SATURDAY 04 OCTOBER 2025

SAT 00:30 Through the Night (m002jtm0)
Chaminade, Ravel and Shostakovich from Madrid

Piano trios by Chaminade, Ravel and Shostakovich with the Sitkovetsky Trio. Jonathan Swain presents.

12:31 AM
Cécile Chaminade (1857-1944)
Piano Trio no 2 in A minor op 34
Sitkovetsky Trio

12:54 AM
Maurice Ravel (1875-1937)
Piano Trio in A minor
Sitkovetsky Trio

01:21 AM
Dmitry Shostakovich (1906-1975)
Piano Trio no 2 in E minor op 67
Sitkovetsky Trio

01:50 AM
Gabriel Fauré (1845 - 1924), Paul Verlaine (author)
En sourdine
Karina Gauvin (soprano), Marc-André Hamelin (piano)

01:53 AM
Francis Poulenc (1899-1963)
Sonata for Violin and Piano (1943)
Semmy Stahlhammer (violin), Roland Pöntinen (piano)

02:15 AM
Maurice Ravel (1875-1937), arr. Richard McIntyre
Ma Mere l'Oye (Mother Goose Suite)
Canberra Wind Soloists, Vernon Hill (flute), David Nuttall (oboe), Alan Vivian (clarinet), Richard McIntyre (bassoon), Dominic Harvey (horn)

02:31 AM
Carl Maria von Weber (1786-1826)
Missa sancta no 1 in E flat major 'Freischutzmesse', J.224
Norwegian Soloist Choir, Norwegian Radio Orchestra, Grete Pedersen (conductor)

03:04 AM
Franz Schubert (1797-1828)
Six Moments musicaux, D.780
Piotr Alexewicz (piano)

03:34 AM
Dmitry Shostakovich (1906-1975)
Festive Overture, Op 96
Edmonton Symphony Orchestra, Uri Mayer (conductor)

03:41 AM
Miguel Yuste (1870-1947)
Estudio melodico for clarinet and piano, Op 33
Cristo Barrios (clarinet), Lila Gailing (piano)

03:48 AM
Ion Dumitrescu (1913-1996)
Symphonic Prelude
Romanian Youth Orchestra, Cristian Mandeal (conductor)

03:58 AM
Santiago de Murcia (1673-1739)
2 pieces from 'Codex de Saldívar'
Xavier Díaz-Latorre (guitar), Pedro Estevan (percussion)

04:07 AM
Väinö Haapalainen (1893-1945)
Lemminkainen Overture (1925)
Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Atso Almila (conductor)

04:15 AM
Robert Schumann (1810-1856)
Arabeske for piano in C major, Op 18
Seung-Hee Kim (piano)

04:22 AM
Johann Friedrich Fasch (1688-1758)
Concerto in B minor, FWV L:h1
Café Zimmermann

04:31 AM
Stanisław Moniuszko (1819-1872)
Overture to Halka (Original version)
Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Łukasz Borowicz (conductor)

04:39 AM
Johannes Brahms (1833-1897)
Rhapsody for piano in B minor, Op 79 no 1
Steven Osborne (piano)

04:49 AM
Ludvig Norman (1831-1885)
Rosa rorans bonitatem, Op 45
Eva Wedin (mezzo soprano), Swedish Radio Choir, Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Gustav Sjökvist (conductor)

04:57 AM
Willem De Fesch (1687-1761)
Concerto for 2 flutes and orchestra in G minor, Op 5 no 2
Jed Wentz (flute), Marion Moonen (flute), Musica ad Rhenum

05:06 AM
Bálint Bakfark (c.1530-1576)
Fantasia and Je prens en gré for lute
Jacob Heringman (lute)

05:13 AM
Dall'Abaco, Evaristo Felice (1675-1742)
Concerto a piu istrumenti in F major, Op 6 no 3
Il Tempio Armonico

05:21 AM
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)
Sinfonia concertante for oboe, clarinet, horn, bassoon and orchestra (K.297b)
Norwegian Chamber Orchestra, Terje Tønnesen (conductor)

05:51 AM
Carl Czerny (1791-1857)
Fantasie for piano duet in F minor
Stefan Lindgren (piano), Daniel Propper (piano)

06:01 AM
Carolus Antonius Fodor (1768-1846)
Symphony no 3 in C minor, Op 19
Netherlands Radio Chamber Orchestra, Anthony Halstead (conductor)


SAT 06:30 Breakfast (m002k4tq)
The finest classical music to elevate your morning

Hannah French presents Radio 3’s Breakfast show live from Salford. You can contact the show by emailing 3breakfast@bbc.co.uk

To listen on most smart speakers, just say 'Ask BBC Sounds to play 3 Breakfast’


SAT 09:00 Saturday Morning (m002k4ts)
Dalia Stasevka and Julian Joseph drop in

Tom Service with guests, stories and the perfect classical soundtrack to start the weekend!

Dalia Stasevksa is Tom's guest as she prepares for her concert with the BBC Symphony Orchestra of John Luther Adams' 'Become Ocean'. The international superstar conductor will talk about what matters to her as an artist.

American composer John Luther Adams gives Tom his insight into the state of the environment in the 12 years since he wrote 'Become Ocean' - his piece for orchestra that considers the prospect of the ice caps melting and the real danger that we will once again become part of the ocean.

Julian Joseph joins Tom ahead of the 10th annual London Piano Festival at Kings Place, he talks Jazz and inspiring the next generation of musicians who join him for the concert on 12 October.

To listen on most smart speakers just say "Ask BBC Sounds to play Radio 3”


SAT 12:00 Earlier... with Jools Holland (m002k4tv)
Jools shares his lifelong passion for classical music and the beautiful connections with jazz and blues. With fascinating guests each week, who bring their own favourite music and occasionally perform live in Jools's studio.

Today, Jools's choices include music by Brahms and Ester Magi, with performances from Dinah Washington and David Oistrakh. His guest is the singer and composer Matt Johnson who introduces music he loves by Glass, Shostakovich, Bach and Part.

To listen on most smart speakers just say "Ask BBC Sounds to play Earlier with Jools Holland".


SAT 13:00 Music Matters (m0020r1f)
Music on the Front Line

Lyse Doucet

Clive Myrie is in conversation with news correspondents about the music they’ve heard whilst reporting from the front line. With his own extensive experience of covering wars, and his personal love of opera and jazz, Clive and Lyse Doucet share stories to reveal something of the power and significance of music when working in extreme conflict situations.

As BBC Presenter and Chief International Correspondent, Lyse’s working life is full of encounters with music and musicians. When she was starting out as a freelance journalist in conflict situations in Chad, Liberia, Burkina Faso, she fell in love with the playing of Korean violinist Kyung-Wha Chung and Mendelsohn’s Violin Concerto in E minor was a constant companion during her travels. She heard Domenico Scarlatti’s Sonata in B Minor K27 at the height of the Syrian war in the Damascus Opera House. It felt like a mournful elegy to a lost land. In 2021 she attended the last rehearsal by the Afghan National Orchestra before the Taliban swept into Kabul and destroyed the Conservatoire. They were rehearsing Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, the Ode to Joy. She still can’t believe that everything then fell apart so quickly.

Producer: Rosie Boulton
A Must Try Softer Production


SAT 14:00 Record Review (m002k4tx)
Mozart's Cosi fan tutte in Building a Library with Sarah Lenton and Andrew McGregor

Andrew McGregor with the best new recordings of classical music.

1405
Pianist Kathryn Stott selects her pick of the best new releases.

1500
Sarah Lenton chooses her favourite recording of Mozart's opera Cosi fan tutte.

Cosi fan tutte was Mozart's third collaboration with librettist Lorenzo Da Ponte, following The Marriage of Figaro and Don Giovanni, and was first performed in January 1790 in Vienna. The title literally translates as "So do all women", and the plot concerns two affianced couples who swap partners at the instigation of the men, who are waging a bet about women's fidelity. The subject matter did not offend Viennese sensibilities of the time, but in the 19th and early 20th centuries was considered risqué, vulgar and immoral, and the opera was rarely performed. From the mid-20th century it gained a reputation as one of Mozart's most sublime scores despite the work's outdated misogynistic views, and the opera has a very rich recorded history.

1545
Record of the Week: Andrew’s top pick.

To listen on most smart speakers just say “ask BBC Sounds to play Record Review”


SAT 16:00 Sound of Cinema (m001rhzr)
First Dates

What was your experience of a first date at the cinema? Presumably you arrived together - but did you leave separately? Matthew Sweet listens to listeners' experiences of their movie first-dates and - rather appropriately - plays great, thrilling and tragic music from the films.


SAT 17:00 This Classical Life (m002k4v1)
Jess Gillam with... Mishka Rushdie Momen

Jess Gillam and pianist Mishka Rushdie Momen share their favourite music.

This week Jess Gillam is joined by Mishka Rushdie Momen, the adventurous pianist whose achievements include taking an album of Tudor keyboard works to the top of the classical charts. She brings along some of her favourite music, including Harold Bauer playing Schubert, a Mozart opera, and a Bob Dylan outtake. Jess provides some Ella Fitzgerald, and a recent discovery by composer Dmitry Kabalevsky.

To listen on most smart speakers just say "Ask BBC Sounds to play Radio 3”


SAT 18:00 Opera on 3 (m002k4v3)
Handel's Semele

Handel's Semele from the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, with Pretty Yende, Alice Coote and Ben Bliss, conducted by Christian Curnyn.

A live performance recorded earlier this year of Handel's masterful treatment of a story from Ovid's Metamorphoses concerning the mortal Semele, eventual mother of Bacchus, and her doomed relationship with the god Jupiter. Handel's dramatic setting of a libretto by William Congreve was not originally staged, but is essentially an opera in all but name, widely considered one of his greatest works.

Georgia Mann presents, in conversation with opera writer and broadcaster Sarah Lenton.

Handel: Semele
Semele ... Pretty Yende (soprano)
Jupiter ... Ben Bliss (tenor)
Juno ... Alice Coote (mezzo soprano)
Athamas ... Carlo Vistoli (countertenor)
Cadmus and Somnus ... Brindley Sherratt (bass)
Ino ... Niamh O'Sullivan (mezzo soprano)
Iris ... Marianna Hovanisyan (soprano)
Chorus and Orchestra of the Royal Ballet and Opera
Christian Curnyn (conductor)


SAT 21:30 Music Planet (m002k4v5)
Carlos Quilici in session

Kathryn Tickell presents a studio session from Argentinian bandoneonist Carlos Quilici. Hailing from Rosario in the province of Santa Fe, Quilici is a masterful exponent of tango in its various guises and a musician whose family history is intertwined in the story of the music’s growth in the twentieth century. Alongside live renditions of tango repertoire, Carlos reflects on the influence of his father, Gerardo - a renowned broadcaster famous for his radio programme ‘A todo tango’ - and shares a classic canción from Carlos Gardel.

Elsewhere in the show, new tracks from hardanger fiddle-player Benedicte Maurseth, folk legend Martin Carthy, Swiss-Eritrean group Yalla Miku, and some Gnawa-inspired Brazilian jazz from Me and My Friends.

Produced by Fatuma Khaireh
A Reduced Listening production for BBC Radio 3
To listen to most smart speakers, just say: “Ask BBC Sounds to play Music Planet.”


SAT 22:30 New Music Show (m002k4v7)
The Cold Trip

Tom Service with the latest from the world of new music - Daisy Press and the Aleph Guitar Quartet perform Austrian composer Bernhard Lang's The Cold Trip, a meta-composition based on Schubert's Winterreise in a performance from Louth; Leonidas Kavakos performs Unsuk Chin's Violin Concert Shards of Silence with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra in Munich; and we hear Jay Capperauld's Inertia of a Bona Fide Psychopath in a recent recording by the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra. Also tonight: Listen List, a new feature inviting artists and composers to share the music filling their ears this week, starting tonight with Manchester Collective's Rakhi Singh. Plus new releases from American Peruvian guitarist Jorge Espinal, French experimentalist Laetitia Sonami and the duo of Teo Dora An Drea.

SUNDAY 05 OCTOBER 2025

SUN 00:30 Through the Night (m002k4v9)
Schmelzer, Chédeville and Biber from Romania

The SEMPRE baroque ensemble perform in a concert organised as part of the Bucharest Early Music Season on Early Music Day 2025. Jonathan Swain presents.

12:31 AM
Johann Heinrich Schmelzer (c.1620-1680)
Arie con la Mattacina
SEMPRE baroque music ensemble, Raluca Enea (director)

12:35 AM
Nicolas Chédeville (1705-1782)
La Moisson, from 'Les Saisons amusantes'
SEMPRE baroque music ensemble, Raluca Enea (director)

12:45 AM
Johann Heinrich Schmelzer (c.1620-1680)
Sonata Coukoo, for violin and basso continuo
SEMPRE baroque music ensemble, Raluca Enea (director)

12:52 AM
Nicolas Chédeville (1705-1782)
Le Printemps, from 'Les Saisons amusantes'
SEMPRE baroque music ensemble, Raluca Enea (director)

01:04 AM
Heinrich Ignaz Franz von Biber (1644-1704)
Sonata Pastorella, C.106
SEMPRE baroque music ensemble, Raluca Enea (director)

01:10 AM
Heinrich Ignaz Franz von Biber (1644-1704)
Sonata Representativa (Representatio Avium), C.146
SEMPRE baroque music ensemble, Raluca Enea (director)

01:23 AM
Nicolas Chédeville (1705-1782)
L'Automne, from 'Les Saisons amusantes'
SEMPRE baroque music ensemble, Raluca Enea (director)

01:35 AM
Heinrich Ignaz Franz von Biber (1644-1704)
Battalia à 9, C.61
SEMPRE baroque music ensemble, Raluca Enea (director)

01:46 AM
Sven-Eric Johanson (1919-1997)
Fyra visor om arstiderna (4 songs about the Seasons)
Swedish Radio Choir, Eric Ericson (conductor)

01:53 AM
Alexander Glazunov (1865-1936)
The Seasons (Op 67) - ballet in 1 act
Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, Kazuyoshi Akiyama (conductor)

02:31 AM
Fryderyk Chopin (1810-1849)
24 Preludes for piano, Op 28
Cédric Tiberghien (piano)

03:10 AM
Ottorino Respighi (1879-1936)
Ancient Airs and Dances Suite no 3
Amadeus' Polish Radio Chamber Orchestra, Anna Duczmal-Mróz (conductor)

03:30 AM
Georg Philipp Telemann (1681-1767)
Sonata in F minor TWV.41:f1 for bassoon and continuo
Luka Mitev (bassoon), Helena Kosem Kotar (piano)

03:41 AM
Alessandro Scarlatti (1660-1725), Giovanni Battista Guarini (author)
Cor mio, deh non languire
Emma Kirkby (soprano), Evelyn Tubb (soprano), Deborah Roberts (soprano), Tessa Bonner (soprano), Mary Nichols (alto), Anthony Rooley (director)

03:47 AM
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)
Flute Quartet in G major, K.285a
Joanna G'froerer (flute), Martin Beaver (violin), Pinchas Zukerman (viola), Amanda Forsyth (cello)

03:57 AM
Toivo Kuula (1883-1918)
South Ostrobothnian Dances, Op 17 (excerpts)
Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Kari Tikka (conductor)

04:06 AM
Camille Saint-Saëns (1835-1921)
Danse macabre, Op 40
Ouellet-Murray Duo (duo)

04:13 AM
Arcangelo Corelli (1653-1713)
Sonata da chiesa in F major, Op 1 no 1
London Baroque

04:20 AM
Fanny Mendelssohn (1805-1847)
Overture in C major
Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra, Katowice, Lionel Bringuier (conductor)

04:31 AM
Jacobus Clemens non Papa (c.1510-1556)
Carole magnus eras
Netherlands Chamber Choir, Paul Van Nevel (conductor)

04:37 AM
Isaac Albéniz (1860-1909)
Cordoba (Nocturne) from Cantos de Espana, Op 232 no 4
Henry-David Varema (cello), Heiki Mätlik (guitar)

04:44 AM
Jehan Alain (1911-1940)
Le Jardin suspendu for organ
Tomás Thon (organ)

04:51 AM
Claude Debussy (1862-1918), arr. Henri Büsser
Petite Suite
Argovia Philharmonic, Rune Bergmann (conductor)

05:06 AM
Zoltán Kodály (1882-1967), arr. Jenő Kenessey
Dances of Galanta (Galantai tancok) arr. for piano
Adam Fellegi (piano)

05:22 AM
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
Orchestral Suite no 1 in C major, BWV.1066
Norwegian Chamber Orchestra

05:42 AM
Joseph Haydn (1732-1809)
String Quartet in D major, Op 64 no 5 (Hob.III.63) "Lark"
Bartók String Quartet

05:59 AM
Maurice Ravel (1875-1937)
Piano Concerto for the Left Hand in D major
François-Xavier Poizat (piano), Swiss National Youth Orchestra, Kai Bumann (conductor)

06:19 AM
Henryk Gorecki (1933-2010)
Totus tuus, Op 60
Jutland Chamber Choir, Mogens Dahl (director)


SUN 06:30 Breakfast (m002k3t1)
Kickstart your day with the best classical music

Mark Forrest presents Radio 3’s Breakfast show live from Salford. With Bach Before 7 and the best in classical music. You can contact the show by emailing 3breakfast@bbc.co.uk

To listen on most smart speakers, just say 'Ask BBC Sounds to play 3 Breakfast’


SUN 09:00 Sunday Morning (m002k3t3)
Three hours of classical sparkle

Sarah Walker with three hours of classical music to reflect, restore and refresh, including the colourful and descriptive Hary Janos Suite by Zoltán Kodály, and Brahms’ Saint Anthony Variations.

Sarah's Choral Reflection is Thomas Tomkins' intense and emotional madrigal "When David Heard", and she picks music by Chopin, Mozart and Grieg; as well as a new release of George Butterworth from Andrew Manze and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra.

Plus, a chance to hear a stunning recording of Schubert's Fifth Symphony in full...


SUN 12:00 Private Passions (m002k3t5)
Shobana Jeyasingh

The pioneering choreographer Shobana Jeyasingh has produced more than 60 original works, many of them created for outdoor or unusual settings.

She was born in India and came to England in her late teens to study English literature at Sussex University. She had learned classical Indian dance as a child and in her early twenties, she drew on that passion, touring first as a dancer and then founding her own dance company in 1989 to develop her own work.

Since then, she has collaborated with scientists, film-makers and numerous composers including Errollyn Wallen, Kevin Volans and Michael Nyman.

Her most recent work is inspired by The Tempest, and views Shakespeare’s story through the eyes of Caliban, the so-called ‘monstrous’ slave.

Shobana's music includes Mozart, Messiaen, Arvo Part and Purcell.


SUN 13:30 Music Map (m0022sly)
A journey to Sibelius's Swan of Tuonela

Sara Mohr-Pietsch maps the musical terrain around Sibelius's The Swan of Tuonela, diving down sonic avenues that link music across time and space. From Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake to The Silver Swan by Orlando Gibbons via Scott Joplin and Monteverdi, Sara charts a musical journey towards Sibelius’s atmospheric tone poem.

To listen to this programme (using most smart speakers) just say "Ask BBC Sounds to play Music Map"

Producer: David Fay.


SUN 15:00 Choral Evensong (m002jtfb)
Trinity College, Cambridge

From the Chapel of Trinity College, Cambridge with members of the Rodolfus Choral Course.

Introit: Hear my prayer, O Lord (Purcell)
Responses: Radcliffe
Psalms 6, 7, 8 (Battishill, Turle, Ley)
First Lesson: Proverbs 2 vv1-15
Canticles: Sumsion in G
Second Lesson: Colossians 1 vv9-20
Anthem: Rivers of Living Water (Trevor Weston)
Voluntary: Organ Sonata No 4 in B flat (Allegro con brio) (Mendelssohn)

Simon Toyne (Conductor)
George Herbert (Organist)

Recorded 19 August.

To listen on most smart speakers just say “ask BBC Sounds to play Choral Evensong”.


SUN 16:00 Jazz Record Requests (m002k3t9)
'Tis Autumn

Alyn Shipton presents jazz records of all styles and eras as requested by you including music to ease you into Autumn from Nat King Cole, Pat Metheny, June Christy, Charles Mingus and more.

Get in touch: jrr@bbc.co.uk or use #jazzrecordrequests on social

To listen on most smart speakers just say “ask BBC Sounds to play Jazz Record Requests”


SUN 17:00 The Early Music Show (m002k3tc)
The Four Seasons: Autumn

In the last of four programmes across 2025 marking the 300th anniversary of the publication of Vivaldi's The Four Seasons, Hannah French explores the Violin Concerto in F major, RV.293 - better known as Autumn.

Dancing, drinking, feasting: Vivaldi's musical depiction of Autumn and the sonnet that accompanies it are all about celebrating the good times of harvest and hunt... and warn of the aftereffects of over-indulgence at the festivities. As part of her exploration of the music and its themes, Hannah talks to Amandine Beyer, Baroque violinist and director of the internationally acclaimed early music group Gli Incogniti, about the concerto and working with choreographers to create a danced version of The Four Seasons. And Hannah sends us one final sonic snapshot from her recent research trip to Vivaldi's haunts in Venice and Mantua.

To listen to this programme using most smart speakers just say "Ask BBC Sounds to play The Early Music Show".


SUN 18:00 Words and Music (m002k3tf)
Nobel Prizes

The Nobel Prize in Literature has been awarded 117 times to 121 Nobel Prize laureates since 1901. Ahead of the announcement of the 118th Laureate we present a selection of readings by those awarded the prize, from the first winner, Sully Prudhomme, to 2024's - Han Kang. We have poetry from Gabriela Mistral and WB Yeats, drama from George Bernard Shaw and Harold Pinter, Svetlana Alexievich's polyphonic reportage as well as speeches from those accepting - and refusing the award. The readers are Samuel West and Jasmine Hyde.

Readings:
Ernest Hemingway – Novel Prize Acceptance Speech
Sully Prudhomme – The Broken Vase
Han Kang – The Vegetarian
John Galsworthy – The Forsyte Saga
Rudyard Kipling – The Way Through The Woods
Tomas Tranströmer – Allegro
Gabriela Mistral – Give me Your Hand
Wole Soyinka - You Must Set Forth At Dawn
Olga Tokarczuk – Flights
Rabindreth Tagore - Song Offerings - Gitanjali 35
Toni Morrison- Beloved
George Bernard Shaw -Pygmalion
Selma Lagerlöf - The Wonderful Adventures of Nils
Svetlana Alexievich Last Witnesses - Unchildlike Stories
Seamus Heaney  - Sloe Gin
Louise Gluck - Wild Iris
Jean-Paul Sartre – Statement to the Swedish Press

Producer in Salford: Jessica Treen


SUN 19:15 Sunday Feature (m002k3th)
The Artificial Composer - Music and AI

As a composer in San Francisco, Tarik O'Regan is at the epicentre of the collision of classical music and AI.

In San Fran now, there's the same buzz as in the early 00s' tech boom. But 'old tech' is moving out and Silicon Valley has a new nickname: 'Cerebral Valley'. Around Tarik's studio, buildings are constantly bought up for AI start-ups and ‘Hacker Houses’ - where budding engineers live, eat, code together - proliferate.

And one of AI's fastest areas of development? Music creation. But classical music is part of San Francisco’s life blood. Since the 19th century, it's had a reputation for concert halls and opera houses. British composer Tarik O’Regan takes a personal journey around the city he now calls home, riding a driverless taxi to talk to figures from both the tech and classical music worlds. Will AI ultimately turn his professional career into a hobby, or will it prove a useful tool to human composers? He talks to Tamara Rojo from San Francisco Ballet, composer Mason Bates, and composer and AI entrepreneur Ed Newton-Rex, and uses AI to compose a new work to be performed by the BBC National Orchestra of Wales.

Production co-ordinator.....Stuart Laws
Sound designer.....Jonathan Thomas
Producer.....Fay Lomas, BBC Audio Wales


SUN 20:00 Record Review (m002k3tk)
A thorough look at the week's classical music releases, plus news and the Radio 3 Disc of the Week recommendation.


SUN 21:00 20th Century Radicals (m002k3tn)
György Kurtág: Brevity, intensity and the past

Kate Molleson and Gillian Moore present BBC Radio 3's series exploring the pivotal 'modern' musical works of the 20th century, the groundbreaking composers who created them, and the radical cultural and artistic movements which gave rise to them. In this episode, Kate explores the intense, short-form musical shadows created by György Kurtág, leading to full performance of his setting of Samuel Beckett’s What is the Word – a work in which language itself is broken down into tiny parts. On the way, we’ll find out what Béla Bartók referred to as his “mother tongue”, explore the tragedy inherent in the works of László Vidovszky, and discover a Hungarian visual artist whose paintings often feature tombstone motifs, a mirroring of the frequent musical memorials Kurtág himself makes for lost friends and colleagues.

Produced by Sam Phillips
A Reduced Listening production for BBC Radio 3

To listen on most smart speakers just say, “ask BBC Sounds to play 20th Century Radicals”


SUN 22:00 Night Tracks (m002k3tt)
Blissful sounds for night owls

Sara Mohr-Pietsch presents an adventurous, immersive soundtrack for late-night listening, from classical to contemporary and everything in between.


SUN 23:30 Unclassified (m002k3v1)
Phantom Pulse

Join Elizabeth Alker with a selection of fresh music from genre-defying artists as we journey through landscapes of ambient and experimental sounds. Along the way, we'll hear from emerging independent producers whose work plays with orchestral textures and classical form as well as the latest sounds from a new generation of contemporary composers who look to embrace the spirit of rock, pop and electronica.

Produced by Geoff Bird
A Reduced Listening production for BBC Radio 3

To listen on most smart speakers just say “ask BBC Sounds to play Unclassified”

MONDAY 06 OCTOBER 2025

MON 00:30 Through the Night (m002k3v7)
Sacra Partitura: the beginnings of Italian Baroque

The early music group Ensemble Daimonion traces the evolution of Italian musical style from the Renaissance to the Baroque. Jonathan Swain presents.

12:31 AM
Dario Castello (1602-1631)
Sonata nona from Sonate in stil moderno, libro primo
Ensemble Daimonion

12:37 AM
Heinrich Ignaz Franz von Biber (1644-1704)
Nisi Dominus aedificaverit domum, Psalm 127
Ensemble Daimonion

12:48 AM
Biagio Marini (c.1594-1663)
Sonata a 3 - La Foscarina - from Affetti musicali, Op 1
Ensemble Daimonion

12:54 AM
Cipriano de Rore (1516-1565)
Io canterei damor from Primo libro di madrigali a 4 voci
Ensemble Daimonion

12:58 AM
Tarquinio Merula (1595-1665)
Credidi from Salmi et Messa Concertata, Op 18
Ensemble Daimonion

01:03 AM
Nicola Matteis (c. 1650-after 1713)
Passagio rotto - Fantasia for violin
Anaïs Chen (violin)

01:08 AM
Nicolaus Bruhns (1665-1697)
De profundis clamavi, Psalm 130
Ensemble Daimonion

01:22 AM
Giovanni Picchi (1572-1643)
Canzon seconda per violino e fagotto
Ensemble Daimonion

01:26 AM
Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (c.1525-1594)
Pulchra es
Ensemble Daimonion

01:31 AM
Dario Castello (1602-1631)
Sonata decima from Sonate in stil moderno, libro secondo
Ensemble Daimonion

01:37 AM
Dietrich Buxtehude (1637-1707)
Quemadmodum desiderat cervus, BuxWV 92
Ensemble Daimonion

01:44 AM
Gioanpietro Del Buono (fl.1641-1657)
Sonata sopra Ave Maris Stella (encore)
Ensemble Daimonion

01:46 AM
Maddalena Laura Lombardini Sirmen (1745-1818)
String Quartet no 1 in E flat major, Op 3
Eos Quartet

01:57 AM
Ottorino Respighi (1879-1936), Carlo Zangarini (lyricist)
Stornellatrice
Victoria de los Ángeles (soprano), Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional, Pedro de Freitas Branco (conductor)

01:59 AM
Ottorino Respighi (1879-1936)
Trittico Botticelliano
Norwegian Radio Orchestra, Peter Sánta (conductor)

02:21 AM
Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741)
Concerto for 4 violins, cello and orchestra in F major, RV.567
Paul Wright (violin), Natsumi Wakamatsu (violin), Sayuri Yamagata (violin), Staas Swierstra (violin), Hidemi Suzuki (cello), Australian Brandenburg Orchestra, Paul Dyer (conductor)

02:31 AM
Krasimir Kyurkchiyski (1936-2011)
Variations on a theme by Handel
Bulgarian National Radio Symphony Orchestra, Dimitar Manolov (conductor)

02:51 AM
Louis Spohr (1784-1859)
Nonet for wind quintet, string trio and double bass in F major, Op 31
Budapest Chamber Ensemble, András Mihaly (conductor)

03:21 AM
Francis Poulenc (1899-1963)
Concerto in D minor for 2 pianos and orchestra
Lutoslawski Piano Duo (soloist), Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Jerzy Maksymiuk (conductor)

03:40 AM
Alexander Gretchaninov (1864-1956)
Cherubic Hymn from Liturgia Domestica
Bulgarian National Choir "Svetoslav Obretenov", Bulgarian National Radio Chamber Orchestra, Georgi Robev (conductor)

03:48 AM
Clara Schumann (1810-1856)
Variations on a theme by Robert Schumann for piano in F sharp minor, Op 20
Angela Cheng (piano)

03:57 AM
Dobrinka Tabakova (b.1980)
Pirin for viola
Maxim Rysanov (viola)

04:06 AM
Georges Bizet (1838-1875)
Andante molto, 3rd movement from the Symphonic Suite "Roma"
Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra, Oliver Dohnányi (conductor)

04:13 AM
Francesco Corbetta (1615-1681)
Folias
Simone Vallerotonda (guitar)

04:20 AM
George Frideric Handel (1685-1759)
Gentle Morpheus, son of night (Calliope's song) from 'Alceste'
Emma Kirkby (soprano), Academy of Ancient Music, Andrew Manze (director)

04:31 AM
Johannes Brahms (1833-1897)
Academic Festival Overture, Op 80
Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Tamás Vásáry (conductor)

04:41 AM
Robert Hacomplaynt (c.1455-1528)
Salve Regina (a 5)
BBC Singers, Stephen Cleobury (conductor)

04:53 AM
Peter Warlock (1894-1930)
Serenade (to Frederick Delius on his 60th birthday)
Manitoba Chamber Orchestra, Roy Goodman (conductor)

05:00 AM
Nicolas Chédeville (1705-1782)
Recorder Sonata in G minor, Op 13 no 6
Ensemble 1700, Dorothee Oberlinger (director)

05:08 AM
Väinö Raitio (1891-1945)
Maidens on the Headlands - symphonic poem
Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Jukka-Pekka Saraste (conductor)

05:15 AM
Augusta Holmès (1847-1903)
Fleur de Neflier
BBC Singers, Annabel Thwaite (piano), Hilary Campbell (conductor)

05:18 AM
Bernhard Henrik Crusell (1775-1838)
Clarinet Concerto no 1 in E flat major, Op 1
Kullervo Kojo (clarinet), Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Ulf Söderblom (conductor)

05:41 AM
Dora Pejačević (1885-1923)
Life of Flowers, Op 19
Ida Gamulin (piano)

06:02 AM
Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847)
Symphony No.5 in D major "Reformation" (Op.107)
Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, Paavo Berglund (conductor)


MON 06:30 Breakfast (m002k3r8)
Embrace the morning calm of classical music and birdsong

Tom McKinney presents Radio 3’s Breakfast show live from Salford. With birdsong, Bach Before 7 and the best in classical music. You can contact the show by emailing 3breakfast@bbc.co.uk

To listen on most smart speakers, just say 'Ask BBC Sounds to play 3 Breakfast’


MON 09:30 Essential Classics (m002k3rb)
Your perfect classical playlist

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 BBC Sounds to play Essential Classics”


MON 13:00 Classical Live (m002k3rd)
The Kleio Quartet live from Wigmore Hall

Fiona Talkington brings you an afternoon of exclusive music-making including chamber music from Edward Elgar live from Wigmore Hall and Walton’s Concerto for Viola and Orchestra performed by Mathis Rochat and the BBC National Orchestra of Wales as part of a week which looks at works for viola and orchestra.

BBC New Generation Artist the Kleio Quartet, winner of the 2023 Carl Nielsen International Chamber Music Competition, continues to cement its place among the best of today’s young ensembles. The programme includes Elgar’s elegiac E minor Quartet, the brief miniatures of Webern’s 5 Movements and the joyful spirit of Haydn’s ‘Frog’ Quartet.

And throughout the week, Classical Live is featuring specially recorded highlights from various Bavarian summer music festivals. Today, Trio Orleon perform Haydn’s playful Piano Trio in A, from the Oberstdorf Summer of Music.

Live from London's Wigmore Hall, introduced by Andrew McGregor:

Edward Elgar
String Quartet in E minor Op. 83

Anton Webern
5 Movements for string quartet Op. 5

Joseph Haydn
String Quartet in D Op. 50 No. 6 'The Frog'

Kleio Quartet:
Juliette Roos (violin)
Katherine Yoon (violin)
Yume Fujise (viola)
Eliza Millett (cello)

***

William Walton
Concerto for Viola and Orchestra
Mathis Rochat (viola)
BBC National Orchestra of Wales
Howard Griffiths (conductor)

Arcangelo Corelli
Trio Sonata in G, Op. 1/9
Göteborg Baroque
Magnus Kjellson (leader)

Joseph Haydn
Piano Trio in A, Hob. XV:18
Trio Orelon

Johannes Brahms
Symphony No.3 in F major, Op. 90
Ulster Orchestra
Mihhail Gerts (conductor)

Alessandro Scarlatti
Infirmata, vulnerata
Göteborg Baroque
Magnus Kjellson (leader)

To listen to this programme (using most smart speakers) just say "Ask BBC Sounds to play Classical Live".


MON 16:00 Composer of the Week (m002k3rg)
Eleanor Alberga

Jamaican Medley

Eleanor Alberga is a quietly rebellious composer. She draws inspiration from Jamaican folk songs, children's fairytales, ancient mythology - even chemistry. She was one of the first pianists to take modern dance seriously. And as a student, she arrived to performances on a motorcycle. This week, Alberga joins Kate Molleson and takes us on a journey from Kingston to London and beyond.

In today's programme, Kate talks to Alberga about her childhood in Kingston, Jamaica. At an early age she was already writing her own music, but the still largely white and male world of classical music didn’t offer many role models, so they idea of calling herself a composer didn’t occur for many years...

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs: Snow White’s Dance
Taliesin Orchestra, conducted by Peter Ash

Jamaican Medley
Maria Thompson Corley, piano

Nightscape: 1. Sundown, 2. Cicadas, tree-frogs, crickets, party-goers, geckos, dogs, burglars and other nocturnal creatures
Academy of St Martin in the Fields, conducted by Eleanor Alberga

Nightscape: 3. Into the arms of Morpheus?, 4. Br'er Fox and the Dancing Ghosts
Academy of St Martin in the Fields, conducted by Eleanor Alberga

It’s Time
Junyan Chen, piano

Produced by Alice McKee for BBC Audio


MON 17:00 In Tune (m002k3rk)
British folk singer Sam Lee on his songdreaming tour

Mercury Prize nominated British folk singer, Sam Lee, chats to Katie Derham about his songdreaming tour.


MON 19:00 Classical Mixtape (m002k3rm)
30 minutes of classical inspiration

Take time out with a 30-minute soundscape of classical music.


MON 19:30 Radio 3 in Concert (m002k3rp)
Stravinsky's Firebird Suite

The fanfares of Borodin’s Overture to Prince Igor herald the start of the Ulster Orchestra’s new season and a programme that’s packed with classic tales. Laura van der Heijden joins the orchestra for Saint-Saëns’s popular Cello Concerto No. 1, with Fauré’s Pelléas et Mélisande Suite paving the way for Stravinsky’s technicolored Firebird Suite (1945).

Recorded in September at the Ulster Hall, Belfast, and presented by John Toal.

Borodin: Prince Igor (Overture)
Saint-Saëns: Cello Concerto No. 1 in A minor, Op. 33
Interval
Fauré: Pelléas et Mélisande Suite, Op. 80
Stravinsky: Firebird Suite (1945 version)

Laura van der Heijden (cello)
Ulster Orchestra
Anna Sułkowska-Migoń (conductor)

To listen on most smart speakers just say "ask BBC Sounds to play Radio 3 in Concert".


MON 21:45 The Essay (m002k3rr)
Multitrack

'Life Blood' - If a river could speak, what would it say?

Water is a live phenomena that twists and shifts with every second. Its flow takes with it stories, energies and sounds from source to sea. For millennia, it has been our life blood. But it is now one of the most polluted natural resources in the world, and the UK is ranked as one of the worst countries in Europe for water quality. The Afon Teifi (river Teifi) was named the most polluted river in Wales in 2023. At 75 miles, it is the longest river that exists wholly within Wales, flowing from the Cambrian Mountains of Mid Wales through Ceredigion and Pembrokeshire before spilling out into the Irish sea at Cardigan bay. The Afon Teifi is the heartland for coracle fishing, a rapidly disappearing age-old tradition, which now only continues in these particular waters. The song of the river has changed drastically in a generation.

Working with renowned Welsh sound artist and composer Gwen Sion, and Calvin Griffiths, a coracler who has built a life long relationship with the Afon Teifi, we follow the river from source to sea, asking: if this river could speak, what would it say? Using poetry, music, archive and original interview we blend sound ecologies, personal story, and musical voice to interpret this river's song - revealing a sonicscape of our human relationship to water and its long history in Wales.

Commissioned in association with the Multitrack Audio Producers Fellowship for new talent in feature-making.


MON 22:00 Night Tracks (m002k3rt)
Meditative music for late night solace

Sara Mohr-Pietsch presents an adventurous, immersive soundtrack for late-night listening, from classical to contemporary and everything in between.


MON 23:30 'Round Midnight (m002k3rw)
Nikki Iles’ 4/4

‘Round Midnight is presented by award-winning saxophonist Soweto Kinch. This weekday late-night show celebrates the thriving UK jazz scene and spotlights the best new music alongside incredible acts from past decades.

Soweto is joined this week by formidable award-winning British pianist, bandleader, and educator Nikki Iles. A key part of the British jazz community, Nikki has forged her path as an in-demand musician, prolific composer, working with contemporaries including Anthony Braxton, Vince Mendoza, Art Farmer, Steve Swallow and Kenny Wheeler to name a few.

She is also a highly-regarded musician internationally, collaborating with artists and directing bands in mainland Europe and the US. Recently, Nikki has worked with Hamberg’s celebrated NDR Big Band, and she now begins her new role as their Principal Conductor.

For her first 4/4 selection this week, Nikki chooses a record by a fellow pianist who is one of jazz and music’s innovators.

Also in the programme, releases from Youness, Ineza, and 4hero.

To listen on most smart speakers, just say: 'Ask BBC Sounds to play Round Midnight.'

TUESDAY 07 OCTOBER 2025

TUE 00:30 Through the Night (m002k3ry)
Wagner, Liszt and Mendelssohn from Geneva

Pianist Alexei Volodin joins the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande and conductor Pablo Heras-Casado in Liszt's Piano Concerto no 1 plus works by Wagner and Mendelssohn's 'Reformation' Symphony. Jonathan Swain presents.

12:31 AM
Richard Wagner (1813-1883)
Prelude to 'Parsifal'
Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Pablo Heras-Casado (conductor)

12:44 AM
Franz Liszt (1811-1886)
Piano Concerto no 1 in E flat S. 124
Alexei Volodin (piano), Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Pablo Heras-Casado (conductor)

01:03 AM
Franz Liszt (1811-1886)
Das Wandern, from 'Müllerlieder von Franz Schubert, S. 565'
Alexei Volodin (piano)

01:05 AM
Richard Wagner (1813-1883)
Prelude and Good Friday Music, from act 3 of 'Parsifal'
Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Pablo Heras-Casado (conductor)

01:15 AM
Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847)
Symphony no 5 in D minor, op 107 'Reformation'
Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Pablo Heras-Casado (conductor)

01:43 AM
Richard Wagner (1813-1883), arr. Marcin Zdunik, Mathilde Wesendonck (author)
Im Treibhaus (Wesendonck-Lieder)
Agata Zubel (soprano), Warsaw Cellonet Group, Andrzej Bauer (director)

01:49 AM
Henryk Wieniawski (1835-1880)
Legende for violin and piano, Op 17
Slawomir Tomasik (violin), Izabela Tomasik (piano)

01:57 AM
Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847)
String Octet in E flat major, Op 20
Leonidas Kavakos (violin), Per KristianSkalstad (violin), Frode Larsen (violin), Tor Johan Bøen (violin), Lars Anders Tomter (viola), Catherine Bullock (viola), Øystein Sonstad (cello), Ernst Simon Glaser (cello)

02:31 AM
Jean-Philippe Rameau (1683-1764)
Suite from "Les Indes galantes"
Neue Düsseldorfer Hofmusik, Mary Utiger (director)

03:04 AM
Johannes Brahms (1833-1897)
Clarinet Quintet in B minor, Op 115
Annelien Van Wauwe (clarinet), Quatuor Van Kuijk

03:41 AM
Thomas Tallis (1505-1585)
Loquebantur variis linguis for 7 voices
BBC Singers, Bo Holten (director)

03:46 AM
Fryderyk Chopin (1810-1849)
Nocturne in D flat major, Op 27 No 2
Zbigniew Raubo (piano)

03:53 AM
Claude Debussy (1862-1918)
Two Dances for Harp and Strings
Joel von Lerber (harp), Berner Kammerorchester, Philippe Bach (conductor)

04:03 AM
David Popper (1843-1913)
Concert Polonaise, Op 14
Tomasz Daroch (cello), Maria Daroch (piano)

04:09 AM
Jean-Baptiste Quinault (1687-1745)
Overture and Dances - from the Comedy 'Le Nouveau Monde'
L'ensemble Arion

04:18 AM
Philippe Gaubert (1879-1941)
Tarantelle for flute, oboe and piano
Andrea Kollé (flute), Silvia Zabarella (oboe), Alexander Boeschoten (piano)

04:23 AM
Stanisław Moniuszko (1819-1872), orch. Zygmunt Noskowski
Polonaise in E flat major
Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Jerzy Katlewicz (conductor)

04:31 AM
Francesco Geminiani (1687-1762)
Concerto Grosso in G minor
Andrew Manze (violin), Academy of Ancient Music, Andrew Manze (director)

04:39 AM
Jean Sibelius (1865-1957)
5 Esquisses for piano, Op 114
Raija Kerppo (piano)

04:48 AM
Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (c.1525-1594)
Stabat Mater
Camerata Silesia - Katowice City Singers, Anna Szostak (director)

04:58 AM
Franz Schubert (1797-1828)
Piano Trio in E flat major, D.897, 'Notturno'
Vadim Repin (violin), Jan-Erik Gustafsson (cello), Leif Ove Andsnes (piano)

05:07 AM
Franz Xaver Sterkel (1750-1817)
Duet no 2 for 2 violas
Milan Telecky (viola), Zuzana Jarabakova (viola)

05:16 AM
Jean Coulthard (1908-2000), orch. Michael Conway Baker
Four Irish Songs
Linda Maguire (soprano), CBC Vancouver Orchestra, Mario Bernardi (conductor)

05:26 AM
Robert Schumann (1810-1856)
Symphonische Etuden Op.13 for piano
Jayson Gillham (piano)

05:57 AM
Petko Stainov (1896-1977), Trifon Kunev (lyricist)
A fir tree is bending
Vassil Arnaudov Sofia Chamber Choir, Theodora Pavlovitch (conductor)

06:01 AM
Louis Spohr (1784-1859)
Nonet in F major, Op 31
Kyoko Ogawa (violin), Anne Sophie Van Riel (viola), Alexander Arai-Swale (double bass), Hyunjung Song (oboe), Carlotta Brendel (bassoon), Zuzanna Szambelan (cello), Ronja Macholdt (flute), Astrid den Daas (clarinet), Pauline Zahno (horn)


TUE 06:30 Breakfast (m002k57s)
Ease into the day with classical music

Tom McKinney presents Radio 3’s Breakfast show live from Salford. With birdsong, Bach Before 7 and the best in classical music. You can contact the show by emailing 3breakfast@bbc.co.uk

To listen on most smart speakers, just say 'Ask BBC Sounds to play 3 Breakfast’


TUE 09:30 Essential Classics (m002k57v)
Great classical music for your morning

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 BBC Sounds to play Essential Classics”


TUE 13:00 Classical Live (m002k57x)
Sibelius 3rd Symphony

An afternoon of compelling performances including highlights from summer chamber music concerts across Bavaria and there is a spotlight on orchestral works featuring solo viola. Introduced by Fiona Talkington.

Throughout the week, Classical Live is foregrounding specially recorded concerts from various Bavarian summer music festivals. Today, Trio Orleon perform Beethoven’s Archduke Piano Trio from Oberstdorf Summer of Music. And we will hear Norman Hallam’s Dance Suite from a festival in Ingolstadt.

Plus, each day, an orchestral work with viola solo will be showcased. Today Hindemith’s Kammermusik No.5 will be performed by Timothy Ridout, the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra and conductor Martyn Brabbins. And The BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra perform Sibelius's three movement 3rd Symphony.

Ludwig van Beethoven
Piano Trio No. 7 in B flat, op. 97 ('Archduke')
Trio Orelon

Bernardo Pasquini
Partite Diverse la Follia
Göteborg Baroque
Magnus Kjellson (leader)

John Dowland
Flow my Tears (arr. for viola and strings)
Antoine Tamestit (viola)
Chamber Orchestra of Europe
Andras Schiff (conductor)

Jean Sibelius
Symphony No 3
BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra
Taavi Oramo (conductor)

Norman Hallam
Dance Suite
Alinde Quintet

Alessandro Stradella
Sinfonia in D minor
Göteborg Baroque
Magnus Kjellson (leader)

Paul Hindemith
Kammermusik No.5 (for viola and large chamber orchestra)
Timothy Ridout (viola)
BBC Philharmonic Orchestra
Martyn Brabbins (conductor)

To listen to this programme (using most smart speakers) just say "Ask BBC Sounds to play Classical Live".


TUE 16:00 Composer of the Week (m002k57z)
Eleanor Alberga

No Man's Land

Eleanor Alberga is a quietly rebellious composer. She draws inspiration from Jamaican folk songs, children's fairytales, ancient mythology - even chemistry. She was one of the first pianists to take modern dance seriously. And as a student, she arrived to performances on a motorcycle. This week, Alberga joins Kate Molleson and takes us on a journey from Kingston to London and beyond.

In today's programme, Alberga tells Kate Molleson about departing Jamaica, experiencing her first British winter and sneaking into composition lessons...

Strata: III. Mantle
BBC Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Thomas Kemp

Strata: II. Core
BBC Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Thomas Kemp

Tower
Castalian String Quartet and BBC Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Thomas Kemp

The Soul’s Expression: II. Emily Bronte, III. George Eliot, IV. Elizabeth Barrett Browning
Morgan Pearse, baritone
BBC National Orchestra of Wales, conducted by Joseph Swensen

No Man’s Land Lullaby
Eleanor Alberga, piano
Thomas Bowes, violin

Produced by Alice McKee for BBC Audio


TUE 17:00 In Tune (m002k581)
Classical artists live in session

Live music and interviews from the world's finest classical musicians.


TUE 19:00 Classical Mixtape (m002k583)
Switch up your listening with classical music

Take time out with a 30-minute soundscape of classical music.


TUE 19:30 Radio 3 in Concert (m002k585)
Dunedin Consort: Bach's Italy

Johann Sebastian Bach may never have actually visited Italy but he certainly made the journey in music. An avid consumer and transcriber of his Italian colleagues he took up their musical inspiration in his own compositions. This concert brings that interest to life as the Edinburgh-based Dundedin Consort perform glittering and heart-breaking Italian concertos to set the stage for Bach’s Double Concerto which showcases virtuosic and tender solo performances by two of Dunedin Consort's finest musicians.

Recorded at The Queen's Hall, Edinburgh on September 25th, 2025, Presented by Kate Molleson.

Arcangelo Corelli: Concerto Grosso, Op. 6 No. 7
Antonio Vivaldi: Concerto for Two Violins in D minor, RV 514
Georg Muffat: Sonata No 5, Armonico Tributo
Antonio Vivaldi: Concerto for Two Violins and Cello, RV 565
Arcangelo Corelli: Concerto Grosso, Op. 6 No. 6
Johann Sebastian Bach: Concerto for 2 Violins, BWV 1043

Dunedin Consort
John Butt (director)
Matthew Truscott (violin)
Huw Daniel (violin)

To listen on most smart speakers just say "ask BBC Sounds to play Radio 3 in Concert".


TUE 21:45 The Essay (m002k587)
Multitrack

Sound and the Soil

With up to a third of young people in the United Kingdom reporting feelings of eco-anxiety amidst the ongoing climate emergency, producer Derick Armah gets his feet on the ground to witness an emerging collective response in London: artists and organisers are using alternative forms of ecological know-how to imagine positive futures.

Hearing visceral accounts of eco-anxiety from scientist and writer David and poet Iyarhi, Derick asks: how can we move away from habitual ways of taking from the earth (which contribute to the climate emergency) and introduce more sustainable, imaginative modes of relating to our shared environment? How can we make a difference? And what might happen if we stopped to listen to the soil?

Multi-disciplinary artist Seyi Adelekun and community gardener Edward Adonteng offer responses to these questions, inspired by ancestral ecological wisdom and committed to creative ways of bringing about collective change.

With thanks to Seyi, Edward, David and Iyarhi for their time and perspectives; and to Black Growth in Croydon, for the introduction to sustainable, community-based gardening.

Written, presented and produced by Derick Armah
Executive producer: Anishka Sharma

Commissioned as part of the Multitrack Audio Producers Fellowship
A Reduced Listening production for BBC Radio 3


TUE 22:00 Night Tracks (m002k589)
Nocturnal music to bewitch the senses

Sara Mohr-Pietsch presents an adventurous, immersive soundtrack for late-night listening, from classical to contemporary and everything in between.


TUE 23:30 'Round Midnight (m002k58c)
Brand new from Emma Rawicz

‘Round Midnight is presented by award-winning saxophonist Soweto Kinch. This weekday late-night show celebrates the thriving UK jazz scene and spotlights the best new music alongside incredible acts from past decades.

Pianist and bandleader Nikki Iles is back with her second 4/4 selection and tonight she chooses an album by a leading English saxophonist.

There is also music from corto.alto, Kaidi Akinnibi, and Deborah Slijkhuis.

To listen on most smart speakers, just say: 'Ask BBC Sounds to play Round Midnight.'

WEDNESDAY 08 OCTOBER 2025

WED 00:30 Through the Night (m002k58f)
Beethoven Piano Concerto no 3

Fabian Müller plays Beethoven's third piano concerto with the German Symphony Orchestra, Berlin. The programme also contains Emilie Mayer's Overture to Faust and Beethoven's Symphony no 2. Jonathan Swain presents.

12:31 AM
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)
Leonore Overture no 3, Op 72b
Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Maxim Emelyanychev (conductor)

12:45 AM
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)
Piano Concerto no 3 in C minor, Op 37
Fabian Müller (piano), Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Maxim Emelyanychev (conductor)

01:20 AM
Johannes Brahms (1833-1897)
Wiegenlied - Lullaby, Op 494 (encore)
Fabian Müller (piano)

01:22 AM
Emilie Mayer (1812-1883)
Overture to Faust, Op 46
Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Maxim Emelyanychev (conductor)

01:32 AM
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)
Symphony no 2 in D major, Op 36
Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Maxim Emelyanychev (conductor)

02:04 AM
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)
Violin Sonata in D major, Op 12 no 1
David Nebel (violin), Giorgi Iuldashevi (piano)

02:23 AM
Johannes Brahms (1833-1897)
Meerfahrt, Op 96 no 4
Kevin McMillan (baritone), Michael McMahon (piano)

02:26 AM
Fritz Kreisler (1875-1962)
Rondino on a theme by Beethoven
Taik-Ju Lee (violin), Young-Lan Han (piano)

02:31 AM
Dobrinka Tabakova (b.1980)
Such Different Paths
Hugo Ticciati (violin), Thomas Reif (violin), Hana Hobiger (viola), Gregor Hrabar (viola), Alessio Pianelli (cello), Ruiko Matsumoto (cello)

02:48 AM
Johannes Ockeghem (1410-1497)
Missa prolationum
Hilliard Ensemble, Paul Hillier (director)

03:22 AM
Maya Le Roux-Obradovic
Ballade de la vallée magique
Maya Le Roux-Obradovic (guitar), Sinfonietta Belgrade, Aleksandar Vujic (conductor)

03:38 AM
Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971)
Symphony of Psalms
Concertgebouworkest, Royal Concertgebouw Choir, Colin Davis (conductor)

03:59 AM
Gustav Mahler (1860-1911)
Piano Quartet in A minor
Marianna Shirinyan (piano), Nevena Tochev (violin), Alessandro D'Amico (viola), Rafael Rosenfeld (cello)

04:11 AM
Georg Philipp Telemann (1681-1767)
Recorder Sonata in D minor
Camerata Köln

04:20 AM
Jan Raas (b.1942)
Four Improvisaties
Jan Raas (organ)

04:26 AM
Franz Schubert (1797-1828)
Lied eines Schiffers an die Dioskuren D.360
Ilker Arcayürek (tenor), Simon Lepper (piano)

04:31 AM
Richard Wagner (1813-1883)
Rienzi Overture
Concertgebouworkest, Mariss Jansons (conductor)

04:43 AM
William Lawes (1602-1645)
Suite a 4 in G minor
Concordia, Mark Levy (conductor)

04:50 AM
Ethel Smyth (1858-1944)
Concerto for Violin and Horn in A major - 1st movt
Anna Agafia Egholm (violin), Tillmann Höfs (horn), Alice Burla (piano)

05:01 AM
Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847)
Hebrides overture, Op 26
Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, Arvid Engegård (conductor)

05:12 AM
Brian Eno (b.1948), arr. Julia Wolfe
Music for Airports 1/2
Bang on a Can All-Stars, Wayne du Maine (trumpet), Tommy Hoyt (trumpet), Julie Josephson (trombone), Christopher Washburne (trombone), Wu Man (lute), Katie Geissinger (alto), Phyllis Jo Kubey (alto), Alexandra Montano (alto)

05:24 AM
Maria Antonia Walpurgis (Electress of Saxony) (1724-1780)
Talestri, Regina delle Amazzoni (excerpts)
Christine Wolff (soprano), Johanna Stojkovic (soprano), Marilia Vargas (soprano), Ulrike Bartsch (soprano), Batzdorfer Hofkapelle, Tobias Schade (harpsichord), Tobias Schade (director)

06:03 AM
Aulis Sallinen (b.1935)
Concerto for Violin and Orchestra, Op 18
Okko Kamu (violin), Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Aulis Sallinen (conductor)

06:20 AM
Peter Maxwell Davies (1934-2016)
One star, at last
BBC Singers, Stephen Cleobury (conductor)

06:24 AM
Mikhail Glinka (1804-1857)
The Lark, from 'A Farewell to Saint Petersburg'
Kotaro Fukuma (piano)


WED 06:30 Breakfast (m002k3vm)
Wake up with classical music

Tom McKinney presents Radio 3’s Breakfast show live from Salford. With birdsong, Bach Before 7 and the best in classical music. You can contact the show by emailing 3breakfast@bbc.co.uk

To listen on most smart speakers, just say 'Ask BBC Sounds to play 3 Breakfast’


WED 09:30 Essential Classics (m002k3vp)
The best classical morning music

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 BBC Sounds to play Essential Classics”


WED 13:00 Classical Live (m002k3vr)
Britten's Lachrymae for viola and strings

An afternoon of compelling performances including highlights from summer chamber music concerts across Bavaria and there is a spotlight on orchestral works with solo viola. Introduced by Fiona Talkington.

Throughout the week, Classical Live is featuring specially recorded concerts from various Bavarian summer music festivals. Today, an exceptional ensemble of international soloists perform Mozart's first Piano Quartet from the Chamber Music Festival Vielsaitig. And from Ingolstadt, the Alinde Quintet will play Novák's Concerto for Wind Quintet.

Plus, each day, an orchestral work with solo viola will be showcased. Today's piece comes from the Kronberg Festival. Britten's Lachrymae for viola and strings based on a song by John Dowland

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Piano Quartet No. 1 in G minor, K. 478
Ning Feng (violin)
Wen Xioa Zheng (viola)
Julian Steckel (cello)
Frank Dupree (piano)

Jan Novák
Concerto for Wind Quintet
Alinde Quintet

Joseph Haydn
Symphony No. 104 in D, Hob. I:104 ('London')
Chamber Orchestra of Europe
András Schiff (conductor)

Carlo Ambrogio Lonati
Sonata in G minor
Göteborg Baroque
Magnus Kjellson (leader)

Benjamin Britten
Lachrymae Op. 48a (Reflactions on a Song of Dowland)
Antoine Tamestit (viola)
Chamber Orchestra of Europe
Andras Schiff (conductor)

To listen to this programme (using most smart speakers) just say "Ask BBC Sounds to play Classical Live".


WED 15:00 Choral Evensong (m002k3vt)
St Peter, Bolton-le-Moors

From St Peter, Bolton-le-Moors with the Diocese of Manchester Choral Scholars.

Introit: Let all the world (Lucy Walker)
Responses: Ian Quinn
Psalms 41, 42, 43 (Crotch, Rogers)
First Lesson: 2 Kings 4 vv1-7
Office Hymn: Christ is our light! The bright and morning star (Godmanchester)
Canticles: Harwood in A flat
Second Lesson: John 2 vv1-11
Anthem: Cana's Guest (Richard Allain)
Hymn: There’s a wideness in God’s mercy (Corvedale)
Voluntary: Rhapsody in C sharp minor, Op 17 No 3 (Howells)

Andrew Earis (Director of Music)
Elin Rees (Organist)

Recorded 4 October.

To listen on most smart speakers just say “ask BBC Sounds to play Choral Evensong”.


WED 16:00 Composer of the Week (m002k3vw)
Eleanor Alberga

Dancing with the Shadow

Eleanor Alberga is a quietly rebellious composer. She draws inspiration from Jamaican folk songs, children's fairytales, ancient mythology - even chemistry. She was one of the first pianists to take modern dance seriously. And as a student, she arrived to performances on a motorcycle. This week, Alberga joins Kate Molleson and takes us on a journey from Kingston to London and beyond.

In today's programme, Alberga tells Kate Molleson about her first real job, at a dance studio, where she was introduced to a kind of movement she’d never encountered before, made up of abstract shapes and gestures. It was while improvising for these modern dancers that she finally realised: she was a composer.

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs: Mirror's Dance
Taliesin Orchestra, conducted by Peter Ash

Dancing with the Shadow
Lontano Ensemble, conducted by Odaline de la Martinez

Clouds
Eleanor Alberga, piano

Ice Flow
Eleanor Alberga, piano

Produced by Alice McKee for BBC Audio


WED 17:00 In Tune (m002k3vy)
Classical artists live in session

Live music and interviews from the world's finest classical musicians.


WED 19:00 Classical Mixtape (m002k3w2)
The eclectic classical mix

Take time out with a 30-minute soundscape of classical music.


WED 19:30 Radio 3 in Concert (m002k3w6)
John Luther Adams' 'Become Ocean'

The BBC Symphony Orchestra conducted by Dalia Stasevska performs three grand canvas works: Luther Adams's Become Ocean, Ligeti's Atmosphères and Thorvaldsdottir's ARCHORA.

Live from the Barbican, London. Presented by Martin Handley.

Anna Thorvaldsdottir: ARCHORA
György Ligeti: Atmosphères
John Luther Adams: Become Ocean

BBC Symphony Orchestra,
Dalia Stasevska (conductor)

Listening, we become ocean…engulfed in sound, immersed in nature, transformed by the depth and wonder of elements that might (or might not) be beyond our control. Dalia Stasevska conducts one of the defining masterpieces of our century: John Luther Adams’s huge, haunting Become Ocean.

“It may be the loveliest apocalypse in musical history” declared Alex Ross, who admitted that he was left “reeling” by Become Ocean after its premiere in 2013. Since then, it’s gone global: a vast, luminous expanse of music with a troubling but hopeful message about our relationship with nature. For the BBC Symphony Orchestra’s principal guest conductor Dalia Stasevska – an artist who believes that music is at “the core of humanity” – it’s a story that simply has to be told.

ARCHORA by the Icelandic composer Anna Thorvaldsdottir portrays abstractions – musical spectra and clashing extremes, explored through her focus on primordial energy and parallel realms. And György Ligeti's 1961 classic Atmosphères, though created by densely patterned experiments, is aurally impressionistic.

Presented by Martin Handley.

To listen on most smart speakers just say "ask BBC Sounds to play Radio 3 in Concert".


WED 21:45 The Essay (m002k3wb)
Multitrack

Sounds Like Cornwall

Chris Trevena opens the door to his home-grown archive in Camborne, Cornwall, where thousands of vinyl, fragile reel-to-reel and stacks of minidiscs, tapes and CDs capture a rich musical heritage and the deeply personal histories within. Chris is a dedicated DIY audio archivist whose work broadens the scope of Cornish music and tenderly preserves both the iconic, and lesser-heard voices, of his home county, for generations to come.

Produced by Charlie West
Commissioned in association with the Multitrack Audio Producers Fellowship for new talent in feature-making.
A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio Three


WED 22:00 Night Tracks (m002k3wg)
Bewitching sounds for after dark

Sara Mohr-Pietsch presents an adventurous, immersive soundtrack for late-night listening, from classical to contemporary and everything in between.


WED 23:30 'Round Midnight (m002k3wl)
New from Laura Jurd

‘Round Midnight is presented by award-winning saxophonist Soweto Kinch. This weekday late-night show celebrates the thriving UK jazz scene and spotlights the best new music alongside incredible acts from past decades.

Tonight Nikki Iles’ 4/4 record selection is an album that showcases the dual-talent of an American jazz vocal icon, both as a singer and as a pianist.

Also in the programme, music from Córas Trio, Pepper Adams, and Marco Bernardis.

To listen on most smart speakers, just say: 'Ask BBC Sounds to play Round Midnight.'

THURSDAY 09 OCTOBER 2025

THU 00:30 Through the Night (m002k3wq)
The Lover's Friend's Love for the Beloved: the BBC Proms 2024

The BBC Symphony Orchestra under Dalia Stasevska perform the UK premiere of Julius Eastman's Second Symphony. Titled The Faithful Friend: The Lover Friend's Love for the Beloved, Eastman presented the score to his ex-boyfriend in 1983 but it remained unperformed until 2018. Jonathan Swain presents.

12:31 AM
Julius Eastman (1940-1990)
Symphony no 2 'The Faithful Friend'
BBC Symphony Orchestra, Dalia Stasevska (conductor)

12:42 AM
Gustav Mahler (1860-1911)
Rückert-Lieder
Jamie Barton (mezzo soprano), BBC Symphony Orchestra, Dalia Stasevska (conductor)

01:03 AM
Jean Sibelius (1865-1957)
Symphony no 5 in E flat major
BBC Symphony Orchestra, Dalia Stasevska (conductor)

01:34 AM
William Walton (1902-1983)
Where does the uttered music go?
BBC Singers, Stephen Layton (conductor)

01:40 AM
Morton Feldman (1926-1987)
Christian Wolff in Cambridge for chorus
BBC Singers, Stephen Cleobury (conductor)

01:44 AM
Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958)
Symphony no 2 'A London Symphony'
BBC Symphony Orchestra, Leonard Slatkin (conductor)

02:31 AM
Joseph Haydn (1732-1809)
String Quartet in G minor, Op 74 no 3 'Rider'
Quatuor Ebène

02:52 AM
Boris Papandopulo (1906-1991)
Dodolice: traditional folk ceremony for soprano, piano and girls' choir
Slovenian Chamber Choir, Miljenka Grdan (soprano), Vladimir Krpan (piano), Vladimir Kranjčević (conductor)

03:12 AM
Einojuhani Rautavaara (1928-2016)
Cantus Arcticus, Concerto for Birds and Orchestra, Op 61
Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Jukka-Pekka Saraste (conductor)

03:31 AM
Gertrude van den Bergh (1793-1840)
Rondeau, Op 3
Frans van Ruth (piano)

03:38 AM
Ferenc Farkas (1905-2000)
5 Ancient Hungarian Dances for wind quintet
Galliard Ensemble

03:48 AM
Francis Poulenc (1899-1963)
Sonata for violin and piano
Fanny Clamagirand (violin), Nicolas Bringuier (piano)

03:55 AM
Maurice Ravel (1875-1937)
Pavane pour une infante defunte
Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Jorge Mester (conductor)

04:02 AM
Henry Purcell (1659-1695)
Rejoice in the Lord alway, Z.49 (Bell Anthem)
Alex Potter (counter tenor), Samuel Boden (tenor), Matthew Brook (bass), Collegium Vocale, Philippe Herreweghe (director)

04:11 AM
Antonín Dvořák (1841-1904)
Prague Waltzes, B.99
Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra, Štefan Róbl (conductor)

04:19 AM
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)
Piano Sonata in D major, K311
Mateusz Borowiak (piano)

04:31 AM
John Field (1782-1837)
Aria; Nocturne & Chanson
Barry Douglas (piano), Camerata Ireland

04:39 AM
Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck (1562-1621)
O Domine Jesu Christe
Netherlands Chamber Choir, Paul Van Nevel (conductor)

04:46 AM
George Gershwin (1898-1937), transc. Percy Grainger
Love Walked In
Dennis Hennig (piano)

04:50 AM
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
Concerto for violin and string orchestra no 1 in A minor, BWV.1041
Sigiswald Kuijken (violin), La Petite Bande, Sigiswald Kuijken (director)

05:05 AM
Hildegard von Bingen (1098-1179)
Alma Redemptoris Mater & Ave Maria, O auctrix vite
Sequentia, Elizabeth Gaver (medieval fiddle), Elisabetta de Mircovich (medieval fiddle)

05:16 AM
Ruth Gipps (1921-1999)
Jane Grey Fantasy, Op 15
Scott Dickinson (viola), BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Teresa Riveiro Bohm (conductor)

05:28 AM
Francesca Caccini (1587-1640)
Maria, dolce Maria - from Il primo libro delle musiche a una, e due voci
Suzie Le Blanc (soprano), Tragicomedia, Stephen Stubbs (director)

05:31 AM
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)
Trio in B flat major, Op 11
Thomas Norup Jensen (clarinet), Henrik Brendstrup (cello), Jørgen Larsen (piano)

05:52 AM
Leonard Bernstein (1918-1990)
Chichester psalms arranged for treble, chorus, organ, harp & percussion
Choeur de Radio France, Vladislav Chernuchenko (conductor)

06:12 AM
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)
Horn Concerto No.4 in E flat, K.495
James Sommerville (horn), CBC Vancouver Orchestra, Mario Bernardi (conductor)


THU 06:30 Breakfast (m002k423)
Start your day with classical music

Tom McKinney presents Radio 3’s Breakfast show live from Salford. With birdsong, Bach Before 7 and the best in classical music. You can contact the show by emailing 3breakfast@bbc.co.uk

To listen on most smart speakers, just say 'Ask BBC Sounds to play 3 Breakfast’


THU 09:30 Essential Classics (m002k425)
The ideal mix of classical music

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 BBC Sounds to play Essential Classics”


THU 13:00 Classical Live (m002k427)
Mozart's Sinfonia Concertante for viola and violin

An afternoon of compelling performances including highlights from summer chamber music concerts across Bavaria and there is a spotlight on orchestral works with solo viola. Introduced by Elizabeth Alker.

Throughout the week, Classical Live is featuring specially recorded concerts from various Bavarian summer music festivals. Today, we will hear Dvořák's String Quartet No. 12 in F from Ingolstadt, and an exceptional ensemble of international soloists perform Schumann's Piano Quartet in E flat from Chamber Music Festival Vielsaitig.

Plus, each day, an orchestral work with solo viola will be showcased. Today, two star soloist violinist Elena Urioste and violist Timothy Ridout will join forces with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra and conductor Jack Sheen to perform Mozart's expressive and virtuosic Sinfonia Concertante.

Antonín Dvořák
String Quartet No. 12 in F, Op. 96 ('American') (arr. David Walter)
Alinde Quintet:
Anna Talácková (flute)
Barbora Trnčíková (oboe)
David Šimeček (clarinet)
Kryštof Koska (horn)
Petr Sedlák (bassoon)

Alessandro Scarlatti
Perchè tacete, regolati concenti?
Göteborg Baroque
Magnus Kjellson (leader)

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Sinfonia Concertante in Eb for violin and viola, K. 364
Elena Urioste (violin)
Timothy Ridout (viola)
BBC Philharmonic Orchestra
Jack Sheen (conductor)

Ralph Vaughan Williams (arr. Paul Drayton)
The Lark Ascending
Elodie Chousmer-Howelles (violin)
BBC Singers
Sofi Jeannin (conductor)

Robert Schumann
Piano Quartet in E flat, Op. 47
Ning Feng (violin)
Wen Xiao Zheng (viola)
Julian Steckel (cello)
Frank Dupree (piano)

To listen to this programme (using most smart speakers) just say "Ask BBC Sounds to play Classical Live".


THU 16:00 Composer of the Week (m002k429)
Eleanor Alberga

The Forest at Night

Eleanor Alberga is a quietly rebellious composer. She draws inspiration from Jamaican folk songs, children's fairytales, ancient mythology - even chemistry. She was one of the first pianists to take modern dance seriously. And as a student, she arrived to performances on a motorcycle. This week, Alberga joins Kate Molleson and takes us on a journey from Kingston to London and beyond.

In today's programme, Alberga tells Kate Molleson how she came to compose the score for Roald Dahl's Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, featuring none other than Danny Devito and Joanna Lumley. The opportunity came in a letter - one Alberga almost literally threw away!

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs: Prelude - The Forest at Night
Taliesin Orchestra, conducted by Peter Ash

The Wild Blue Yonder
Eleanor Alberga, piano
Thomas Bowes, violin

String Quartet No. 3: III. Adagio, IV. Allegro
Ensemble Arcadiana

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs: Narration IV, Stemother’s Dance, Narration V, Stepmother’s Blood Dance, Narration VI, Alone in the Wild Forest
Taliesin Orchestra, conducted by Peter Ash
Danny DeVito, Joanna Lumley & Griff Rhys Jones, voice cast

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs: Narration VIII, Night Music, Narration IX, Escape Dance, Narration X, Celebration Dance
Taliesin Orchestra, conducted by Peter Ash
Danny DeVito, Joanna Lumley & Griff Rhys Jones, voice cast

Produced by Alice McKee for BBC Audio


THU 17:00 In Tune (m002k42c)
Live classical music for your drive

Live music and interviews from the world's finest classical musicians.


THU 19:00 Classical Mixtape (m001r243)
The eclectic classical mix

Take time out with a 30-minute soundscape of classical music, from serene Shostakovich to jokey Haydn via Beethoven's iconic Symphony No 5. Plus Delius by a river in Florida meets Chaminade's water nymph Ondine.

Produced by David Fay


THU 19:30 Radio 3 in Concert (m002k42h)
The BBC Singers with Aaron Azunda Akugbo

The BBC Singers and Principal Guest Conductor Owain Park join forces with acclaimed Nigerian-Scottish trumpeter Aaron Azunda Akugbo.

Citing Louis Armstrong as his biggest musical inspiration, Aaron Azunda Akugbo’s collaboration with the BBC Singers draws on his jazz inspirations, alongside works by the likes of Sir James MacMillan.

Live from Milton Court, London. Presented by Petroc Trelawny.

Deborah Pritchard: Benedicite
Eleanor Daley: Paradise
Shruthi Rajesekar: Sat on the shore
Alec Roth: Night Prayer
Ola Gjeiko: Serenity (O magnum mysterium)
Nico Muhly: Three Moon Songs
Cheryl Frances-Hoad: Beyond the night sky
Interval
Plainchant: In splendoribus sanctorum
Sir James Macmillan: In splendoribus sanctorum
Eriks Esenvalds: Only in sleep
Eric Whitacre: Her sacred spirit soars
Owain Park: Antiphon for the Angels
Encore: Geoffrey Burgon: Nunc dimittis

Aaron Azunda Akugbo - trumpet
Dominika Mak - piano
Owain Park - Principal Guest Conductor


THU 21:45 The Essay (m0029pt3)
The Meaning and Magic of Music

1. Mystery

Catherine Coldstream sets out to explore the nature of the powerful connection between music and the soul.

A book called The Meaning and Magic of Music and a musical maths teacher first introduced the nine-year-old Catherine to the irresistible world of the violin. A vital passion for music ensued offering salvation to a homesick child away at school.

Catherine Coldstream is best known for her memoir, Cloistered - an account of her 12 years as a Carmelite nun. But she is also an accomplished amateur musician.
After leaving her silent monastery at the turn of the millennium (fleeing at night with her viola strapped to her back) she studied Theology at Oxford, then Creative Nonfiction and Life Writing at UEA and Goldsmiths. Combining writing about the overlap between theology and the arts with the intense joy she finds in classical music-making, she has developed an approach that makes connections between the subjective experience of music and its theoretical and historical underpinnings. A fascination with the power of music and the spiritual continue to inform her writing. She is an occasional teacher, an associate editor of MONK arts magazine, and is currently working on a book about her painter father, former Slade professor, William Coldstream.

Written and Read by Catherine Coldstream
Commissioned and Produced by Jill Waters
The Waters Company for BBC Radio 4


THU 22:00 Night Tracks (m002k42k)
A meditative moonlight soundtrack

Sara Mohr-Pietsch presents an adventurous, immersive soundtrack for late-night listening, from classical to contemporary and everything in between.


THU 23:30 'Round Midnight (m002k42m)
One from Jacqui Dankworth

‘Round Midnight is presented by award-winning saxophonist Soweto Kinch. This weekday late-night show celebrates the thriving UK jazz scene and spotlights the best new music alongside incredible acts from past decades.

Concluding her week as Soweto’s 4/4 guest, Nikki Iles returns to share her fourth and final album choice. Tonight, she selects something by one of British jazz’s much-celebrated orchestras.

To listen on most smart speakers, just say: 'Ask BBC Sounds to play Round Midnight.'

FRIDAY 10 OCTOBER 2025

FRI 00:30 Through the Night (m002k42p)
Elisabeth Leonskaja and Mihály Berecz at Wigmore Hall, London

Legendary Georgian pianist Elisabeth Leonskaja performs Schubert's Four Impromptus D.899, and is joined by young Budapest-born pianist Mihály Berecz to play a selection of Brahms's Hungarian Dances. Jonathan Swain presents.

12:31 AM
Johannes Brahms (1833-1897)
Excerpts from 'Hungarian Dances, WoO 1', for piano four hands
Elisabeth Leonskaja (piano), Mihály Berecz (piano)

12:57 AM
Franz Schubert (1797-1828)
Four Impromptus, D.899
Elisabeth Leonskaja (piano)

01:27 AM
Johannes Brahms (1833-1897)
Hungarian Dance no 1 in G minor, for piano four hands
Elisabeth Leonskaja (piano), Mihály Berecz (piano)

01:31 AM
Franz Liszt (1811-1886)
Hungarian Rhapsody no 1 for orchestra in F minor
Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, Sergiu Commissiona (conductor)

01:44 AM
Ferenc Erkel (1810-1893)
Wine Song, from the opera 'Bánk bán'
Sándor Sólyom-Nagy (baritone), Hungarian Radio Orchestra, András Kórodi (conductor)

01:46 AM
Ferenc Erkel (1810-1893)
Overture to Névtelen hosök (Unknown Heroes) a comic opera
Hungarian Radio Orchestra, András Kórodi (conductor)

01:51 AM
Franz Schubert (1797-1828)
Piano Quintet in A major (D.667), "Trout"
Elisabeth Leonskaja (piano), Alban Berg Quartet: Günter Pichler (violin), Thomas Kakuska (viola), Valentin Erben (cello), Georg Hortnagel (double bass)

02:31 AM
Bartlomiej Pekiel (?-c.1670)
Missa Pulcherrima
Camerata Silesia, Anna Szostak (conductor)

03:01 AM
Tor Aulin (1866 - 1914)
Violin Concerto no 3 in C minor, Op 14
Stig Nilsson (violin), Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, Michel Plasson (conductor)

03:34 AM
Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893)
The Nutcracker suite, Op 71a (excerpts)
Kotaro Fukuma (piano)

03:44 AM
Nicola Matteis (c. 1650-after 1713), George Frideric Handel (1685-1759), arr. William Babell
Matteis: Aria malinconica; Handel/Babell: Lascia ch'io pianga
Ilia Korol (violin), Jermaine Sprosse (harpsichord)

03:54 AM
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)
Mentre ti lascio, o figlia - aria for bass and orchestra, K.513
Robert Holl (bass), Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra, Kenneth Montgomery (conductor)

04:02 AM
Franz Doppler (1821-1883)
Andante and Rondo for two flutes and piano, Op 25
Karolina Santl-Zupan (flute), Matej Zupan (flute), Dijana Tanovic (piano)

04:12 AM
Stanisław Moniuszko (1819-1872)
Flis 'The Raftsman' Overture
Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Jerzy Salwarowski (conductor)

04:21 AM
Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741)
The Four Seasons - Winter
Davide Monti (violin), Il Tempio Armonico

04:31 AM
Fryderyk Chopin (1810-1849)
Etude in E major, Op 10 no 3
Jane Coop (piano)

04:35 AM
Francisco Guerrero (1528-1599)
Prado verde y florido - sacred vilancico
Montserrat Figueras (soprano), Maite Arruabarrena (mezzo soprano), Lambert Climent (tenor), Francesc Garrigosa (tenor), Hesperion XX, Jordi Savall (director)

04:40 AM
Hermann Ambrosius (1897-1983)
Suite
Zagreb Guitar Trio

04:48 AM
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
Overture from Suite no 1 in C major, BWV.1066
Stavanger Symphony Orchestra, Philippe Herreweghe (conductor)

04:58 AM
Philip Glass (b.1937)
Music in similar motion for ensemble
Ricercata Ensemble, Ivan Siller (director)

05:11 AM
Richard Wagner (1813-1883), arr. Zóltan Kocsis
Concert Prelude to Tristan und Isolde
François-Frédéric Guy (piano)

05:22 AM
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)
Symphony no 1 in C major, Op 21
Netherlands Radio Chamber Philharmonic, Frans Brüggen (conductor)

05:52 AM
Edvard Grieg (1843-1907)
Violin Sonata no 1 in F major, Op 8
Vilde Frang Bjærke (violin), Jens Elvekjaer (piano)

06:13 AM
Zoltán Kodály (1882-1967)
4 Italian madrigals for female chorus
Jutland Chamber Choir, Mogens Dahl (director)

06:25 AM
Dora Pejačević (1885-1923)
Nocturne for orchestra
Croatian Radio-Television Symphony Orchestra, Pavle Dešpalj (conductor)


FRI 06:30 Breakfast (m002k45h)
Brighten your day with classical music

Tom McKinney presents Radio 3’s Breakfast show live from Salford. With birdsong, Bach Before 7 and the best in classical music. You can contact the show by emailing 3breakfast@bbc.co.uk

To listen on most smart speakers, just say 'Ask BBC Sounds to play 3 Breakfast’


FRI 09:30 Essential Classics (m002k45k)
Refresh your morning with a great selection of classical music

Hannah French 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 BBC Sounds to play Essential Classics”


FRI 13:00 Classical Live (m002k45m)
Herbert Howells' Elegy for Viola, String Quartet and String Orchestra

An afternoon of compelling performances including highlights from summer chamber music concerts across Bavaria and there is a spotlight on orchestral works with solo viola. Introduced by Elizabeth Alker.

Throughout the week, Classical Live is featuring specially recorded concerts from various Bavarian summer music festivals. Today, Trio Orleon perform Anton Arensky's First Piano Trio alongside music by Kreisler from the Oberstdorf Summer of Music. Plus, we will hear Hungarian inspired music by Zemlinsky and Farkas from Ingolstadt.

Also, each day, an orchestral work with solo viola is showcased. Today, violinist Abigel Kralik, and violist Mathis Rochat join forces with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales and conductor Howard Griffiths to perform two rarely heard works, Herbert Howells' Elegy for Viola, String Quartet and String Orchestra and Arthur Benjamin's Romantic Fantasy for Violin and Viola.

And the programme begins with a concert hall favourite. The BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra are joined by pianist Stephen Hough for Rachmaninov's Paganini Rhapsody.

Sergei Rachmaninov
Rhapsody on a theme of Paganini
Stephen Hough (piano)
BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra
Ryan Wgglesworth (conductor)

Fritz Kreisler
Syncopation
Trio Orelon

Herbert Howells
Elegy for Viola, String Quartet and String Orchestra, Op. 15
Abigel Kralik (violin)
Mathis Rochat (viola)
BBC National Orchestra of Wales
Howard Griffiths (conductor)

Piotr Ilych Tchaikovsky
Serenade for Strings in C, Op. 48
United Strings of Europe

Antonio Vivaldi
Agitata infidu flatu, from 'Juditha Triumphans, RV 644, oratorio'
Göteborg Baroque
Magnus Kjellson (leader)

Arthur Benjamin
Romantic Fantasy Concerto for Violin, Viola and Orchestra
Abigel Kralik (violin)
Mathis Rochat (viola)
BBC National Orchestra of Wales
Howard Griffiths (conductor)

Anton Stepanovich Arensky
Piano Trio No. 1 in D minor, Op. 32
Trio Orelon

Alexander von Zemlinsky
Humoreske (Rondo)
Alinde quintet:
Anna Talácková (flute)
Barbora Trnčíková (oboe)
David Šimeček (clarinet)
Kryštof Koska (horn)
Petr Sedlák (bassoon)

Ferenc Farkas
Ugros, from 'Early Hungarian Dances'
Alinde Quintet

To listen to this programme (using most smart speakers) just say "Ask BBC Sounds to play Classical Live".


FRI 16:00 Composer of the Week (m002k45p)
Eleanor Alberga

Arise Athena

Eleanor Alberga is a quietly rebellious composer. She draws inspiration from Jamaican folk songs, children's fairytales, ancient mythology - even chemistry. She was one of the first pianists to take modern dance seriously. And as a student, she arrived to performances on a motorcycle. This week, Alberga joins Kate Molleson and takes us on a journey from Kingston to London and beyond.

In today's programme, Alberga takes Kate Molleson on a tour through some of her latest and most eclectic influences...

Arise Athena
BBC Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, conducted by Marin Alsop

Cwicseolfor
Hanni Liang, piano

Shining Gate of Morpheus
Ensemble Arcadiana

Deep Blue Sea
The Hermes Experiment

Piano Concerto
Alim Beisembayev, piano
Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Domingo Hindoyan

Violin Concerto No. 1: II. Adagio 'Requiem pour une maison'
Thomas Bowes, violin
BBC National Orchestra of Wales, conducted by Joseph Swensen

Produced by Alice McKee for BBC Audio


FRI 17:00 In Tune (m002k45r)
Classical artists live in the studio

Live music and interviews from the world's finest classical musicians.


FRI 19:00 Classical Mixtape (m002k45t)
Power through with classical music

Take time out with a 30-minute soundscape of classical music.


FRI 19:30 Radio 3 in Concert (m002kgqc)
Classically Black with Laura Mvula and the CBSO

For its second year, Black Lives in Music’s ‘Classically Black’ festival travels to Symphony Hall Birmingham for a concert with locally born singer/composer Laura Mvula and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and a programme which sets out to re-image classical music through the powerful lens of culture, experience, and creativity.


FRI 21:45 The Essay (m0029pvm)
The Meaning and Magic of Music

2. Mysticism

Catherine Coldstream sets out to explore the nature of the powerful connection between music and the soul.

In her second essay asking what it is that connects the soul and music so powerfully, Catherine Coldstream recounts how in pursuit of transcendence she was carried away by the mysticism of both classical western music and the Roman Catholic church.

Catherine Coldstream is best known for her memoir, Cloistered - an account of her 12 years as a Carmelite nun. But she is also an accomplished amateur musician.
After leaving her silent monastery at the turn of the millennium (fleeing at night with her viola strapped to her back) she studied Theology at Oxford, then Creative Nonfiction and Life Writing at UEA and Goldsmiths. Combining writing about the overlap between theology and the arts with the intense joy she finds in classical music-making, she has developed an approach that makes connections between the subjective experience of music and its theoretical and historical underpinnings. A fascination with the power of music and the spiritual continue to inform her writing. She is an occasional teacher, an associate editor of MONK arts magazine, and is currently working on a book about her painter father, former Slade professor, William Coldstream.

Written and Read by Catherine Coldstream
Commissioned and Produced by Jill Waters
The Waters Company for BBC Radio 4


FRI 22:00 Late Junction (m002k45w)
At home with Kate Carr

“Probably the most significant field recordist of contemporary urban Britain…” ~ The Quietus

Jennifer Lucy Allan pays a visit to the London studio of field recordist, sound artist and founder of the Flaming Pines label, Kate Carr. As well as taking it in turns to share new music that is exciting them both, Kate demos the current favourites from her array of homemade instruments including a rubber-band noise box set-up and a new contraption that involves twenty speakers arranged inside pipes.

Produced by Cat Gough
A Reduced Listening production for BBC Radio 3


FRI 23:30 'Round Midnight (m002k45y)
Saxophonist Soweto Kinch picks jazz from all eras, with a focus on new British artists.