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Great classical music for your morning

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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28 days left to listen

3 hours, 30 minutes

Last on

Christmas Eve 2025 09:30
麻豆社 Radio 3

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Music Played

  • Trad.

    Deck the Halls

    Music Arranger: Bj枚rn Kleiman. Ensemble: Camerata Tchaikovsky.
    • Christmas Without Words.
    • Orchid Classics.
    • 301.

  • Johann Sebastian Bach

    Jauchzet, frohlocket! (Christmas Oratorio, BWV 248)

    Choir: Monteverdi Choir. Orchestra: English Baroque Soloists. Conductor: Sir John Eliot Gardiner.
    • Bach: Sacred Choral Works: Gardiner.
    • Archiv Produktion.
    • 1.

  • Peter Warlock

    Capriol Suite: Pieds-en-l'air

    Orchestra: Academy of St Martin in the Fields. Conductor: Neville Marriner.
    • DECCA.

  • John Rutter

    Donkey carol

    Choir: The Cambridge Singers. Orchestra: City of London Sinfonia. Conductor: John Rutter.
    • Collegium.

  • John Rutter

    Star Carol

    Choir: The Cambridge Singers. Orchestra: City of London Sinfonia. Conductor: John Rutter.
    • collegium.

  • Katherine K. Davis

    The Little Drummer Boy

    Performer: Alexis Ffrench.
    • Christmas Piano with Alexis.
    • Sony Classical.
    • 14.

  • Ralph Vaughan Williams

    Fantasia on 'Greensleeves'

    Orchestra: Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor: Andrew Manze.
    • Vaughan Williams: Orchestral Works.
    • Onyx.
    • 04.

  • Peter Cornelius

    The Three Kings

    Choir: Choir of St John鈥檚 College, Cambridge. Conductor: Andrew Nethsingha.
    • Christmas with St. John's.
    • Signum Classics.
    • 1301.

  • Max Richter

    Four Seasons Recomposed (Winter 3)

    Performer: Daniel Hope. Performer: Raphael Alpermann. Orchestra: Konzerthaus Kammerorchester Berlin. Conductor: Andr茅 de Ridder.
    • DEUTSCHE GRAMMOPHON.

  • George Frideric Handel

    Messiah (Pifa / Glory to God)

    Ensemble: Dunedin Consort. Conductor: John Butt.
    • Handel: Messiah.
    • Linn Records.
    • 14-19.

  • George Frideric Handel

    Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion (Messiah)

    Singer: Susan Hamilton. Ensemble: Dunedin Consort & Players. Director: John Butt.
    • Handel: Messiah: Dunedin Consort & Players.
    • Linn.

  • Philip Lane

    Overture on French Carols

    Orchestra: 麻豆社 Concert Orchestra. Conductor: Barry Wordsworth.
    • The Night Before Christmas.
    • Naxos.
    • 4.

  • Trad.

    O Tannenbaum

    Ensemble: Berlin Philharmonic Brass.
    • Frohe Weihnachten!.
    • Berliner Philharmoniker Recordings.
    • 9.

  • Francis Poulenc

    Un soir de neige

    Choir: Tenebrae. Conductor: Nigel Short.
    • Poulenc: Figure Humaine.
    • Signum.
    • 8-11.

  • Michel Corrette

    Noel Symphony No. 6 in A Major

    Ensemble: La Fantasia. Director: Rien Voskuilen.
    • Corrette - Les Six Symphonies de No毛l.
    • Brilliant Classics.
    • 31.

  • Howard Blake

    Walking in the Air

    Composer: Joanna Forbes L'Estrange. Ensemble: The Swingle Singers.
    • The Swingle Singers unwrapped.
    • Signum Classics.
    • 501.

  • Johnny Marks

    Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer

    Music Arranger: Joanna Forbes L'Estrange. Choir: The Swingle Singers.
    • The Swingle Singers unwrapped.
    • Signum Classics.
    • 1301.

  • Bruce Broughton

    Miracle on 34th Street (music from the film)

    Ensemble: U.S. Coast Guard Band. Conductor: Lieutenant Kenneth W. Megan.
    • Holiday Fanfare.
    • Altissimo!.
    • 11.

  • Trad.

    Sussex Carol

    Performer: Rupert Jeffcoat. Music Arranger: Sir David Willcocks. Choir: Armonico Consort. Conductor: Christopher Monks.
    • On Christmas Night.
    • Signum Classics.
    • 601.

  • Johann Sebastian Bach

    In dir ist Freude, BWV 615

    Performer: Olivier Latry.
    • Bach to Notre-Dame.
    • La Dolce Volta.
    • 6.

  • Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

    The Nutcracker (Clara and the Nutcracker)

    Conductor: Sir Simon Rattle. Orchestra: Berliner Philharmoniker.
    • Tchaikovsky: The Nutcracker: Berliner Philharmoniker/Rattle.
    • EMI Classics.
    • 7.

  • Jonathan Dove

    The Three Kings

    Choir: Gabrieli Consort. Conductor: Paul McCreesh.
    • Signum.

  • Alexander Borodin

    In the Steppes of Central Asia

    Orchestra: Philharmonia Orchestra. Conductor: Geoffrey Simon.
    • Borodin: Requiem/Polovtsian Dances: Philharmonia Orchestra: Geoffrey Simon.
    • Cala.
    • 8.

  • Harold Edwin Darke

    In the Bleak Midwinter

    Performer: David Briggs. Lyricist: Christina Rossetti. Choir: Choir of King鈥檚 College, Cambridge. Singer: John Bowen. Conductor: Stephen Cleobury.
    • 25 Carols for Christmas.
    • Decca Music Group Ltd..
    • 11.

  • Gustaf Nordqvist

    Jul, Jul Stralande Jul

    Singer: Benjamin Appl. Choir: Regensburger Domspatzen. Conductor: Christian Hei脽.
    • The Christmas Album.
    • Alpha Classics.
    • 14.

  • Richard Redhead

    The Joy of Christmas

    Performer: Stockholm Salvation Army Seventh District Brass Band. Conductor: Per Ohlsson.
    • Christmas Brass.
    • Naxos Special Projects.
    • 114.

  • Vicente Lusitano

    Praeter rerum seriem

    Composer: Anon.. Ensemble: The Marian Consort. Director: Rory McCleery.
    • Vicente Lusitano: Motets.
    • Linn Records.
    • 1.

  • Johann David Heinichen

    Concerto for 3/4 recorders, strings & continuo (S.211)

    Performer: Pieter Brulleman. Performer: Baldrick Deerenberg. Performer: Sabine d'Hont. Performer: Barbara Karst. Orchestra: Kammerorchester Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach. Conductor: Hartmut Haenchen.
    • Christmas Concertos - Kammerochestrer Carl Phillip Emanuel Bach.
    • Sony Classical.
    • 1.

  • Trad.

    God rest ye merry gentlemen

    Music Arranger: Jonathan Miller. Choir: 麻豆社 Singers. Conductor: Owain Park.

  • Victor Hely-Hutchinson

    A Carol Symphony

    Orchestra: Pro Arte Orchestra. Conductor: Barry Rose.
    • EMI.

  • Karl Jenkins

    Celebro (Stella Natalis)

    Performer: Alison Balsom. Conductor: Karl Jenkins. Choir: Tenebrae. Choir: Adiemus Singers. Orchestra: Marylebone Camerata.
    • Karl Jenkins: Stella Natalis.
    • EMI.
    • 1.

  • William Alwyn

    Winter Landscape (Winter Poems)

    Ensemble: Tippett Quartet.
    • SOMM.

  • Ted Shapiro

    Love To Keep Me Warm

    Composer: Irving Berlin. Singer: Laufey. Singer: dodie. Ensemble: The Band. Choir: Vocal Ensemble.
    • AWAL.

  • Duke Ellington

    Three Black Kings: No. 1, King of the Magi

    Performer: Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra. Featured Artist: JoAnn Falletta.
    • Duke Ellington: Black, Brown, and Beige.
    • Naxos.
    • 5.

  • Alessandro Scarlatti

    Cantata pastorale per la nascit脿 di Nostro Signore - Recit, Pesa d'uomo la forma

    Singer: Susan Gritton. Orchestra: Collegium Musicum 90. Conductor: Simon Standage.
    • Chandos.

  • Trad.

    We wish you a Merry Christmas

    Composer: Kevin McChesney. Ensemble: Columba Ringers.
    • Guild.

Broadcast

  • Christmas Eve 2025 09:30
    麻豆社 Radio 3