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A feast of great 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 麻豆社 Sounds to play Essential Classics'.

29 days left to listen

3 hours, 30 minutes

Music Played

  • William Walton

    Crown Imperial

    Performer: Orchestra of Opera North. Conductor: Paul Daniel.
    • Belshazzar's Feast/Crown Imperial.
    • Naxos.
    • 10.
  • Alexander Scriabin

    Waltz in A flat major, Op.38

    Performer: Benjamin Grosvenor.
    • Dances - Benjamin Grosvenor.
    • Decca.
    • 14.
  • Thomas Linley (the younger)

    Arise! Ye spirits of the storm (The Tempest)

    Choir: The Parley of Instruments. Orchestra: The Parley of Instruments. Conductor: Paul Nicholson.
    • Helios.
  • Sergey Rachmaninov

    Scherzo in D minor

    Orchestra: Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra.
    • Rachmaninoff: Symphony No. 2 in E Minor, Dances from Aleko & Scherzo in D Minor.
    • Telarc.
    • 5.
  • Franz Schubert

    3 Marches militaires, Op. 51, D. 733: No. 1 in D Major

    Ensemble: Alexandre Tharaud. Ensemble: Michel Dalberto.
    • Four Hands.
    • Warner Classics.
    • 9.
  • Gustav Mahler

    R眉ckert-Lieder: Um Mitternacht

    Singer: Christian Gerhaher. Orchestra: Orchestre symphonique de Montr茅al. Conductor: Kent Nagano.
    • Mahler: Orchestral Songs.
    • Sony Classical.
    • 12.
  • Samuel Coleridge-Taylor

    Piano Quintet in G minor, Op.1 (3rd mvt)

    Ensemble: Nash Ensemble.
    • Coleridge-Taylor: Piano Quintet, Clarinet Quintet.
    • HYPERION.
    • 3.
  • Karol Szymanowski

    Concert Overture, Op 12

    Orchestra: 麻豆社 Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Edward Gardner.
    • Chandos.
  • Ralph Vaughan Williams

    Seventeen come Sunday

    Orchestra: Royal Northern College of Music Wind Orchestra. Conductor: Timothy Reynish.
    • Holst/Vaughan Williams: British Wind Band Classics: Timothy Reynish.
    • Chandos.
    • 13.
  • Claude Debussy

    Piano Trio (2nd mvt)

    Ensemble: Trio Wanderer.
    • HARMONIA MUNDI.
  • Charles Avison

    Concerto in 4 parts for str and bc (Op.9`1) in G major

    Performer: Pavlo Beznosiuk. Ensemble: Avison Ensemble.
    • The Avison Ensemble: Avison: Concerti Grossi, op. 9 & op. 10.
    • Divine Art.
    • 1.
  • Giovanni Croce

    In spiritu humilitatis for 8 voices

    Choir: Westminster Cathedral Choir. Conductor: Martin Baker.
    • HYPERION.
  • Leokadiya Kashperova

    Two Roses: No 1 (Au sein de la nature)

    Performer: Mengjie Han.
  • Richard Wagner

    Overture to The Flying Dutchman

    Orchestra: Vienna Philharmonic. Conductor: Georg Solti.
    • Wagner: Orchestral Favourites: Sir Georg Solti.
    • Decca.
  • C茅cile Chaminade

    Piano Trio No 2 in A Minor (3rd mvt)

    Ensemble: Neave Trio.
    • In Her Hands.
    • Chandos.
  • Benjamin Britten

    Nocturne: Midnight's bell goes ting, ting, ting

    Singer: Anthony Rolfe Johnson. Orchestra: London Mozart Players. Conductor: Jane Glover.
    • Britten: Les Illuminations; Sinfonietta; Nocturne.
    • ASV.
    • 16.
  • Sergey Prokofiev

    Cinderella: Waltz coda and Midnight

    Orchestra: The Cleveland Orchestra. Conductor: Vladimir Ashkenazy.
    • Decca.
  • Giacomo Puccini

    E lucevan le stelle (Tosca)

    Singer: Jonas Kaufmann. Orchestra: Prague Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor: Marco Armiliato.
    • Jonas Kaufmann: Romantic Arias.
    • Decca.
    • 4.
  • Arnold Schoenberg

    Verklarte 鈥疦acht鈥(conclusion)

    Performer: Nicolas B么ne. Performer: Ant么nio Meneses. Ensemble: Belcea Quartet.
    • ALPHA.
  • Robert Schumann

    Tr盲umerei (Kinderszenen Op.15)

    Performer: Marc鈥怉ndr茅 Hamelin.
    • Schumann - Kinderszenen & Waldszenen; Janacek - On the overgrown path I..
    • HYPERION.
    • 26.
  • George Frideric Handel

    Scherza infida (Ariodante, act 2)

    Singer: Emily D鈥橝ngelo. Orchestra: Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. Conductor: Stefano Montanari.
  • Ruth Gipps

    Horn Concerto, Op.58 (2nd mvt)

    Performer: David Pyatt. Orchestra: London Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor: Nicholas Braithwaite.
    • British Horn Concertos: Jacob/Arnold/Bowen/Gipps/Vinter.
    • Lyrita.
    • 11.
  • Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

    Waltz of the Flowers (The Nutcracker Suite)

    Performer: Yevgeny Sudbin. Performer: Bella Sudbin. Music Arranger: Yevgeny Sudbin.
    • Romeo & Juliet: Tchaikovsky on the Piano.
    • BIS.
    • 102.
  • Edward Elgar

    Violin Concerto in B Minor (1st mvt)

    Performer: Vilde Frang. Orchestra: German Symphony Orchestra Berlin. Conductor: Robin Ticciati.
    • Elgar: Violin Concerto, Op. 61.
    • Warner Classics.
    • 1.
  • Jean鈥怭hilippe Rameau

    Contredanse en rondeau (Les Bor茅ades)

    Orchestra: Les Musiciens du Louvre. Conductor: Marc Minkowski.
    • Rameau: Une Symphonie Imaginaire: Musiciens du Louvre/Minkowski.
    • Archiv.
    • 6.
  • Johann Strauss II

    Tritsch-Tratsch Polka

    Music Arranger: Georges Cziffra. Performer: Yuja Wang.
    • Yuja Wang - Fantasia.
    • DG.
    • 10.
  • Joanna Marsh

    Now I lay

    Conductor: Robert Hollingworth. Ensemble: I Fagiolini. Ensemble: VOCES8.
    • A Plastic Theatre.
    • Signum Classics.
    • 102.
  • Johannes Brahms

    String Sextet no.2 in G major Op.36 (4th mvt)

    Performer: Tabea Zimmermann. Performer: Jean鈥怗uihen Queyras. Ensemble: Belcea Quartet.
    • ALPHA.
  • Trad.

    Oliver Cromwell

    Music Arranger: Benjamin Britten. Singer: Ian Bostridge. Orchestra: Britten Sinfonia. Conductor: Daniel Harding.
    • EMI.
  • Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov

    Sheherazade (The Festival at Baghdad; The Sea; The Shipwreck)

    Performer: Herman Krebbers. Orchestra: Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. Conductor: Kirill Kondrashin.
    • PHILIPS.

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