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Destress your morning with gentle harmonies

Calming classical music to inspire focus and set you up for the day ahead. Presented by broadcaster, author and counselling psychologist Dr Sian Williams.

Calming classical music to help you focus and set you up for the day ahead. Presented by broadcaster, author and counselling psychologist Dr Sian Williams.

Featuring pleasing, relaxing music from composers including Prokofiev, Hildegard von Bingen, and Mozart, and a chance to Find Your Focus in a piece by Sophia Jani which takes inspiration from the way change in our lives often happens slowly and without us noticing. Sian Takes a Breath outside and encounters an obstacle in her path, and Professor Catherine Loveday joins the show to explain how good for us listening to music really is.

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3 hours

Last on

Yesterday09:00
BBC Radio 3 Unwind

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Music Played

  • Pietro Mascagni

    Cavallerina Rusticana (Intermezzo)

    Conductor: Marek Janowski. Orchestra: Dresdner Philharmonie.
    • Pentatone.

  • Dorothy Howell

    The Moorings

    Performer: Sarah Nemtanu. Performer: Marie‐Josèphe Jude.
    • La Boîte à Pépites.

  • Trad.

    O Waly Waly

    Music Arranger: John Rutter. Choir: The Rodolfus Choir. Conductor: Ralph Allwood.
    • Signum.

  • Walter Braunfels

    Suite from the Glass Mountain Op 39b (6th mvt, 'Beim guten Mond')

    Conductor: Johannes Wildner. Orchestra: BBC Concert Orchestra.
    • Dutton Epoch.

  • Rachel Portman

    Apple Tree

    Performer: Esther Abrami. Conductor: Irene Delgado-Jiménez. Orchestra: Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra.
    • Sony.

  • Sophia Jani

    Everybody was so young

    Ensemble: Kontai Ensemble.
    • Neue Meister.

  • Aram Khachaturian

    Spartacus (Adagio of Spartacus and Phyrgia)

    Conductor: Vasily Petrenko. Orchestra: Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra.
    • Onyx.

  • Nitin Sawhney

    Breathing Light

    Performer: Hélène Grimaud.
    • DG.

  • Gerald Finzi

    Clarinet Concerto, Op 31 (2nd mvt)

    Performer: Michael Collins. Orchestra: Philharmonia Orchestra.
    • BIS.

  • Hildegard of Bingen

    Spiritui Sancto honor sit (De Undecim Milibus Virginibus, Responsorium)

    Choir: Sequentia. Conductor: Barbara Thornton.
    • Deutsche Harmonia Mundi.

  • Felix Mendelssohn

    Piano Trio No 2 In C minor, Op 66 (2nd mvt)

    Performer: Joshua Bell. Performer: Steven Isserlis. Performer: Jeremy Denk.
    • Sony.

  • Don Gillis

    Concerto No 2 (1st mvt)

    Conductor: Ian Hobson. Orchestra: Sinfonia Varsovia.
    • Albany.

  • Henry Purcell

    Hear my prayer, O Lord, Z15

    Ensemble: Armonico Consort. Conductor: Christopher Monks.
    • Signum.

  • Franz Krommer

    Symphony No 4 in C minor Op 102 (2nd mvt)

    Conductor: Howard Griffiths. Orchestra: Orchestra della Svizzera italiana.
    • CPO.

  • Helen Hopekirk

    5 Scottish Folksongs (No 2, 'Turn Ye to Me')

    Performer: Gary Steigerwalt.
    • Toccata.

  • Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson

    String Quartet No 1, 'Calvary' (2nd mvt)

    Ensemble: Catalyst Quartet.
    • Azica Records.

  • Suzanne Ciani

    Rain

    Performer: Vanessa Wagner.
    • INFINE MUSIC.

  • Rued Langgaard

    Rose Garden Songs (2nd mvt, 'Behind The Wall Stand The Little Roses')

    Choir: Ars Nova Copenhagen. Conductor: Tamás Vető.
    • Dacapo.

  • Joaquín Rodrigo

    Fantasia for a Gentleman (2nd mvt)

    Performer: Miloš Karadaglić. Conductor: Yannick Nézet‐Séguin. Orchestra: London Philharmonic Orchestra.
    • DG.

  • Paul Hindemith

    The Doe (Six Chansons)

    Choir: BBC Singers. Conductor: Sarah Latto.

  • Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

    Piano concerto no.1 in F major K.37 (2nd mvt)

    Performer: Mishka Rushdie Momen. Orchestra: Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Howard Griffiths.
    • Alpha.

  • Jung Jae-il

    Ocean Meets The Land

    Orchestra: Budapest Scoring Orchestra.
    • Decca.

  • Joseph Bologne

    Violin Concerto No 5 in A major (2nd mvt)

    Performer: Théotime Langlois de Swarte. Orchestra: Orchestre de l’Opéra Royal.
    • Château de Versailles Spectacles.

  • Frank Bridge

    Two Poems for Orchestra, H 118 (1st mvt)

    Conductor: Richard Hickox. Orchestra: BBC National Orchestra of Wales.
    • Chandos.

  • Hania Rani

    Anima

    Performer: Kornelia Grądzka. Performer: Dobrawa Czocher. Performer: Hania Rani.
    • DG.

  • Maurice Ravel

    Piano Concerto in G major, M 83 (2nd mvt)

    Performer: Steven Osborne. Conductor: Ludovic Morlot. Orchestra: BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra.
    • Hyperion.

  • Gwenllian Llŷr

    Flying with the birds

    Performer: Gwenllian Llŷr.

  • Trad.

    Nostalgia (arr for violin & orchestra)

    Performer: Takako Nishizaki. Conductor: Hoey Choo. Orchestra: Singapore Symphony Orchestra.
    • Marco Polo.

  • Joachim Raff

    Symphony No 3 in F major, Op 153, 'Im Walde' (2nd mvt, 'In the Twilight')

    Conductor: Hilary Davan Wetton. Orchestra: Milton Keynes City Orchestra.
    • Hyperion.

  • Sergey Prokofiev

    Cinderella, Op. 87, Act 1: No. 13, Summer Fairy

    Conductor: André Previn. Orchestra: London Symphony Orchestra.
    • Warner.

  • Arthur Sullivan

    The Lost Chord

    Performer: Marcus Wibberley. Choir: Convivium Singers. Conductor: Norman Alexander.
    • Convivium.

  • Franz Schubert

    Symphony No 3 in D major, D 200 (2nd mvt)

    Conductor: Thomas Dausgaard. Orchestra: Swedish Chamber Orchestra.
    • BIS.

  • Henry Mancini

    A Month Off (Mr Hobbs Takes a Vacation)

    • Soundtrack Classics.

Broadcast

  • Yesterday09:00
    BBC Radio 3 Unwind