Main content

Refresh your morning with classical 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 a masterpiece.

To listen on most smart speakers, say "Ask ĢƵ Sounds to play Essential Classics”.

29 days left to listen

3 hours, 30 minutes

Music Played

  • Clara Schumann

    Piano Trio in G minor, Op.17 (1st mvt)

    Performer: Antje Weithaas. Performer: Tanja Tetzlaff. Performer: Gunilla Süssmann.
    • AVI Music.
  • Antonio Vivaldi

    Summer (The Four Seasons) - 3rd mvt

    Performer: Giuliano Carmignola. Ensemble: Sonatori de la Gioiosa Marca.
    • Divox.
  • Erich Wolfgang Korngold

    String Quartet No 2 (2nd mvt)

    Ensemble: Doric String Quartet.
    • Korngold: The String Quartets.
    • Chandos.
    • 6.
  • Edvard Grieg

    Homage March (Sigurd Jorsalfar)

    Orchestra: Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor: Gennady Nikolayevich Rozhdestvensky.
    • Grieg: Symphonic Dances, etc.
    • CHANDOS.
    • 013.
  • Gustav Mahler

    Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen (Ruckert-Lieder)

    Music Arranger: Clytus Gottwald. Choir: Norwegian Soloists' Choir. Conductor: Grete Pedersen.
    • SIMAX.
  • Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

    Piano Concerto in B flat major, K595 (3rd mvmt, Allegro)

    Performer: Jean‐Efflam Bavouzet. Ensemble: Manchester Camerata. Conductor: Gábor Takács‐Nagy.
    • CHANDOS.
  • Orlando Gibbons

    The Silver Swan

    Performer: The Sixteen. Performer: Harry Christophers.
    • An Immortal Legacy.
    • CORO.
    • 7.
  • Quincy Jones

    Soul Bossa Nova

    Performer: Astrig Siranossian. Performer: Nathanaël Gouin.
    • ALPHA.
  • Camille Saint‐Saëns

    Phaëton, Op 39

    Orchestra: Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Lorin Maazel.
    • Saint-Saens: Organ Symphony/Tone Poems: Pittsburgh Symphony/Maazel.
    • Sony Classical.
    • 5.
  • Sergey Prokofiev

    Flute Sonata in D major (2nd mvt)

    Performer: Emmanuel Pahud. Performer: Stephen Kovacevich.
    • Pahud plays Debussy, Ravel & Prokofiev.
    • Warner Classics.
    • 13.
  • Johann Nepomuk Hummel

    Trumpet Concerto in E flat major (3rd mvt)

    Performer: Alison Balsom. Orchestra: The Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen.
    • Haydn, Hummel etc: Trumpet Concertos: Alison Balsom.
    • Warner Classics.
    • 3.
  • Johann David Heinichen

    Ouverture for 2 oboes, strings and basso continuo in G Major (1st mvt)

    Orchestra: Neues Bachisches Collegium Musicum. Conductor: Reinhard Goebel.
    • The Leipzig Collegium Musicum Vol. 1: Music before Bach.
    • Pentatone.
    • 105.
  • Jean‐Philippe Rameau

    Dardanus: "Lieux funestes"

    Singer: John Mark Ainsley. Orchestra: Les Musiciens du Louvre. Conductor: Marc Minkowski.
    • Rameau: Dardanus.
    • Archiv Produktion.
    • 52.
  • Errollyn Wallen

    Dances for Orchestra (Dance I)

    Orchestra: ĢƵ Concert Orchestra. Conductor: John Andrews.
    • Errollyn Wallen: Orchestral Works.
    • Resonus Classics.
    • 1.
  • Carlos Gardel

    Por una cabeza

    Performer: Nicola Benedetti. Performer: Alexander Sitkovetsky. Performer: Leonard Elschenbroich. Performer: Ksenija Sidorova. Performer: Alexei Grynyuk.
    • DECCA.
  • Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov

    Scheherazade, Op.35 (The Story of the Kalendar Prince)

    Orchestra: London Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Charles Mackerras.
    • Rimsky-Korsakov: Scheherazade, Capricco Espagnol: Mackerras.
    • Telarc.
    • 2.
  • Joseph Haydn

    Cello Concerto in C major (2nd mvt)

    Performer: Jean‐Guihen Queyras. Orchestra: Freiburg Baroque Orchestra. Director: Petra Müllejans.
    • HARMONIA MUNDI.
  • Richard Wagner

    Lohengrin: Prelude to Act 3

    Orchestra: Staatskapelle Berlin. Conductor: Daniel Barenboim.
    • Wagner : Lohengrin.
    • Warner Classics International.
  • Franz Schubert

    Schwanengesang D.957 (Die Taubenpost)

    Singer: Peter Schreier. Performer: Sir András Schiff.
    • Decca.
  • Camille Saint‐Saëns

    The Swan (Carnival of the Animals)

    Performer: Steven Isserlis. Performer: Connie Shih.
    • The Cello in Wartime.
    • BIS.
    • 501.
  • Edvard Grieg

    A Swan (6 Songs Op.25)

    Singer: Barbara Bonney. Orchestra: Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Neeme Järvi.
    • DG.
  • Henry Purcell

    Sound the trumpet (Come ye sons of art)

    Singer: Andreas Scholl. Singer: Christophe Dumaux. Orchestra: Accademia Bizantina. Conductor: Stefano Montanari.
    • O Solitude: Andreas Scholl, Accademia Bizantina.
    • Decca.
  • Franz von Suppé

    Leichte Kavallerie: Overture

    Orchestra: Vienna Philharmonic. Conductor: Lorenzo Viotti.
    • Sommernachtskonzert 2026 / Summer Night Concert 2026.
    • Sony Classical.
    • 1.
  • Élisabeth Jacquet de La Guerre

    Violin Sonata No 1 in D minor (6th mvmt, Aria)

    Performer: Lina Tur Bonet. Performer: Patxi Montero. Performer: Kenneth Weiss.
    • Pan Classics.
  • Nikolai Girshevich Kapustin

    24 Preludes in Jazz Style Op.53 (no.17)

    Performer: Steven Osborne.
    • HYPERION.
  • Felix Mendelssohn

    Hear my prayer

    Choir: St Paul's Cathedral Choir. Singer: Jeremy Budd. Performer: Andrew Lucas. Director: John Scott.
    • Hear my Prayer: Budd/St Paul's Cathedral Choir/Scott.
    • Hyperion.
    • 1.
  • Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

    Violin Concerto No 3 in G Major

    Performer: Isabelle Faust. Orchestra: Il Giardino Armonico. Conductor: Giovanni Antonini.
    • Mozart: Violin Concertos Nos. 1-5; 2 Rondos.
    • harmonia mundi.
    • 8.
  • Maurice Ravel

    Pavane pour une infante défunte

    Orchestra: Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor: Yannick Nézet‐Séguin.
    • BIS.
  • Frédéric Chopin

    Scherzo no.3 in C sharp minor Op.39

    Performer: Beatrice Rana.
    • WARNER.
  • Judith Weir

    The Welcome arrival of rain for orchestra (conclusion)

    Orchestra: ĢƵ Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Martyn Brabbins.
    • NMC.
  • Henryk Wieniawski

    Caprice in E flat major [Alla saltarella]

    Music Arranger: Fritz Kreisler. Performer: Vilde Frang. Performer: José Gallardo.
    • Homage.
    • Warner Classics.
    • 8.
  • Richard Wagner

    Liebestod (Tristan und Isolde)

    Singer: Margaret Price. Orchestra: Staatskapelle Dresden. Conductor: Carlos Kleiber.
    • DG.

Broadcast

  • Yesterday 09:30