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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 in classical music, with discoveries and surprises rubbing shoulders with familiar favourites.

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

1030 Song of the Day – harnessing the magic of words, music and the human voice.

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 ѿý Sounds to play Essential Classics”

25 days left to listen

3 hours, 30 minutes

Music Played

  • George Frideric Handel

    Ombra mai fu (Serse)

    Singer: Joyce DiDonato. Ensemble: Il Pomo d’Oro. Conductor: Maxim Emelyanychev.
    • ERATO.
  • Maurice Ravel

    DZé

    Orchestra: Sinfonia of London. Conductor: John Wilson.
    • Ravel: Orchestral Works.
    • Chandos.
    • 19.
  • Cécile Chaminade

    L' Ondine [The Water sprite] Op.101

    Performer: Peter Jacobs.
    • Chaminade: Piano Music - 1, Peter Jacobs.
    • Helios.
    • 6.
  • Michael Haydn

    Trumpet Concerto No. 2 in C - Cadenza: Hardenberger: 2. Allegro molto

    Performer: Håkan Hardenberger. Orchestra: London Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor: Elgar Howarth.
    • Haydn: Wind Concertos.
    • Decca Music Group Ltd..
    • 11.
  • Eric Whitacre

    Cloudburst

    Choir: Polyphony. Performer: Stephen Betteridge. Performer: Robert Millett. Conductor: Stephen Layton.
    • HYPERION.
  • Jean Sibelius

    Symphony No 2 in D major, Op 43 (1st mvt)

    Orchestra: Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Santtu-Matias Rouvali.
    • ALPHA.
  • Amy Beach

    Invocation Op.55

    Performer: Tasmin Little. Performer: John Lenehan.
    • Schumann, Smyth, Beach.
    • Chandos.
    • 13.
  • Antonio Vivaldi

    Mandolin Concerto in C major RV.425

    Performer: Paul O’Dette. Performer: Roy Goodman. Ensemble: The Parley of Instruments. Director: Peter Holman.
    • Vivaldi: Music for Lute and Mandolin; Paul O'Dette, The Parley of Instruments.
    • Hyperion.
    • 7.
  • Harold Arlen

    It's Only A Paper Moon

    Performer: Sylvia McNair. Performer: André Previn. Performer: David Finck. Lyricist: Billy Rose. Lyricist: Yip Harburg.
    • Philips.
  • Ludwig van Beethoven

    Symphony no.3 in E flat major Op.55 'Eroica' (4th mvt)

    Orchestra: Minnesota Orchestra. Conductor: Osmo Vänskä.
    • Beethoven: The Symphonies: Minnesota Orchestra, Osmo Vanska.
    • BIS.
    • 4.
  • Samuel Coleridge-Taylor

    Piano Quintet in G minor Op.1 (4th mvt)

    Ensemble: Kaleidoscope Chamber Collective.
    • CHANDOS.
  • Robert Carver

    Missa L'Homme armé (Gloria)

    Choir: Cappella Nova. Director: Alan Tavener.
    • Robert Carver Vol. 2: Cappella Nova.
    • ASV.
    • 5.
  • Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

    Piano Concerto no. 21 in C major K.467 (2nd mvt)

    Performer: Mitsuko Uchida. Orchestra: English Chamber Orchestra. Conductor: Jeffrey Tate.
    • Mozart: The Great Piano Concertos, Vol.1: Uchida/English Chamber Orchestra/Tate.
    • Philips.
    • 5.
  • Anon.

    Danza del hacha

    Ensemble: Hespèrion XXI. Conductor: Jordi Savall.
    • Villancicos y danzas criollas 1550-1750: Hesperion XXI/Savall.
    • Alia Vox.
    • 2.
  • Benjamin Britten

    Storm (Four Sea Interludes from Peter Grimes, Op.33a)

    Orchestra: ѿý Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor: Edward Gardner.
    • CHANDOS.
  • Claude Debussy

    Jardins sous la pluie (Estampes)

    Performer: Víkingur Ólafsson.
    • Deutsche Grammophon.
  • Granville Bantock

    A Hebridean Symphony: II. [Untitled]

    Conductor: Vernon Handley. Orchestra: Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.
    • Bantock: A Celtic Symphony; A Hebridean Symphony; The Witch of Atlas.
    • Hyperion.
    • 16.
  • Gene Kelly

    Singing In The Rain

    • The Valentines Collection.
    • TV Music.
    • 26.
  • Charles Avison

    Concerto Grosso in F major, Op 9 No 10

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

    Domine Deus (Petite Messe Solenelle)

    Conductor: Sir Antonio Pappano. Choir: Chorus of the National Academy of Santa Cecilia. Orchestra: Orchestra of the Academy of Santa Cecilia, Rome.
    • Rossini: Petite Messe Solennelle: Pappano/Orchestre e Coro dell'Accademia Nazion.
    • EMI Classics.
  • Gerald Finzi

    Five Bagatelles for clarinet and piano, Op 23 No 4: Forlana

    Performer: Michael Collins. Performer: Michael McHale.
    • The Lyrical Clarinet.
    • Chandos.
    • 7.
  • Henryk Mikołaj Górecki

    Symphony No 3, Op 36 'Symphony of Sorrowful Songs' (2nd mvt)

    Singer: Dawn Upshaw. Orchestra: London Sinfonietta. Conductor: David Zinman.
    • Gorecki: Symphony No. 3: Dawn Upshaw.
    • Elektra Nonesuch.
  • Johann Sebastian Bach

    Keyboard Concerto No 1 in D minor, BWV 1052

    Performer: Angela Hewitt. Orchestra: Australian Chamber Orchestra. Orchestra: Australian Chamber Orchestra. Conductor: Richard Tognetti. Conductor: Richard Tognetti.
    • Hyperion.
  • Jaakko Mäntyjärvi

    4 Shakespeare Songs for chorus; 3. Double, Double Toil and Trouble

    Lyricist: William Shakespeare. Choir: Swedish Chamber Choir. Conductor: Simon Phipps.
    • Shakespeare Songs and Sonnets.
    • Naxos Sweden.
    • 17.
  • Joaquín Rodrigo

    Concierto de Aranjuez (1st mvt)

    Performer: Xuefei Yang. Orchestra: Barcelona Symphony Orchestra and National Orchestra of Catalonia. Conductor: Eije Oue.
    • Rodrigo, Concierto de Aranjuez: Xuefei Yang.
    • EMI Classics.
    • 1.
  • Dieterich Buxtehude

    Membra Jesu nostri, BuxWV 75: No. 5, Ad pectus

    Orchestra: Gothenburg Baroque. Conductor: Magnus Kjellson.
    • Buxtehude: Membra Jesu nostri, BuxWV 75.
    • Proprius.
    • 105.
  • Edvard Grieg

    In the Hall of the Mountain King (Peer Gynt Suite no.1)

    Orchestra: Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Paavo Berglund.
    • Grieg: Peer Gynt Suites 1 & 2: Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra/Berglund.
    • EMI.
    • 4.
  • Domenico Scarlatti

    Sonata in A major, K 24

    Performer: Sophie Yates.
    • La Sophie: Sophie Yates.
    • Chandos.
    • 15.
  • Henri Mulet

    Carillon-Sortie

    Performer: Francis Jackson.
    • Great Cathedral Organs of England.
    • Regis Records.
    • 14.

Broadcast

  • Wednesday 09:30

Our Classical Century

Our Classical Century

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

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Time Travellers: the podcast

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