly plays the best in classical music for your morning, with discoveries and surprises rubbing shoulders with familiar favourites.

Ian Skelly 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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29 days left to listen

3 hours, 30 minutes

Last on

Yesterday09:30
BBC Radio 3

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Music Played

  • Claude Debussy

    Arabesque No 2 in G major

    Performer: Nobuyuki Tsujii.
    • Nobuyuki Tsujii Plays Debussy.
    • Deutsche Grammophon (DG).
    • 1.

  • Johann Nepomuk Hummel

    Sappho von Mitilene - Suite Op.68 (Overture)

    Ensemble: London Mozart Players. Conductor: Howard Shelley.
    • Hummel - Ballet Music.
    • Chandos.
    • 1.

  • Jean‐Philippe Rameau

    La Poule (Concert en sextuor no.6 in G minor)

    Orchestra: Les Musiciens du Louvre. Conductor: Marc Minkowski.
    • Rameau: Une Symphonie Imaginaire: Musiciens du Louvre/Minkowski.
    • Archiv.
    • 11.

  • Cristóbal de Morales

    Missa Ave Maria (Gloria)

    Ensemble: De Profundis. Conductor: Eamonn Dougan.
    • Morales: Missa Ave Maria: II. Gloria.
    • CORO.
    • 1.

  • Ludwig van Beethoven

    Symphony no.5 in C minor Op.67 (1st mvt)

    Orchestra: Le Concert des Nations. Conductor: Jordi Savall.
    • Alia Vox.

  • Roger Quilter

    Where the Rainbow Ends - Suite (1a. Rainbow Land)

    Orchestra: Royal Northern Sinfonia. Conductor: Richard Hickox.
    • British Composers: Best of British.
    • Warner Classics.
    • 7.

  • Luise Adolpha Le Beau

    Symphony in F major, Op 41 (4th mvt)

    Orchestra: Brandenburgisches Staatsorchester Frankfurt. Conductor: Ernst Theis.
    • Luise Adolpha le Beau: Symphony op.41 · Piano Concerto op.37 · Overture op.23.
    • CPO.
    • 108.

  • Leo Brouwer

    Un Dia de noviembre

    Performer: Ricardo Cobo.
    • The Latin American Guitar.
    • NAXOS.
    • 4.

  • Pyotr Tchaikovsky

    Violin Concerto in D major, Op.35 (3rd mvt)

    Performer: Vilde Frang. Orchestra: Danish National Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Eivind Gullberg Jensen.
    • Nielsen / Tchaikovsky violin concertos.
    • Warner Classics.
    • 103.

  • Joseph Jongen

    Piece en trio, Op 80 No 1

    Performer: Adam Walker. Performer: Timothy Ridout. Performer: Anneleen Lenaerts.
    • French Trios.
    • Warner Classics.
    • 15.

  • Charles Gounod

    Soldier's Chorus (Faust)

    Choir: Bavarian Radio Symphony Choir. Orchestra: Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Colin Davis.
    • Gounod: Faust: Gloire immortelle (Soldiers' Chorus).
    • Decca Music Group Ltd..
    • 1.

  • George Frideric Handel

    Passacaglia in G minor, arr. Halvorsen

    Composer: Johan Halvorsen. Performer: Kristine Balanas. Performer: Margarita Balanas.
    • Decca.

  • Manuel de Falla

    La vida breve (Danza no 1)

    Orchestra: Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor: Domingo Hindoyan.
    • Manuel de Falla.
    • Onyx Classics.
    • 10.

  • Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

    Serenade in D major K.239 (Serenata notturna)

    Orchestra: Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg. Conductor: Roberto González-Monjas.
    • Mozart: Serenades.
    • Berlin Classics.
    • 1.

  • Jeremiah Clarke

    Trumpet voluntary (The Prince of Denmark's March)

    Performer: Ole Edvard Antonsen. Performer: Wayne Marshall.
    • Popular pieces for Trumpet and Organ.
    • Warner Classics.
    • 20.

  • Morten Lauridsen

    O nata lux (Lux aeterna)

    Choir: Polyphony. Conductor: Stephen Layton.
    • Lauridsen: Lux Aeterna; Madrigali; Latin Motets.
    • Hyperion.
    • 3.

  • Alan Fernie

    Prismatic Light

    Ensemble: Black Dyke Band. Conductor: Nicholas Childs.
    • ObrassoRecords.

  • Anne Dudley

    Chasing Rainbows

    Performer: Esther Abrami. Orchestra: The City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor: Ben Palmer.
    • Cinéma.
    • Sony Classical/Sony Music.
    • 4.

  • Yip Harburg

    Somewhere Over The Rainbow (Live)

    Composer: Harold Arlen. Performer: Keith Jarrett. Music Arranger: Keith Jarrett.
    • Munich 2016 (Live).
    • ECM Records.
    • 15.

  • Joseph Shabalala

    Rain, Rain, Beautiful Rain

    Ensemble: Ladysmith Black Mambazo.
    • Shaka Zulu.
    • Warner Records.
    • 9.

  • Franz Schubert

    Symphony no.3 in D major D.200 (4th mvt)

    Orchestra: B’Rock Orchestra. Conductor: René Jacobs.
    • Pentatone.

  • Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

    String quintet in G minor, K 516 (2nd mvt)

    Performer: Timothy Ridout. Ensemble: Takács Quartet.
    • Mozart: String Quintets K. 515 & 516.
    • Hyperion Records Limited.
    • 6.

  • Augusta Holmès

    Hero et Leandre (Prelude - La naissance de Cypris)

    Orchestra: Orchestre National Bordeaux Aquitaine. Conductor: Pierre Dumoussaud.
    • Phantoms.
    • Alpha.
    • 2.

  • Joseph Haydn

    Cello Concerto no.1 in C major H.7b.1 (3rd mvt)

    Performer: Sol Gabetta. Orchestra: Kammerorchester Basel. Conductor: Sergio Ciomei.
    • RCA.

  • Ferruccio Busoni

    Turandot (Suite from the incidental music, Op 41)

    Orchestra: La Scala Philharmonic. Conductor: Riccardo Muti.
    • Busoni: Piano Concerto; Turandot Suite Etc.
    • Warner Classics.
    • 201-206.

  • Jacques Offenbach

    Barcarolle (Tales of Hoffmann)

    Singer: Fatma Said. Singer: Marianne Crebassa. Orchestra: Monte-Carlo Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor: Sascha Goetzel.
    • Kaleidoscope.
    • Warner Classics.
    • 7.

  • Erwin Schulhoff

    Alla Tarantella (5 Pieces for String Quartet)

    Ensemble: Signum Quartett.
    • Alla czeca.
    • CapriccioNR.
    • 5.

  • Ethel Smyth

    The Boatswain's Mate - Overture

    Orchestra: Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Ronald Corp.
    • Dan Godfrey - Encores.
    • Dutton Epoch.
    • 4.

  • Robert Schumann

    Humoreske, Op 88 No 2 (Phantasiestücke)

    Performer: Renaud Capuçon. Performer: Martha Argerich. Performer: Gautier Capuçon.
    • Live from the Lugano Festival 2009, Martha Argerich and friends.
    • EMI Classics.
    • 2.

  • Franz Lehár

    Sirens of the Ball (The Merry Widow)

    Orchestra: Münchner Symphoniker. Conductor: Carl Davis.
    • Franz Lehar: The Merry Widow.
    • 2014 Ameritz Music Ltd.
    • 3.

Broadcast

  • Yesterday09:30
    BBC Radio 3