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The very best of classical music

Ian Skelly plays the best in classical music, 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 an orchestral 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

  • Johannes Brahms

    Hungarian Dance no.6 in B flat major

    Orchestrator: Albert Parlow. Orchestra: Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. Conductor: Bernard Haitink.
    • Brahms: Hungarian Dances &Dvorak: Slavonic Dances: Haitink.
    • Philips.
    • 6.

  • Ludwig van Beethoven

    Symphony No. 2 in D Major, Op. 36: IV. Allegro molto

    Performer: Leonidas Kavakos. Performer: Yo‐Yo Ma. Performer: Emanuel Ax. Music Arranger: Ferdinand Ries.
    • Beethoven for Three: Symphonies Nos. 2 and 5.
    • Sony Classical.
    • 4.

  • Johann Sebastian Bach

    Mass in G minor, BWV235: I - Kyrie

    Ensemble: Kölner Akademie. Conductor: Michael Alexander Willens.
    • Pentatone.

  • Louise Farrenc

    Sextet in C minor Op.40 (3rd mvt)

    Performer: Eric Le Sage. Ensemble: Les Vents Français.
    • Les Vents Français - Winds & Piano.
    • Warner Classics.
    • 106.

  • Georges Bizet

    L'amour est un oiseau rebelle (Carmen)

    Singer: Marianne Crebassa. Choir: Chœur du Capitole de Toulouse. Orchestra: Orchestre national du Capitole de Toulouse. Conductor: Ben Glassberg.
    • Erato.

  • Francis Poulenc

    Les Animaux modèles, FP 111: III. La Cigale et la fourmi

    Orchestra: BBC Concert Orchestra. Conductor: Bramwell Tovey.
    • Poulenc: Orchestral Works.
    • Chandos.
    • 403.

  • Alexander Glazunov

    3 Miniatures for Piano, Op. 42: Valse - Allegretto

    Performer: Alexander Malofeev.
    • Forgotten Melodies.
    • Sony Classical.
    • 14.

  • George Frideric Handel

    Concerto (No. 14) in A major HHA 296a : V. Allegro

    Performer: Bob van Asperen. Orchestra: Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment.
    • Handel Organ Concertos Op.7.
    • Warner Classics.
    • 14.

  • Charles‐Valentin Alkan

    Cello Sonata in E major, Op.47 (4th mvt)

    Performer: Alban Gerhardt. Performer: Steven Osborne.
    • Chopin: Cello Sonatas.
    • Hyperion.
    • 4.

  • Joseph Haydn

    Symphony No. 59 in A Major, Hob.I:59 "Feuersinfonie": IV. Allegro assai

    Orchestra: Il Giardino Armonico. Conductor: Giovanni Antonini.
    • Haydn 2032, Vol. 13: Horn Signal.
    • Alpha Classics.
    • 8.

  • Innocentius Dammonis

    Peccatori, perchè seti

    Ensemble: Le Miroir de Musique. Conductor: Baptiste Romain.
    • Ubi caritas. Italian Laude in Early Renaissance.
    • Ricercar.
    • 18.

  • Ernesto Lecuona

    Afro-Cuban Dances: No. 1, Danza lucumí

    Performer: Clara Rodriguez.
    • Lecuona: Clara Rodriguez - Piano.
    • Meridian Records.
    • 16.

  • Samuel Coleridge-Taylor

    Violin concerto in G minor Op.80 (2nd mvt)

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

  • Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

    Symphony No.41 in C major "Jupiter" (4th mvt)

    Ensemble: Ensemble Resonanz. Conductor: Riccardo Minasi.
    • Mozart: Symphonies Nos. 39, 40 & 41 "Jupiter".
    • harmonia mundi.
    • 204.

  • Carl Maria von Weber

    Clarinet Quintet in in B flat major,Op.34 (4th mvt)

    Music Arranger: Unknown. Performer: Jörg Widmann. Orchestra: Irish Chamber Orchestra.
    • ALPHA.

  • Ernest Bucalossi

    The Grasshopper's Dance

    Orchestra: New London Orchestra. Conductor: Ronald Corp.
    • British Light Music Classics, Vol. 2.
    • Hyperion.
    • 3.

  • Josquin des Prez

    El grillo, NJE 28.12

    Lyricist: Josquin des Prez. Choir: Stile Antico.
    • The Golden Renaissance: Josquin des Prez.
    • Decca (UMO) (Classics).
    • 9.

  • Ferenc Farkas

    Old Hungarian Dances of the 17th Century: V - Leaping Dance

    Music Arranger: László Zempléni. Ensemble: Budapest Wind Ensemble. Conductor: László Marosi.
    • Farkas: Music for Wind Ensemble.
    • Toccata Classics.
    • 5.

  • Jacques Offenbach

    Orphée aux enfers, Act 1: Duo du concerto. "Ah! c'est ainsi !"

    Singer: Natalie Dessay. Singer: Yann Beuron. Conductor: Marc Minkowski. Orchestra: Orchestre de Chambre de Grenoble. Orchestra: Orchestre de l’Opéra de Lyon.
    • Offenbach: Orphée aux enfers.
    • Warner Classics.
    • 5.

  • Richard Rodgers

    Carousel Waltz (Carousel)

    Music Arranger: Edward Benson Powell. Music Arranger: Gus Levene. Lyricist: Oscar Hammerstein II. Orchestra: John Wilson Orchestra. Conductor: John Wilson.
    • The Best of The John Wilson Orchestra.
    • Warner Classics.
    • 13.

  • Luigi Boccherini

    Quintetto No. 4 in Re Maggiore "Fandango" per Corda e Chitarra, G. 448: Allegro

    Performer: Rolf Lislevand. Conductor: Jordi Savall. Orchestra: Le Concert des Nations.
    • Luigi Boccherini: Fandango, Sinfonie & La Musica Notturna Di Madrid.
    • Alia Vox.
    • 2.

  • Leokadiya Kashperova

    Symphony in B Minor, Op. 4: II. Allegretto scherzando, presto

    Orchestra: Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin. Conductor: Anna Skryleva.
    • Kashperova: Piano Concerto in A Minor, Op. 2 & Symphony in B Minor, Op. 4.
    • CapriccioNR.
    • 105.

  • Antonio Vivaldi

    Double Mandolin Concerto in G major RV.532 (3rd mvt)

    Performer: Avi Avital. Performer: Alon Sariel. Orchestra: Venice Baroque Orchestra.
    • DG.

  • Maurice Ravel

    Piano Concerto in G Major (2nd mvt)

    Music Arranger: Roderick Williams. Performer: Anna Markland. Ensemble: I Fagiolini. Conductor: Robert Hollingworth.
    • Amuse-Bouche - French Choral Delicacies.
    • Decca.
    • 29.

  • Antonín Dvořák

    A Hero's Song, Op.111

    Orchestra: North German Radio Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Krzysztof Urbański.
    • Dvořák: Symphony No. 9 in E Minor, Op. 95 "From the New World" & A Hero's Song,.
    • Alpha Classics.
    • 2.

  • Dmitry Shostakovich

    Suite no. 2 for jazz band: 2nd Waltz

    Performer: Black Dyke Band. Conductor: Nicholas Childs.
    • Obrasso Records.

  • Hubert Giraud

    Sous le ciel de Paris

    Music Arranger: Wilhelm Kaiser-Lindemann. Ensemble: The 12 Cellists of the Berlin Philharmonic.
    • 50 x 12: Half a Century of Music.
    • Warner Classics.
    • 11.

  • Ruth Gipps

    Symphony No. 1 in F Minor, Op. 22: II. Adagio

    Orchestra: BBC Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor: Rumon Gamba.
    • Gipps: Orchestral Works Vol. 3.
    • Chandos.
    • 108.

  • Henry Purcell

    What pow'r art thou (King Arthur)

    Singer: Stephen Varcoe. Orchestra: English Baroque Soloists. Conductor: Sir John Eliot Gardiner.
    • Purcell - King Arthur.
    • ERATO.
    • 18.

  • Camille Saint‐Saëns

    Samson et Dalila Op.47 (Bacchanale)

    Conductor: François‐Xavier Roth. Orchestra: Les Siècles.
    • Saint-Saëns: Symphonic Poems - Le Carnaval des animaux - L'Assassinat du Duc de.
    • harmonia mundi.
    • 105.

Broadcast

  • Yesterday09:30
    BBC Radio 3