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The ideal mix of classical music

Georgia Mann plays the best in classical music, featuring new discoveries, some musical surprises and plenty of familiar favourites.

Georgia Mann plays the best in classical music, featuring new discoveries, some musical surprises and plenty of familiar favourites.

1000 Playlist starter – listen and send us your ideas for the next step in our musical journey today.

1030 Essential Carol - introduced by a special guest

1115 Playlist reveal – a sequence of music suggested by you in response to our starter today.

1145 Slow Moment – time to take a break for a moment's musical reflection.

1230 Album of the Week

To listen on most smart speakers say "Ask Â鶹ԼÅÄ Sounds to play Essential Classicsâ€

17 days left to listen

3 hours, 30 minutes

Last on

Fri 6 Dec 2024 09:30

Music Played

  • Charles Gounod

    Waltz (Faust, Act 2)

    Music Arranger: Leopold Weninger. Conductor: Neeme Järvi. Orchestra: Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra.
    • Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra - Great Recordings.
    • UME - Global Clearing House.
    • 31.
  • Aram Khachaturian

    Adagio of Spartacus and Phrygia (Spartacus)

    Orchestra: Vienna Philharmonic. Conductor: Aram Khachaturian.
    • Legends - Khachaturian: Spartacus: Wiener Philharmoniker.
    • Decca.
    • 1.
  • Cecilia McDowall

    Now May We Singen

    Performer: ORA. Performer: Suzi Digby.
    • Advent Calendar.
    • harmonia mundi.
    • 118.
  • Georg Philipp Telemann

    Viola Concerto in G major, TWV 51:G9 (1st and 2nd mvts)

    Performer: Antoine Tamestit. Ensemble: Academy for Ancient Music Berlin. Director: Bernhard Forck.
    • Telemann: Viola Concertos, Overtures & Fantasias.
    • Harmonia Mundi.
    • 8.
  • Franz Liszt

    La Campanella

    Performer: Lang Lang.
    • Liszt - My Piano Hero.
    • Sony Classical.
    • 2.
  • Elisabeth Lutyens

    Channel crossing (La traversee), from En Voyage

    Orchestra: Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor: Simon Joly.
    • LYRITA.
  • Antonín Dvořák

    Bagatelles for 2 violins, cello and harmonium, Op 47 (No 3, Allegretto scherzando)

    Performer: Gábor Ormai. Ensemble: Takács Quartet.
    • Dvorak: String Quartets: Takacs Quartet.
    • Decca.
    • 3.
  • Vicente Lusitano

    Ave spes nostra, Dei genitrix

    Ensemble: The Marian Consort.
    • Vicente Lusitano: Motets.
    • Linn Records.
    • 4.
  • Jean Sibelius

    Entr'acte (Pelleas and Melisande)

    Orchestra: Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Nicholas Collon.
    • Sibelius: Symphony No. 7 in C Major, Op. 105, Suite from "King Christian II", Op.
    • Ondine.
    • 8.
  • Germaine Tailleferre

    Harp Sonata (2nd mvmt, Lento)

    Performer: Maria Graf.
    • Harp Recital.
    • Decca Music Group Ltd..
    • 7.
  • Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

    Piano Concerto no.9 in E flat major K.271 (3rd mvt)

    Performer: Leif Ove Andsnes. Orchestra: Norwegian Chamber Orchestra.
    • Mozart: Piano Concertos Nos. 9 & 18: Norwegian Chamber Orchestra, Leif Ove Andsn.
    • EMI.
  • Jeanâ€Philippe Rameau

    Chaconne (Dardanus)

    Ensemble: Les Musiciens du Louvre. Conductor: Marc Minkowski.
    • ARCHIV.
  • Elisabeth Lutyens

    Channel crossing (La traversee), from En Voyage

    Orchestra: Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor: Simon Joly.
    • LYRITA.
  • Giuseppe Verdi

    Don Carlos (ballet music - closing section)

    Orchestra: Munich Radio Orchestra. Conductor: Ivan Repušić.
    • Verdi: Ballet Music from "Don Carlos".
    • BR-Klassik.
    • 102.
  • Ludwig van Beethoven

    Bagatelle in G major, Op 126 No 5

    Performer: Stephen Kovacevich.
    • Beethoven: Bagatelles for Piano: Kovacevich.
    • Philips.
    • 23.
  • Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

    The Nutcracker (Waltz of the Flowers)

    Orchestra: Berliner Philharmoniker. Conductor: Mstislav Rostropovich.
    • 111 Years Of Deutsche Grammophon The Collector's Edition Vol.2.
    • Deutshe Grammophon.
    • 19.
  • Florence Price

    Concert Overture No 1

    Orchestra: Württembergische Philharmonie Reutlingen. Conductor: John Jeter.
    • Price: Songs of the Oak.
    • Naxos.
    • 101.
  • Elisabeth Lutyens

    Channel crossing (La traversee), from En Voyage

    Orchestra: Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor: Simon Joly.
    • LYRITA.
  • Eric Coates

    By the Sleepy Lagoon ['Desert Island Discs' Theme Tune]

    Orchestra: London Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Charles Mackerras.
    • EMI.
  • Trad.

    Zie Ginds Komt De Stoomboot (Look yonder, the steamboat)

    Music Arranger: Jan Rap. Choir: Dutch Children's Choir.
    • HDCD 1370 Sinterklaas Kapoentje.
    • Dennis Music.
    • 5.
  • Geraldine Mucha

    Epitaph (in Memory of Jiří Mucha)

    • BRILLIANT CLASSICS.
  • Gerald Finzi

    Channel firing

    Performer: Iain Burnside. Singer: Roderick Williams.
    • A Finzi Anthology.
    • Naxos.
    • 5.
  • Grażyna Bacewicz

    Folk Sketches

    Orchestra: Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Jan Krenz.
    • Bacewicz: Polish Radio SO/Krenz.
    • ACCORD.
  • Benjamin Britten

    The Birth of Nicolas (St Nicolas)

    Singer: Luke McWatters. Singer: Allan Clayton. Choir: The Choir Of Trinity College, Cambridge. Choir: Holst Singers. Choir: Boys of the Temple Church Choir. Ensemble: City of London Sinfonia. Conductor: Stephen Layton.
    • A Ceremony of Carols.
    • Hyperion.
    • 14.
  • Arcangelo Corelli

    Trio sonata in G major Op.3`6

    Ensemble: Avison Ensemble.
    • Linn.
  • Max Bruch

    Concerto for two pianos, Op 88a (3rd mvt, Adagio ma non troppo)

    Performer: Katia Labèque. Performer: Marielle Labèque. Orchestra: Philharmonia Orchestra. Conductor: Semyon Bychkov.
    • Mendelsson/Bruch: Concertos for 2 pianos & Orchestra: Katia & Marielle Labeque/B.
    • Philips.
    • 6.
  • Elena Katsâ€Chernin

    Grotesk

    Ensemble: Acacia Quartet.
    • Blue Silence.
    • Vexation840.
    • 24.
  • Georges Bizet

    Au fond du temple saint (duet from The Pearl Fishers)

    Performer: Bavarian State Orchestra. Singer: Jonas Kaufmann. Singer: Ludovic Tézier. Conductor: Bertrand de Billy.
    • ³¢'°¿±èé°ù²¹.
    • Sony Classical.
    • 5.
  • Sergey Prokofiev

    Winter Bonfire, Op 122

    Orchestra: New London Orchestra. Choir: Finchley Childrens Music Group. Conductor: Ronald Corp.
    • Prokofiev: Music for Children: New London Orchestra/Corp.
    • Hyperion.
  • Joseph Haydn

    Symphony No 94 in G major, 'Surprise' (2nd mvmt, Andante)

    Orchestra: Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century. Conductor: Frans Brüggen.
    • Haydn: Symphonies Nos. 94, 95 & 96.
    • Decca Music Group Ltd..
    • 2.
  • Claude Debussy

    Petite Suite (No 4, Ballet)

    Music Arranger: Emmanuel François. Ensemble: Van Kuijk Quartet.
    • Impressions parisiennes.
    • Alpha Classics.
    • 4.
  • Yshani Perinpanayagam

    In Bethlehem Above

    Choir: Choir of Somerville College, Oxford. Conductor: Will Dawes.
    • The Dawn of Grace: Music for Christmas.
    • Resonus Classics.
    • 11.
  • Richard Strauss

    Suite in B flat major for 13 wind instruments, Op 4 (1st mvmt, Präludium)

    Ensemble: London Winds. Director: Michael Collins.
    • Richard Strauss - Complete Music for Winds.
    • Hyperion.
    • 4.
  • George Frideric Handel

    Suite in G major, HWV 350, 'Water Music' (Rigadon)

    Ensemble: The English Concert. Conductor: Trevor Pinnock.
    • Handel: Water Music: The English Concert, Pinnock.
    • Archiv.
    • 13.
  • Gioachino Rossini

    William Tell (Overture)

    Orchestra: Chamber Orchestra of Europe. Conductor: Claudio Abbado.
    • Rossini: Overtures: Chamber Orchestra of Europe, Abbado.
    • Deutsche Grammophon.

Broadcast

  • Fri 6 Dec 2024 09:30

Our Classical Century

Our Classical Century

Radio 3 explores 100 key musical moments that shaped us, from 1918 to the present day.

Time Travellers: the podcast

Time Travellers: the podcast

Eleanor Rosamund Barraclough presents quirky tales gathered from the corners of history.