Main content

Colours of Autumn: Relax into the day with classical

Georgia Mann plays the best classical music for your morning, with discoveries and surprises rubbing shoulders with familiar favourites.

Georgia Mann plays the best classical music for your morning, continuing a special week in which she celebrates the sounds and colours of autumn. Including the Playlister challenge: our regular listener-created sequence inspired by a different piece of music each day, and a new classical release is in focus for Album of the Week. Plus at midday, a special 20 minute sequence of words and music on autumnal themes, with poetry and prose read by Anton Lesser and Josette Simon.

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 Colours of Autumn: an indulgent selection of words and music on autumnal themes, with poetry and prose read by Anton Lesser and Josette Simon.
Today's theme focusses on autumnal weather.

Antonio Vivaldi: Violin Concerto in F major, RV 293, 'Autumn' (2nd mvt)
Tafelmusik
Jeanne Lamon (violin/director)

John Keats: To Autumn
Read by Anton Lesser

Alexander Glazunov: Petit adagio (The Seasons - Autumn)
Royal Scottish National Orchestra
Neeme Järvi (conductor)

Ted Hughes - There came a day
Read by Josette Simon

Astor Piazzolla: Autumn (The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires)
Scottish Ensemble

Toru Takemitsu: Funeral Music (Black Rain - music from the film)
Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra
Marin Alsop (conductor)

Siegfried Sassoon: Autumn
Read by Anton Lesser

Percy Bysshe Shelley: Ode to the West Wind (extract)
Read by Anton Lesser

Edward Elgar: The Wind at Dawn
Roderick Williams (baritone)
BBC Philharmonic Orchestra
Andrew Davis (conductor)

D.H. Lawrence: Autumn Rain
Read by Josette Simon

Lars Hannibal: Autumn Rain
Amalie Hannibal Petri (vocalist)
Michala Petri (recorder)
Lars Hannibal (guitar)
Agnete Hannibal Petri (cello)

To listen on most smart speakers say "Ask BBC Sounds to play Essential Classics”

29 days left to listen

3 hours, 30 minutes

Music Played

  • Antonín Dvořák

    Symphony no.8 in G major Op.88 (3rd mvt)

    Orchestra: Berlin Philharmonic. Conductor: Claudio Abbado.
    • Sony.
  • Isaac Albéniz

    Iberia Suite orch Arbos (El Albaicin)

    Performer: Hugh Bean. Music Arranger: Enrique Fernández Arbós. Orchestra: Philharmonia Orchestra. Conductor: Yan Pascal Tortelier.
    • Albeniz: Iberia Suite: Philharmonia, Tortelier.
    • Chandos.
    • 5.
  • Tomás Luis de Victoria

    Ego vir videns (Lamentations of Jeremiah)

    Ensemble: Ensemble Plus Ultra. Director: Michael Noone.
    • ARCHIV.
  • Sergey Rachmaninov

    Vocalise Op.34 no.14

    Orchestra: Budapest Festival Orchestra. Conductor: Iván Fischer.
    • Rachmaninov: Symphony No. 2 in E minor, Op. 27, etc.: BFO, Fischer.
    • Channel Classics.
    • 5.
  • Amy Beach

    Dancing Leaves (2 Pieces, Op.102)

    Performer: Kirsten Johnson.
    • Guild.
  • César Franck

    Les Eolides M.43

    Orchestra: Royal Scottish National Orchestra. Conductor: Jean-Luc Tingaud.
    • Franck: Orchestral Works.
    • Naxos.
    • 5.
  • Arthur Bliss

    Pastoral for clarinet and piano

    Performer: John Bradbury. Performer: James Cryer.
    • The English Clarinet.
    • Naxos.
    • 20.
  • Johann Sebastian Bach

    Brandenburg Concerto No.5 in D major, BWV.1050 (1st mvt)

    Performer: Michele Barchi. Performer: Enrico Onofri. Performer: Giovanni Antonini. Ensemble: Il Giardino Armonico. Conductor: Giovanni Antonini.
    • J.S. Bach: The Brandenburg Concertos; Il Giardino Armonico.
    • Warner Classics.
    • 4.
  • Rebecca Dale

    There will come soft rains

    Choir: Ensemble Altera. Conductor: Christopher Lowrey.
    • The Four Elements.
    • Pentatone.
    • 111.
  • Alexander Borodin

    Symphony no.1 in E flat major (2nd mvt)

    Orchestra: Seattle Symphony. Conductor: Gerard Schwarz.
    • Naxos.
  • Fanny Mendelssohn

    Piano Sonata in G minor (4th mvt)

    Performer: Béatrice Rauchs.
    • BIS.
  • Henryk Górecki

    Totus Tuus

    Choir: The Sixteen. Director: Harry Christophers.
    • Universal.
  • Hector Berlioz

    Benvenuto Cellini (Overture)

    Orchestra: Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: David Zinman.
    • TELARC.
  • Robert Schumann

    Toccata in C major Op.7

    Performer: Nikolai Lugansky.
    • PIANO CLASSICS.
  • Thomas Newman

    American Beauty - extract

    • American Beauty.
    • Geffen.
    • 8.
  • György Ligeti

    Études, Book 1: No. 6, Automne à Varsovie

    Performer: Pierre‐Laurent Aimard.
    • György Ligeti Edition, Vol. 3.
    • Sony Classical.
    • 6.
  • Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

    Piano Concerto No 21 in C major, K 467 (2nd mvt)

    Performer: Daniel Barenboim. Orchestra: English Chamber Orchestra. Conductor: Daniel Barenboim.
    • Mozart: Concertos, Barenboim.
    • EMI.
    • 5.
  • Hugo Alfvén

    The Mountain King Suite, Op. 37: mvts 3. Summer Rain & 4. Shepherd Girl's Dance

    Orchestra: German Symphony Orchestra Berlin. Conductor: Lukasz Borowicz.
    • CPO.
  • Maria Szymanowska

    Caprice sur la romance de Joconde

    Performer: Susan Tomes.
    • Women and the Piano.
    • Hyperion Records Limited.
    • 8.
  • George Frideric Handel

    Serse; Overture

    Ensemble: The English Concert. Conductor: Harry Bicket.
    • LINN.
  • Antonio Vivaldi

    Violin Concerto in F major, RV 293, 'Autumn' (2nd mvt)

    Performer: Jeanne Lamon. Ensemble: Tafelmusik. Director: Jeanne Lamon.
    • Vivaldi: The Four Seasons: Tafelmusik, Lamon.
    • Sony Classical.
    • 8.
  • Alexander Glazunov

    Autumn; Petit adagio (The Seasons, Op.67)

    Orchestra: Royal Scottish National Orchestra. Conductor: Neeme Järvi.
    • CHANDOS.
  • Astor Piazzolla

    The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires (Autumn)

    Ensemble: Scottish Ensemble.
    • SIGNUM CLASSICS.
  • Toru Takemitsu

    Funeral Music (Black Rain - music from the film)

    Conductor: Marin Alsop. Orchestra: Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra.
    • Naxos.
  • Edward Elgar

    The Wind at Dawn

    Lyricist: Alice Elgar. Singer: Roderick Williams. Orchestra: BBC Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor: Andrew Davis.
    • Elgar: Falstaff, Orchestral Songs & "Grania and Diarmid".
    • Chandos.
    • 119.
  • Lars Hannibal

    Autumn Rain

    Performer: Michala Petri. Performer: Lars Hannibal. Performer: Agnete Hannibal Petri. Singer: Amalie Hannibal.
    • Blue.
    • OUR Recordings.
    • 401.
  • Ludwig van Beethoven

    Symphony No. 8 in F major, Op. 93 - IV. Allegro vivace

    Orchestra: Chamber Orchestra of Europe. Conductor: Yannick Nézet‐Séguin.
    • Deutsche Grammophon.
  • Grażyna Bacewicz

    Violin Concerto No 3 (2nd mvt)

    Performer: Joanna Kurkowicz. Orchestra: Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Lukasz Borowicz.
    • Chandos.
  • Alonso Lobo

    Versa est in luctum

    Choir: Oxford Camerata. Conductor: Jeremy Summerly.
    • Saints and Sinners - The Music of Medieval and Renaissance Europe.
    • Naxos.
    • 1.
  • Malcolm Arnold

    Four Cornish Dances, Op. 91

    Orchestra: Philharmonia Orchestra. Conductor: Bryden Thomson.
    • CHANDOS.

Broadcast

  • Yesterday 09:30