SATURDAY 24 JANUARY 2026
SAT 00:30 Through the Night (m002q1v6)
Ravel's Piano Concerto from Stockholm
The Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra performs alongside Lucas Debargue in Ravel's Piano Concerto in G. Opening the concert is Eleven Gates, a piece by Swedish composer Anders Hillborg premiered in 2006. Penny Gore presents.
12:31 AM
Anders Hillborg (b.1954)
Eleven Gates
Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Roberto González Monjas (conductor)
12:50 AM
Maurice Ravel (1875-1937)
Piano Concerto in G
Lucas Debargue (piano), Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Roberto González Monjas (conductor)
01:12 AM
Lucas Debargue (b.1990)
Toccata (encore)
Lucas Debargue (piano)
01:16 AM
Modest Mussorgsky (1839-1881)
Pictures at an Exhibition
Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra (soloist), Roberto González Monjas (conductor)
01:51 AM
Knut Håkanson (1887-1929), Erik Axel Karlfeldt (lyricist)
Stjarngossar (Starboys) - from 3 Karlfelt Partsongs, Op 39
Swedish Radio Choir, Eric Ericson (conductor)
01:53 AM
Åke Malmfors (1918-1951), Sigfrid Siwertz (lyricist)
Pilarna
Swedish Radio Choir, Eric Ericson (conductor)
01:55 AM
Maurice Ravel (1875-1937)
Histoires naturelles
Olle Persson (baritone), Bengt-Åke Lundin (piano)
02:12 AM
Joseph Haydn (1732-1809)
String Quartet in D major Op 64 No 5 'The Lark'
Yggdrasil String Quartet
02:31 AM
Grace Williams (1906-1977)
Symphony no 2
BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Martyn Brabbins (conductor)
03:12 AM
Georg Philipp Telemann (1681-1767)
Concerto for Flute, Violin and Cello, TWV.53:A2
Wroclaw Baroque Orchestra, Jaroslaw Thiel (conductor)
03:32 AM
Johann Rosenmüller (1619-1684)
Confitebor tibi - Psalm 110/111
Johanna Koslowsky (soprano), David Cordier (counter tenor), Gerd Türk (tenor), Stephan Schreckenberger (bass), Carsten Lohff (organ), Cantus Cölln, Konrad Junghänel (lute), Konrad Junghänel (director)
03:47 AM
Paule Maurice (1910-67)
Tableaux de Provence - 5 pieces for saxophone and orchestra
Julia Nolan (saxophone), CBC Vancouver Orchestra, Mario Bernardi (conductor)
04:02 AM
Guillaume de Machaut (c.1300-1377)
Ballade 32, 'Ploures, dames'
Oxford Camerata, Jeremy Summerly (conductor)
04:11 AM
Erik Satie (1866-1925)
En habit de cheval
Pianoduo Kolacny (piano duo), Steven Kolacny (piano), Stijn Kolacny (piano)
04:18 AM
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791), arr. Zóltan Kocsis
Concert rondo for horn and orchestra in E flat major, K.371
László Gál (horn), Hungarian National Philharmonic Orchestra, Zóltan Kocsis (conductor)
04:24 AM
Barbara Strozzi (1619-1677)
"Begl'occhi, bel seno" Costumo de grandi for soprano, 2 violins and continuo
Susanne Ryden (soprano), Musica Fiorita, Daniela Dolci (director)
04:31 AM
Chiel Meijering (b.1954)
La vengeance d'une femme
Janine Jansen (violin)
04:37 AM
Susan Spain-Dunk (1880-1962)
Two Scottish Pieces for orchestra, Op 54
BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Stephen Bell (conductor)
04:44 AM
Nadia Boulanger (1887-1979)
Three Pieces for Cello and Piano
Samuel Niederhauser (cello), Denis Linnik (piano)
04:52 AM
Domenico Cimarosa (1749-1801), arr. Arthur Benjamin
Trumpet Concerto in C minor
Geoffrey Payne (trumpet), Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Michael Halász (conductor)
05:03 AM
Maurice Ravel (1875-1937)
String Quartet in F major
New Helsinki Quartet
05:33 AM
Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847)
Symphony no 4 in A major, Op 90 'Italian'
Hungarian Radio Orchestra, Tamás Vásáry (conductor)
06:03 AM
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
Concerto for 2 violins and string orchestra in D minor, BWV.1043
Espen Lilleslatten (violin), Renata Arado (violin), Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, Ivor Bolton (conductor)
06:19 AM
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)
Violin Sonata in C major, K.303
Tai Murray (violin), Shai Wosner (piano)
SAT 06:30 Breakfast (m002q3dw)
Start your day with classical music
Hannah French presents Radio 3’s Breakfast show. 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 (m002q3dy)
Conductor Vladimir Jurowski on Mahler, Shostakovich and Russia
Tom meets Vladimir Jurowski, in town to conduct the London Philharmonic Orchestra, with which he has a long association. They discuss Vladimir’s mission to perform the complete orchestral works of Mahler, his relationship with his country of birth, Russia, and his appreciation of the music of Shostakovich, which began before he was even born.
Ahead of the concert Daughters of Persia in London this weekend, celebrating the words and music of Persian and Iranian women, Tom hears from the organisers about the story behind the project. He also hears from two of the Iranian women involved: comedian Shaparak ‘Shappi’ Khorsandi and composer Aftab Darvishi.
Tom also celebrates Burns weekend, and, as ever, there’s the best classical music in new and classic recordings, with one or two surprise guests introducing their own releases.
SAT 12:00 Earlier... with Jools Holland (m002q3f0)
Jools with music for Saturday lunchtime
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 Duke Ellington, Jean-Marie Leclair and John Foulds, with performances by Lead Belly and Holland Baroque. His guest is the singer Sarah Jane Morris who introduces music she loves by Ennio Morricone, Max Bruch and Kurt Weill.
To listen on most smart speakers just say "Ask BBC Sounds to play Earlier with Jools Holland".
SAT 13:00 Music Matters (m002q3f2)
The President and the Polka
3. Cities of Music
Justin Webb (presenter of Today and Americast, and former BBC North America Editor) explores the surprising relationship between classical music and American politics. From the days of the Founding Fathers, music was used to assert an American identity, distinct from a European musical tradition. And evolving political and social ideals, dreams and struggles have been mirrored in the music being created - from Manifest Destiny to #MeToo, from Civil War to Civil Rights.
In today's episode: we explore how the rise of the city orchestra and opera house fed American music-making and the development of an American sound.
Producer Emma Harding, BBC Audio Wales
Leonard Bernstein
On The Town: Three Dances
New York Philharmonic, conductor Leonard Bernstein
John Adams
Short Ride in a Fast Machine
Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, conductor Marin Alsop
Ludwig van Beethoven
Symphony No.3 Eroica, Marcia Funebre (extract)
New York Philharmonic, conductor Leonard Bernstein
Gaetano Donizetti
Ah! mes amis, quel jour de fête! from La Fille du Regiment
Luciano Pavarotti, Orchestra and Chorus of the Royal Opera House, conductor Richard Bonynge
Giuseppe Verdi
Preludio from Macbeth
La Scala Philharmonic Orchestra, conductor Riccardo Chailly
William Henry Fry
Santa Claus Symphony (excerpt)
Royal Scottish National Orchestra, conductor Tony Rowe
George Frederick Bristow
Symphony No. 2 ‘Jullien’ ii Allegretto (excerpt)
Royal Northern Sinfonia, conductor Rebecca Miller
Benny Goodman
Don’t Be That Way, Live at Carnegie Hall
Benny Goodman Big Band
Amy Beach
Gaelic Symphony Opus 32, Second movement
Nashville Symphony Orchestra, conductor Kenneth Schermerhorn
Roy Harris
Symphony No. 3 (excerpt)
Boston Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Serge Koussevitzky
Antonín Dvořák
Going Home
Paul Robeson
SAT 14:00 Record Review (m002q3f4)
Bach's Cantata Herz und Mund und Tat und Leben BWV147 in Building a Library with Jeremy Summerly and Andrew McGregor
Andrew McGregor presents some of the week's best new classical releases.
2.10pm
Pianist, Composer & Music Director Yshani Perinpanayagam joins Andrew to discuss four new releases, out this week.
3pm
Building a Library. Choral conductor & musicologist Jeremy Summerly chooses his favourite recording of Bach's Cantata Herz und Mund und Tat und Leben BWV 147. Composed originally in 1716 in Weimar, Cantata 147 was revised by Bach during his Leipzig years, and premiered in an expanded version in 1723 for the Feast of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary. This is the feast which commemorates the visitation of Mary to her cousin Elizabeth, who would become the mother of John the Baptist.
Recommended recording:
Gaechinger Cantorey
Hans-Christoph Rademann (conductor)
Carus CAR83522
3.45pm
Record of the Week. Andrew picks the new recording that has most impressed him this week.
SAT 16:00 Sound of Cinema (m002q3f6)
With Segun Akinola's Harmonising Hollywood, and English author Michael Rosen with his Pick of the Flicks
Join Edith Bowman for your weekly celebration of exceptional film scores and iconic soundtracks. This week, composer Segun Akinola dives into Ludwig Göransson’s music and his bold venture into the Star Wars universe with his score to The Mandalorian. Plus, author Michael Rosen shares his Pick of the Flicks, spotlighting the distinctive sound of Austrian zither virtuoso Anton Karas.
We’ll also explore the latest soundtrack releases and revisit some timeless classics from the world of cinema
SAT 17:00 This Classical Life (m002b7cr)
Jess Gillam with... Ivana Gavrić
Jess Gillam meets pianist Ivana Gavrić to share their favourite tracks from Janacek, Caroline Shaw, Jimi Hendrix and Artie Shaw. Jess hears about Ivana's childhood in Sarajevo, her role as a hand double in films and the two share enjoyable experiences of working with living composers.
Produced by Zerlina Vulliamy.
SAT 18:00 Opera on 3 (m002q3f8)
Gershwin's Porgy & Bess
Live from the New York Met, Gershwin's Porgy and Bess.
Depicting the inhabitants of Catfish Row, South Carolina, Bess is the girlfriend of the violent bully Crown. When she meets the disabled beggar Porgy she discovers true affection and kindness, but Crown isn't going to let her go without a fight. Bass-baritone Alfred Walker and soprano Brittany Renee headline one of the defining works of American music theatre. With its fusion of opera, jazz, and Broadway, the Gershwins’ enduring masterpiece features a number of tunes whose popularity has transcended the opera house, including the classics 'Summertime' and 'It Ain’t Necessarily So'.
Presented from the Met by Debra Lew Harder and Ira Siff.
Gershwin: Porgy and Bess
Porgy ..... Alfred Walker (bass-baritone)
Bess ..... Brittany Renee (soprano)
Crown ..... Ryan Speedo Green (bass-baritone)
Sportin' Life ..... Frederick Ballentine (tenor)
Robbins/crab man ..... Chauncey Packer
Serena ..... Leah Hawkins (soprano)
Jake ..... Benjamin Taylor (baritone)
Clara ..... Vuvu Mpofu (soprano)
Maria ..... Denyce Graves (mezzo-soprano)
Mingo ..... Errin Duane Brooks (tenor)
Peter ..... Norman Shankle (tenor)
Lily ..... Adrienne Danrich (soprano)
Frazier ..... Kevin Short (bass-baritone)
Strawberry woman ..... Brittany Olivia Logan (soprano)
Jim ..... Norman Garrett (baritone)
Undertaker ..... Darren Drone (baritone)
Metropolitan Opera Chorus and Orchestra
Kwamé Ryan (conductor)
SAT 21:45 Music Planet (m002q3fb)
Burns, banjos and big bands
Kathryn Tickell selects folk and roots music from around the globe, including psychedelic Amazonian cumbia from Ranil y Su Conjunto Tropical, and big-band Ethio-jazz from Armenian-born composer Nerses Nalbandian.
And the night before Burns Night, we celebrate Scottish folk traditions with Sheena Wellington’s take on a Robert Burns classic, and acclaimed folk singer and multi-instrumentalist Julie Fowlis joins Kathryn to share her two ‘Return Journey’ tracks: one for the road and one that takes her home.
Produced by Gabriel Francis
A Reduced Listening production for BBC Radio 3
To listen on most smart speakers, just say: 'Ask BBC Sounds to play Music Planet.'
SAT 22:30 New Music Show (m002q3fd)
Silvia Tarozzi's Listen List
Kate Molleson speaks to Italian composer Silvia Tarozzi about her Listen List, her essential music recommendations. Plus more from Latvia's annual experimental music festival Skaņu mežs, and the latest in new releases.
SUNDAY 25 JANUARY 2026
SUN 00:30 Through the Night (m002q3fg)
Mahler's Tenth Symphony from the Lucerne Festival Orchestra
Mahler's hauntingly beautiful Rückert Lieder with celebrated Latvian mezzo-soprano Elīna Garanča feature in this concert from Switzerland, alongside Mahler's Tenth Symphony conducted by Riccardo Chailly. Boulez's Mémoriale (...explosante-fixe...Originel) completes the programme. Penny Gore presents.
12:31 AM
Pierre Boulez (1925-2016)
Mémoriale (… explosante-fixe … Originel)
Lucerne Festival Orchestra, Riccardo Chailly (conductor)
12:37 AM
Gustav Mahler (1860-1911)
Rückert-Lieder
Elīna Garanča (mezzo soprano), Lucerne Festival Orchestra, Riccardo Chailly (conductor)
12:58 AM
Gustav Mahler (1860-1911)
Symphony no 10 (compl. Deryck Cooke)
Lucerne Festival Orchestra, Riccardo Chailly (conductor)
02:18 AM
Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (c.1525-1594)
Sicut cervus - Like as the hart
Chorus of Swiss Radio, Lugano, Lorenzo Ghielmi (organ), Alberto Rasi (viola da gamba), Diego Fasolis (conductor)
02:23 AM
Pietro Nardini (1722-1793)
Sinfonia in D
Ad Astra
02:31 AM
Antonín Dvořák (1841-1904)
Trio for piano and strings no 3 in F minor, Op 65
Grieg Trio
03:11 AM
Johannes Brahms (1833-1897)
Variations on a theme of Haydn, Op 56a 'St Antoni Chorale' (vers. for orchestra)
RTV Slovenia Symphony Orchestra, Samo Hubad (conductor)
03:29 AM
George Frideric Handel (1685-1759)
Flammende Rose, Zierde der Erden (HWV.210), arr oboe, violin and organ
Louise Pellerin (oboe), Hélène Plouffe (violin), Dom André Laberge (organ)
03:35 AM
Franz Lehár (1870-1948), Victor Léon (librettist)
Vilja Song, Hanna's aria from 'The Merry Widow'
Magdalena Lucjan (soprano), WDR Symphony Orchestra, Cologne, Manfred Honeck (conductor)
03:41 AM
Bernardo Storace (1637-1707)
Chaconne for harpsichord in C major
Mahan Esfahani (harpsichord)
03:47 AM
Lodewijk Mortelmans (1868-1952)
Lyrisch gedicht voor klein orkest
Vlaams Radio Orkest [Flemish Radio Orchestra], Bjarte Engeset (conductor)
03:59 AM
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
Singet dem Herrn ein neues Lied, BWV.225
Swiss Youth Choir, Sebastian Wienand (organ), Nicolas Fink (conductor)
04:11 AM
Clara Schumann (1819-1896)
Scherzo for piano in D minor, Op 10 no 1
Angela Cheng (piano)
04:17 AM
Joseph Haydn (1732-1809)
2 Marches for wind band
Bratislavská komorná harmónia, Justus Pavlík (conductor)
04:23 AM
Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741)
Concerto for violin and orchestra in D major, RV.234 "L'Inquietudine"
Giuliano Carmignola (violin), Sonatori de la Gioiosa Marca
04:31 AM
John Field (1782-1837)
Andante inédit in E flat major for piano
Marc-André Hamelin (piano)
04:38 AM
Max Bruch (1838-1920)
Kol Nidrei, Op 47
Shauna Rolston (cello), Edmonton Symphony Orchestra, Uri Mayer (conductor)
04:50 AM
Ester Mägi (1922-2021)
Ballad 'Tuule Tuba' (House of Wind)
Tallinna Tehnikaülikooli Akadeemiline Meeskoor [Academic Male Choir of Tallinn T, Estonian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Arvo Volmer (conductor)
04:58 AM
Georg Philipp Telemann (1681-1767)
Trio No 2 from Essercizii Musici, for Viola da gamba, Harpsichord obligato & bc
Camerata Köln, Rainer Zipperling (viola da gamba), Ghislaine Wauters (viola da gamba), Harald Hoeren (harpsichord)
05:09 AM
Benjamin Britten (1913-1976)
Early one morning for voice and piano
Elizabeth Watts (soprano), Paul Turner (piano)
05:12 AM
Benjamin Britten (1913-1976)
The Last rose of summer (Groves of Blarney) from Folksong arrangements
Elizabeth Watts (soprano), Paul Turner (piano)
05:17 AM
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)
Violin Concerto in D major, Op 61
Nikolaj Znaider (violin), Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, Jukka-Pekka Saraste (conductor)
06:01 AM
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
French Suite no 5 in G major, BWV.816
Evgeny Rivkin (piano)
06:17 AM
Richard Strauss (1864-1949)
Prelude (Introduction) from Capriccio - opera in 1 act, Op 85
Henschel Quartett, Soo-Jin Hong (violin), Soo-Kyung Hong (cello)
SUN 06:30 Breakfast (m002q3zf)
Brighten your day with 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 (m002q3zh)
Three hours of classical sparkle
Sarah Walker with three hours of classical music to reflect, restore and refresh.
Today, Sarah chooses music from Anna Clyne inspired by an image of the Caribbean Sea, Angela Hewitt plays Chopin with typical panache, and there's a flowing Romance by Dvorak.
We’ll also be meandering through a nostalgic English landscape with Delius’s Brigg Fair, and we’re treated to the mighty first movement of Brahms's First Piano Concerto in a critically acclaimed recording by Simon Trpceski.
Plus, this week's tranquil Choral Reflection at
9.45 is from William Byrd's Retire My Soul by Renaissance specialists Stile Antico.
A Tandem Production for BBC Radio 3
SUN 12:00 Private Passions (m002q3zk)
Paul Chahidi
Paul Chahidi is an actor whose versatility shines through in prize-winning performances from Shakespeare to satire. He delighted West End and Broadway audiences as Maria in Twelfth Night and won acclaim from filmgoers as the hapless Nikolai Bulganin in The Death of Stalin. On TV, he’s played a well-meaning vicar in the BAFTA-winning This Country, an archangel in Good Omens, and he’s currently a spook in the BBC thriller The Night Manager.
Such shape-shifting came early: Paul was born Ghiv Khatib-Chahidi in Iran before moving as a child to the Oxford countryside. He studied Arabic and Persian at university with an eye to becoming a foreign correspondent, before the lure of Shakespeare and Sondheim won him over.
His choices include music from Iran, as well as Vaughan Williams, Chopin, Beethoven and Palestrina.
Presenter Michael Berkeley
Producer Katy Hickman
SUN 13:30 Music Map (m002q3zm)
Britten's Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra
Sara Mohr-Pietsch charts a course to The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra by Britten, stopping on the way with other composers inspired by works of the past, as well as those shining a spotlight on the different members of the orchestra. Sara’s selection includes music by Imogen Holst, Thomas Tallis, Caroline Shaw and Oliver Knussen.
SUN 15:00 Choral Evensong (m002pw2z)
St Paul's Cathedral
Last Wednesday's service from St Paul’s Cathedral.
Introit: A Blessing (Judith Bingham)
Responses: Radcliffe
Psalm 98 (Randall)
First Lesson: 1 Kings 19 vv9b-18
Canticles: Magnificat in B flat (Walmisley); Nunc dimittis in B flat (Wood)
Second Lesson: Mark 9 vv2-13
Anthem: Blest pair of Sirens (Parry)
Hymn: Hail to the Lord’s anointed (Crüger)
Voluntary: Fantasia and Fugue in G major (Parry)
Andrew Carwood (Director of Music)
James Orford (Organist)
To listen on most smart speakers just say 'ask BBC Sounds to play Choral Evensong'.
SUN 16:00 Jazz Record Requests (m002q3zp)
Off the Wall/Saxophone Summit
Alyn Shipton has saxophones to the fore with Bobby Wellins, Harry Allen and Serge Chaloff. Plus we hear from jazz vocalists Anna Pancaldi (singing unaccompanied), Peg LaCentra in fine voice with Artie Shaw and his band, and Cyrille Aimee takes on the Michael Jackson classic Off the Wall.
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 (m002q3zr)
Brandenburgs old and new
Hannah French talks to oboist and arranger Antoine Torunczyk, Co founder of Concerto Copenhagen Lars Henriksson, and flautist Katy Bircher about a new set of Brandenburg Concertos. How do you go about honouring the original set, harnessing Bach’s own creative licence, and conjuring more dynamic chamber music just as Bach may well have done for the players in his Collegium Musicum? Antoine, Lars, and Katy reveal the inspiration and inner workings of their project recently recorded with Concerto Copenhagen.
SUN 18:00 Words and Music (m002q3zt)
The Victorian World
Marking the 125th anniversary of the death of Queen Victoria, a celebration of her reign with readings by Roger Allam and Janie Dee.
Victoria ruled over a Britain that was building an empire abroad and a world-dominating industrial base at home. The products of these were displayed in the spectacular Crystal Palace at the Great Exhibition in 1851 organised largely by her Consort, Prince Albert. In her journal The Queen records her pride on visiting it and we hear Felix Mendelssohn’s ‘String Symphony No 10’ which was played there.
Mendelssohn was a great friend of the royal couple and Albert himself was something of an amateur composer. We hear a couple of short pieces he composed including one played on the newly invented saxhorn.
The Crystal Palace was moved to South London after the Exhibition and became the venue for the renowned Saturday Concerts. Julius Benedict whose ‘Piano Concerto No 2’ starts the programme was a regular conductor there.
The intrepid travel writer Mary Kingsley gives us her thoughts from Nigeria on the kind of men needed to build the empire and the actress Fanny Kemble describes her horror at slavery on a Georgian cotton plantation, the source of one of the raw materials which fed the industrial revolution.
Along with great riches in Victorian society there was dire poverty and in ‘Oliver Twist’, Charles Dickens’s famous description of a meal in the workhouse contrasts with Mrs Isabella Beeton’s instructions on how to serve dinner in a well-to-do home in her ‘Book of Household Management’.
World politics in the nineteenth century did not come without armed conflict and Alfred, Lord Tennyson’s poem ‘The Charge of the Light Brigade’ celebrates the patriotic sacrifice made by young soldiers in the Crimea while Gilbert and Sullivan’s ‘I Am The Very Model Of A Modern Major General’ from ‘The Pirates of Penzance’ satirises army leadership.
Their operettas attracted audiences from across the social classes in the 1870s and ‘80s and popular song of the time was often drawn directly from opera for instance Michael Balfe’s setting of Tennyson’s ‘Come into the Garden Maud’.
The Victorians were greatly taken with matters of the heart, both the familial, which Augusta Webster’s poem ‘Mother and Daughter’ touchingly depicts, and the romantic as expressed in Emily Brontë’s ‘Wuthering Heights’ or the extract from Victoria’s diary describing her wedding night with her beloved Albert.
Producer: Harry Parker
SUN 19:15 Between the Ears (m002q3zw)
On Rama's Bridge
At the south eastern tip of India, just beyond the ruins of Dhanushkodi - a city destroyed by a hurricane and slowly being reclaimed by the shifting sands - lies the border between Sri Lanka and India. Not a sea border, but a semi-mythical land border: you won't see Arichal Murai, a limestone shoal whose location shifts with each immersion under the shifting tides, conclusively on any map.
Its name means 'the tipping point'. And Arichal Murai is the last point of India, the first of Sri Lanka… or indeed, vice-versa. A place sitting just a few kilometres between each that exists partly in theory: a psychological and physical borderland between two nations, faiths and peoples of uneasy brotherhood: linked in myth by Buddha and Rama, whose history is intertwined yet whose politics, societies and geopolitical trajectories are stubbornly divided.
Against the backdrop of the waves, wind and historical destruction on this borderland, join Nandini Das in a sonic exploration of a Sri Lanka that is both 'just there' and just beyond reach - geographically and memorially. Nandini reflets upon memory, collective and individual, about identity, about the fragile, contentious, impermanent yet ever-present foundations on which we build stories of nations and peoples.
A mosaic of memories gives this story its shape:
There is the ancient, classical Indian epic of the Ramayana and its story of the bridge built by its hero, Rama, between the two nations in order to reach Lanka and rescue his wife Sita from Ravana.
There's Buddhism and its peripatetic history - a religion and culture whose lived and practised presence is largely erased in India but looms large in the memorial backdrop in Sri Lanka as it does elsewhere across the world.
There is the story of Queen Padmavati, the Rajasthani queen mythologised in India as the epitome of Rajasthani women's century-old legacy of resistance to invaders - except that this Rajasthani queen, we are reminded, was first a displaced Sri Lankan princess, brought across the waters to the desert land she learnt to call her own.
And in today's world, there is the memory of spaces of an entire Sri Lankan diaspora, cut off by decades of civil war: memories of homesteads, food, culture: a generational thread that connects British Indians, Pakistanis and Bangladeshis to their heritage and geography - the reconstruction and communing with a 'motherland' - for Sri Lankans, cut off for decades. And now slowly, exactly 15 years after the end of the war, flowing back into bloodline and memory.
Together with Indian writer Pradeep Damodaran, Nandini explores how myth, history and memory work to shape the relationship between two near-neighbouring nations; how migration shapes the contours of generational memory of a remembered land; and how real lives - here and now, in the UK, in India and in Sri Lanka, are caught up in the process.
An Overcoat Media production for BBC Radio 3
written and presented by Nandini Das, with contributions from Pradeep Damodaran
Producers: Steven Rajam and Chhavi Sachdev
Sound: Mike Woolley
SUN 19:45 Sunday Feature (m002q3zy)
The Eglantine Table at Hardwick Hall
The Eglantine Table is a beautifully inlaid table depicting the aftermath of an evening of music and revelry. All kinds of musical instruments are strewn next to board games, playing cards and floral arrangements, rendered in delicate wooden mosaic. But most significantly, the table depicts a scroll of music containing the notation for a piece by the Elizabethan composer Thomas Tallis, 'O Lord, In Thee Is All My Trust'. It's so detailed that the table is one of the major sources for the text of the piece as we have it today.
The table is housed at Hardwick Hall in Derbyshire, seat of Bess of Hardwick, one of the most powerful women in Elizabethan England. New Generation Thinker Ellie Chan visits Hardwick with researcher Dr Katie Bank and National Trust curator Liz Waring to look at the Eglantine Table and piece together the Elizabethan music culture it depicts.
'O Lord In Thee Is All My Trust' is performed by Cantus Thuringia.
Producer: Luke Mulhall
New Generation Thinkers is a scheme run by the BBC and the Arts and Humanities Research Council to share academic research on radio.
SUN 20:00 Record Review (m002q75j)
Bach Cantata No 147
The Building a Library recommended recording from yesterday's Record Review.
SUN 21:00 20th Century Radicals (m002q400)
Halim El-Dabh: A life of vibration
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 enters the world of the pioneering Egyptian composer Halim El-Dabh, leading to his piece Leiyla and the Poet [1959]. Along the way, we’ll delve into the ethnomusicology of fellow 20th-century composers, join the New York scene of the 1950s just off Broadway with Cage, Cowell and Martha Graham, and discover the American composer with whom El-Dabh shared a deep affinity.
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 (m002n9t0)
Meditative music for late night solace
Hannah Peel presents an adventurous, immersive soundtrack for late-night listening, from classical to contemporary and everything in between.
SUN 23:30 Unclassified (m002j4pq)
Spectral Fields
Join Elizabeth Alker with a selection of fresh music from genre-defying artists as we journey through landscapes of ambient and experimental sounds. In this week’s show, we’ll hear captivating new music from one of Ireland’s most gifted composers, Linda Buckley; a glorious celebration of having a crush on someone from the all-female south London vocal group Woom; and Anna Högberg Attack’s new double-sextet ensemble play a moving mediation on grief from from their forthcoming album, Ensamseglaren.
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 26 JANUARY 2026
MON 00:30 Through the Night (m002qf52)
The Swedish Radio Choir
The Swedish Radio Choir sings a carefully selected programme of sacred and secular music, spanning from Palestrina to Ligeti. Penny Gore presents.
12:31 AM
Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (c.1525-1594)
Excerpt from 'Missa Papae Marcelli'
Swedish Radio Choir, Kaspars Putniņš (conductor)
12:35 AM
August Söderman (1832-1876)
Agnus Dei
Swedish Radio Choir, Kaspars Putniņš (conductor)
12:37 AM
Alice Tegnér (1864-1943)
Ave Maria
Swedish Radio Choir, Kaspars Putniņš (conductor)
12:41 AM
Krzysztof Penderecki (1933-2020)
Agnus Dei
Swedish Radio Choir, Kaspars Putniņš (conductor)
12:49 AM
Alma Mahler (1879-1964), arr. Clytus Gottwald
Two songs from 'Drei frühe Lieder'
Swedish Radio Choir, Kaspars Putniņš (conductor)
12:55 AM
Frank Martin (1890-1974)
Sanctus, from 'Mass for Double Choir'
Swedish Radio Choir, Kaspars Putniņš (conductor)
01:00 AM
Arne Mellnäs (1933-2002)
Laude: Il cantico di frate sole
Swedish Radio Choir, Kaspars Putniņš (conductor)
01:09 AM
György Ligeti (1923-2006), Friedrich Hölderlin (lyricist)
Drei Phantasien
Swedish Radio Choir, Kaspars Putniņš (conductor)
01:21 AM
Hans Gefors (b.1952), D. H. Lawrence (lyricist)
Canto 1, from 'Whales weep not!'
Swedish Radio Choir, Kaspars Putniņš (conductor)
01:29 AM
Francis Poulenc (1899-1963),Paul Éluard (1895-1952)
Liberté, from 'Figure humaine'
Swedish Radio Choir, Kaspars Putniņš (conductor)
01:34 AM
Folke Rabe (1935-2017)
Rondes (encore)
Swedish Radio Choir, Kaspars Putniņš (conductor)
01:39 AM
Girolamo Frescobaldi (1583-1643)
Canzon quinta à 4, Canto, Alto, Tenor Bass for cornet
Musica Fiata Köln, Roland Wilson (director)
01:43 AM
Jean Sibelius (1865-1957)
Symphony no 2 in D major, Op 43
Norwegian Radio Orchestra, Ole Kristian Ruud (conductor)
02:31 AM
Johann Christian Bach (1735-1782)
Quintet in D major, Op.11, No.6 for flute, 2 violins, cello
Musica Petropolitana
02:48 AM
Manuel de Falla (1876-1946)
Nights in the Gardens of Spain
Elena Bashkirova (piano), Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra, Katowice, Lawrence Foster (conductor)
03:11 AM
Grace Williams (1906-1977)
Sea Sketches
Manitoba Chamber Orchestra, Roy Goodman (conductor)
03:30 AM
Thomas Tallis (1505-1585)
Spem in Alium, for 40 voices
BBC Singers, Stephen Cleobury (conductor)
03:38 AM
Genevieve Calame (1946-1993)
Sur la margelle du monde
Bienne Symphony Orchestra, Franco Trinca (conductor)
03:49 AM
Gustav Holst (1874-1934), arr. Claude Rippas
St Paul's Suite, Op 29 no 2
Hexagon Ensemble
04:01 AM
Robert Schumann (1810-1856)
3 Fantasy Pieces, Op 73
Alec Frank-Gemmill (horn), Simon Smith (piano)
04:13 AM
Richard Wagner (1813-1883)
Prelude (Act 1 'Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg')
BBC Symphony Orchestra, Jiří Bělohlávek (conductor)
04:24 AM
Barbara Strozzi (1619-1677)
'L'Eraclito amoroso' for Soprano and continuo
Musica Fiorita, Susanne Ryden (soprano), Rebeka Rusó (viola da gamba), Rafael Bonavita (theorbo), Daniela Dolci (harpsichord), Daniela Dolci (director)
04:31 AM
Elfrida Andrée (1841-1929)
Concert Overture in D major
BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Chloé van Soeterstèd (conductor)
04:43 AM
Dobrinka Tabakova (b.1980)
Pirin for viola
Maxim Rysanov (viola)
04:51 AM
Henry Purcell (1659-1695)
Let mine eyes run down with tears, Z.24
Grace Davidson (soprano), Aleksandra Lewandowska (soprano), Damien Guillon (counter tenor), Samuel Boden (tenor), Matthew Brook (bass), Collegium Vocale, Philippe Herreweghe (director)
05:00 AM
Antonín Dvořák (1841-1904)
Slavonic Dance no 10 in E minor, Op 72 no 2
Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, Juanjo Mena (conductor)
05:06 AM
Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741)
Bassoon Concerto in E minor RV 484
Aleksander Radosavljevič (bassoon), RTV Slovenia Symphony Orchestra, Günter Pichler (conductor)
05:18 AM
Nikita Koshkin (b.1956)
The Fall of Birds
Goran Listes (guitar)
05:27 AM
Benjamin Britten (1913-1976)
Variations on a theme by Frank Bridge, Op 10
Royal Academy Soloists, Clio Gould (director)
05:53 AM
Franz Schubert (1797-1828)
Piano Sonata no 15 in C major, D.840
Alfred Brendel (piano)
06:14 AM
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)
Horn concerto No 3 in E flat major, K.447
James Sommerville (horn), CBC Vancouver Orchestra, Mario Bernardi (conductor)
MON 06:30 Breakfast (m002q4lk)
The best classical music wake-up call
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 (m002q4lp)
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 (m002q4lv)
Live from London's Wigmore Hall
Elizabeth Alker brings you an afternoon of exclusive music-making including a live concert from London's Wigmore Hall with cellist Alisa Weilerstein and pianist Pavel Kolesnikov. In their programme, Prokofiev’s Cello Sonata which was composed in 1949, the year after he was denounced by the Soviet authorities for deviating from the state’s narrow artistic ideology. Plus they will play Brahms' dark and introspective Cello Sonata No. 1 in E minor Op. 38. Inspired by Bach, it balances lyric warmth with rigorous counterpoint.
Elsewhere in the programme, Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 1 'Winter Daydreams' is performed by the BBC Symphony Orchestra and conductor Martin Brabbins as part of a week long exploration of Tchaikovsky symphonies. We will also hear past highlights of chamber music recorded for Classical Live from Wigmore Hall. Today, the ORA Singers sing Jaakko Mantyjarvi, and Veronique Gens performs music by Reynaldo Hahn.
Live from Wigmore Hall, introduced by Petroc Trelawny
Johannes Brahms
Cello Sonata No. 1 in E minor Op. 38
Sergey Prokofiev
Cello Sonata in C Op. 119
Alisa Weilerstein (cello)
Pavel Kolesnikov (piano)
***
With Elizabeth Alker:
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Symphony No. 1 'Winter Daydreams'
BBC Symphony Orchestra
Martin Brabbins (conductor)
Jaakko Mantyjarvi
Four Shakespeare Songs
- Come Away, Come Away Death
- Lullaby
- Double, double toil and trouble
- Full Fathom Five
ORA Singers
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Violin Concerto No. 3 in G, K. 216
Daniel Lozakovich (violin)
Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra
Kazuki Yamada (conductor)
Reynaldo Hahn
Le rossignol des lilas
Séraphine; Paysage
Les cygnes
Aimons-nous!
Veronique Gens (soprano)
Susan Manoff (piano)
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 (m002q4lz)
Franz Xaver Wolfgang Mozart (1791-1844)
His Father’s Shadow
Donald Macleod takes a tour the early life of Franz Xaver Mozart, including the complicated relationship with his mother, Constanze. With guest Professor Cliff Eisen, Macleod explores Mozart at the very young age of four, being sent to Prague to study, and also delves into the murky question of the composer’s parentage.
Piano Concerto No 1 in C, Op 14 (excerpt)
Howard Shelley, piano
Sinfonieorchester St Gallen
Das Finden, Op 27 No 2 (Drei Deutsche Lieder)
Barbara Bonney, soprano
Malcolm Martineau, piano
Variations on a Minuet from W. A. Mozart’s Don Giovanni, Op 2
Robert Markham, piano
Piano Quartet in G minor Op 1
Hansjacob Staemmler, piano
Muriel Cantoreggi, violin
Johannes Erkes, viola
Juris Teichmanis, cello
Variation 28 for Anton Diabelli’s Waltz
Rudolf Buchbinder, piano
Piano Concerto No 1 in C, Op 14 (Allegro maestoso)
Howard Shelley, piano
Sinfonieorchester St Gallen
Produced by Luke Whitlock
MON 17:00 In Tune (m002q4m5)
In session with the Piatti Quartet
Petroc Trelawny introduces live music from the Piatti Quartet ahead of their concert at Kings Place, London. Plus there’s live music from a special guest on the day of the Royal Philharmonic Society Award’s shortlist announcement for 2026.
MON 19:00 Classical Mixtape (m002q4m9)
30 minutes of classical inspiration
Relax with a 30-minute soundscape of classical music.
Tonight's mixtape starts with a haunting motet by William Henry Harris, Bring Us, O Lord God, sung by Tenebrae. David Childs plays the tenor tuba in Vaughan Williams's Romanza and Sofya Gulyak plays Medtner's serene Fairy Tale No.1 in E flat major, from his Op.26. We are taken to Brazil by Villa-Lobos in the Aria (Cantilena) from his Bachiana brasileira No.5, followed by Joseph Boulogne Chevalier de Saint-Georges's largo from the Violin Concerto in A major. Tonight's mixtape ends with the deft touch of Paul Lewis playing Brahms's Intermezzo No.2 in A major for piano.
Producer: Zara Siddiqi
MON 19:30 Radio 3 in Concert (m002q4mf)
Vadym Kholodenko plays Beethoven and Liszt
Having shot to fame in 2013 as Gold Medallist of the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, Vadym Kholodenko has gone on to collaborate with Iván Fischer, Cristian Măcelaru, and Karina Canellakis, and appeared with leading orchestras across the globe. He comes to the stage here, at Wigmore Hall in London, as soloist in a concert featuring the sonata Beethoven penned after being gifted a new instrument by piano maker Thomas Broadwood, as well as the studies Liszt composed and dedicated to Clara Schumann, having himself acquired the very same keyboard years later. We'll hear, too, the impassioned preludes of Ukranian composer, Borys Lyatoshinsky, each prefaced by quotations from the poetry of Taras Shevchenko, and written during the Second World War when Lyatoshinsky had been evacuated to the city of Saratov on the River Volga.
Recorded on 9th December at Wigmore Hall in London, and presented by Martin Handley.
BEETHOVEN
Piano Sonata No. 29 in B flat, Op. 106 'Hammerklavier'
Interval
LYATOSHINSKY
3 Preludes, Op. 38
LISZT
6 Etudes d'exécution transcendante d’après Paganini, S140
Vadym Kholodenko (piano)
To listen on most smart speakers just say "ask BBC Sounds to play Radio 3 in Concert".
MON 21:45 The Essay (m001ryzt)
On Disappointment
Creative
In five Essays, Rachel Cooke takes a wry and wide-ranging look at disappointment. She believes life is full of let downs, the 'twenty-first century world seems expressly to set us up' for them. From a cup of coffee to new clothes, highly anticipated pleasures often prove to be an anti-climax.
In this episode, she takes a look at artistic disappointment from 19th-century artist Benjamin Haydon, whose attempts to stage a grand exhibition were thwarted by the far more popular 'General Tom Thumb', to the contemporary writer whose book event is - disappointingly - empty. Creative disappointment, which often follows years of solitary work, is, Rachel feels, one of the worst kinds.
This series of the Essay is being broadcast again to mark Rachel Cooke’s death in November 2025.
MON 22:00 Night Tracks (m002q4mk)
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.
MON 23:30 'Round Midnight (m002cp2j)
Poppy Daniels’ Flowers
‘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.
This week Soweto is joined by one-to-watch trumpeter Poppy Daniels. A core part of London’s jazz community, Poppy has worked with artists including Blue Lab Beats, Daniel Casimir, Celeste, and Jordan Rakei. She is now stepping out as a solo artist, drawing influences from jazz, hip hop and Latin music traditions into her unique sound.
From Monday to Thursday this week, Poppy will be highlighting some of the artists who are “living legends” that she is influenced by, for Flowers. Tonight Poppy gives her first bouquet to an American trumpeter widely celebrated for his musical inventiveness.
Plus there’s music from Ellen Beth Abdi, Valaida Snow, and Alexander Hawkins.
TUESDAY 27 JANUARY 2026
TUE 00:30 Through the Night (m002qd5x)
Mystery: Bruckner's Eighth Symphony
The WDR Symphony Orchestra, Cologne performs Bruckner's Eighth Symphony that the composer himself described as a 'mystery'. Penny Gore presents.
12:31 AM
Anton Bruckner (1824-1896)
Symphony no 8 in C minor
WDR Symphony Orchestra, Cologne, Philippe Jordan (conductor)
01:50 AM
Richard Wagner (1813-1883)
'Mogst du, mein kind' (Daland's aria from Act II Die Fliegende Hollander)
Martti Talvela (bass), Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Jussi Jalas (conductor)
01:56 AM
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)
Symphony no 41 in C major, K551, 'Jupiter'
Freiburger Barockorchester, René Jacobs (conductor)
02:31 AM
Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971)
The Soldier's tale - suite arranged for clarinet, violin and piano
Kaja Danczowska (violin), Michel Lethiec (clarinet), Yeol Eum Son (piano)
02:46 AM
Max Reger (1873-1916)
Variations and fugue on a theme of Mozart, Op 132
Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana, Philippe Bach (conductor)
03:18 AM
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)
Symphony no 8 in F major, Op 93
BBC Philharmonic, Gianandrea Noseda (conductor)
03:44 AM
Helena Winkelman (b.1974)
Concerto for Two Recorders and Strings
Camerata Variabile Basel, Helena Winkelman (conductor)
04:00 AM
Gabriel Fauré (1845 - 1924), orch. Jon Washburn
Messe Basse
Henriette Schellenberg (soprano), Vancouver Chamber Choir, CBC Vancouver Orchestra, Jon Washburn (conductor)
04:10 AM
Georg Christoph Wagenseil (1715-1777)
Concerto for trombone and orchestra in E flat major
Warwick Tyrrell (trombone), Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, Nicholas Braithwaite (conductor)
04:20 AM
Dorothy Howell (1898-1982)
Two Pieces for Muted Strings
BBC Symphony Orchestra, Michael Collins (conductor)
04:31 AM
Pierre de la Rue (1452-1518)
Missa Sancto Job: Kyrie
Orlando Consort
04:36 AM
Gediminas Gelgotas (b.1986)
Never Ignore the Cosmic Ocean
Baltic Sea Youth Philharmonic, Kristjan Järvi (conductor)
04:42 AM
Georges Hüe (1858-1948)
Phantasy vers. flute and piano
Iveta Kundrátová (flute), Inna Aslamasova (piano)
04:50 AM
Traditional, arr. Michael Hurst
Ten Thousand Miles Away
West Australian Symphony Orchestra, David Measham (conductor)
04:56 AM
Henk Badings (1907-1987)
Canamus, amici, canamus; Finnigan's wake
Netherlands Chamber Choir, Uwe Gronostay (conductor)
05:04 AM
Fryderyk Chopin (1810-1849)
Rondo in C major for Two Pianos, Op 73
Soós-Haag Piano Duo (piano duo)
05:15 AM
Grażyna Bacewicz (1909-1969)
Music for strings, trumpets and percussion
Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Witold Rowicki (conductor)
05:34 AM
Johannes Brahms (1833-1897)
Piano Concerto no 1 in D minor, Op 15
Kasparas Uinskas (piano), Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra, Mário Košik (conductor)
06:23 AM
Susan Spain-Dunk (1880-1962)
Two Scottish Pieces for orchestra, Op 54
BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Stephen Bell (conductor)
TUE 06:30 Breakfast (m002q52g)
Start the day on the right note 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 (m002q52j)
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 (m002q52l)
Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 5 from the BBC Symphony Orchestra
Elizabeth Alker brings you an afternoon of exclusive music-making including a performance of Tchaikovsky's dramatic Symphony No. 5 played by the BBC Symphony Orchestra and conductor Delyana Lazarova as part of a week long focus on the composer. Elsewhere in the programme, we will hear exclusive chamber highlights recorded for the programme from London's Wigmore Hall. Today, pianist Elisabeth Leonskaja plays Schubert, the ORA Singers sing Richard Allain and Libby Larsen and the Dover Quartet perform Schumann. There is also an artist spotlight on the French soprano Veronique Gens as she sings music by Hahn.
Franz Schubert
Four Impromptus, D. 899
Elisabeth Leonskaja (piano)
Richard Allain
If Music Be The Food Of Love
ORA Singers
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Symphony No. 5 in E minor, Op. 64
BBC Symphony Orchestra
Delyana Lazarova (conductor)
Reynaldo Hahn
Trois jours de vendange; Etudes latines: Néère; Rondels: Le printemps
Veronique Gens (soprano)
Susan Manoff (piano)
Robert Schumann
String Quartet in A minor Op. 41 No. 1
Dover Quartet
Libby Larsen
Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?
ORA Singers
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 (m002q52n)
Franz Xaver Wolfgang Mozart (1791-1844)
Leaving Vienna
Donald Macleod sees Franz Xaver Mozart leave Vienna to take up work in Galicia, signalling a creative explosion in new works. With guest Professor Cliff Eisen, Macleod also explores the details of this new role, along with other positions which then followed working for various aristocrats, and eventually taking Mozart to Lemberg.
Rondo in F, Op 4 (excerpt)
Katarzyna Drogosz, piano
Nein! (Sechs Lieder, No 3)
Barbara Bonney, soprano
Malcolm Martineau, piano
Violin Sonata in B flat, Op 7
Muriel Cantoreggi, violin
Hansjacob Staemmler, piano
Piano Concerto No 1 in C, Op 14 (Adagio)
Howard Shelley, piano
Sinfonieorchester St Gallen
Polonaise mélancolique No 5 in F minor, Op 17
Robert Markham, piano
Piano Concerto No 1 in C, Op 14 (Allegretto)
Howard Shelley, piano
Sinfonieorchester St Gallen
Produced by Luke Whitlock
TUE 17:00 In Tune (m002q52q)
Tenebrae, Jacob Collier
Petroc introduces live music from the award-winning Tenebrae Choir.
Petroc also chats to superstar composer, producer and performer Jacob Collier about his role as Ambassador of BBC Get Singing, which has launched on BBC Bitesize.
BBC Get Singing is the BBC’s biggest nationwide music education initiative in over a decade, providing teachers and vocal leaders with engaging resources to encourage collective singing among 11–14-year-olds in and out of schools across the UK.
TUE 19:00 Classical Mixtape (m002jhw7)
Power through with classical music
A 30-minute soundscape of music featuring Kreisler's Liebesleid, a Schubert symphony, a Piazzolla tango and Anne Dudley's score to Elle.
Produced by Zerlina Vulliamy.
TUE 19:30 Radio 3 in Concert (m002q52v)
John Adams, Beethoven and Ives
Inspired by the cultural and social history of California and by film noir of the 1940s and 1950s, John Adams's 'City Noir' is a symphony of cinematic scope and dark jazz. Sections of high energy and scurrying woodwind are contrasted with cinematic lyricism. The music, writes Adams, "should have the slightly disorientating effect of a very crowded boulevard peopled with strange characters, like those of a David Lynch film - the kind who only come out very late on a hot night."
A lonely trumpet and a quartet of flutes provide more dark drama in Charles Ives's 'Unanswered Question'. Written a century before 'City Noir' its modernity and innovation are still startling.
Alim Beisembayev provides an answer to the Ives as he joins the BBC Philharmonic for Beethoven's Fourth Piano Concerto. As a BBC New Generation Artist he forged a relationship with the orchestra, and this is his first concert with them as a graduate of the scheme.
Recorded at Manchester's Bridgewater Hall on 17 January, and presented by Tom McKinney.
Ives: The Unanswered Question
Beethoven: Piano Concerto No.4
8.10
Interval
John Adams: City Noir
Alim Beisembayev (piano)
BBC Philharmonic Orchestra
John Storgårds (conductor)
To listen on most smart speakers just say "ask BBC Sounds to play Radio 3 in Concert".
TUE 21:45 The Essay (m001rz18)
On Disappointment
Love
The let downs and disappointments of romantic love, from the crushing experience of being stood up to the modern day equivalent - being left 'on read'. Taking in Sex in the City, that great chronicler of quiet heartbreak Anita Brookner and the paintings of Francis Danby, Rachel Cooke (1969-2025) surveys the perils and pitfalls of dating and argues that kissing a few frogs may not be such a bad thing after all.
This series of the Essay is being broadcast again to mark Rachel Cooke’s death in November 2025.
TUE 22:00 Night Tracks (m002q52x)
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.
TUE 23:30 'Round Midnight (m002cp6s)
Something from Ponyland
‘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 spins a release from the Newcastle-based punk, afrobeat, punk jazz band Ponyland.
Rising trumpeter Poppy Daniels has a second bouquet of Flowers to give to an artist she admires, and tonight she chooses a peer and powerhouse bassist.
There’s also music from Yazz Ahmed, Kurtis Li, and Tom Lyne.
WEDNESDAY 28 JANUARY 2026
WED 00:30 Through the Night (m002qjb3)
The Planets and Star Wars
From the 2025 BBC Proms, the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain and conductor Dalia Stasevska, joined by Farnham Youth Choir, perform Holst's The Planets, John Williams' Star Wars Suite and Caroline Shaw's The Observatory. Penny Gore presents.
12:31 AM
John Williams (b.1932)
Star Wars Suite
National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain, Dalia Stasevska (conductor)
12:58 AM
Caroline Shaw (b.1982)
The Observatory
National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain, Dalia Stasevska (conductor)
01:10 AM
Gustav Holst (1874-1934)
The Planets, Op 32
Farnham Youth Choir, National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain, Dalia Stasevska (conductor)
01:59 AM
Anthony Newley (1931-1999), arr. Ben Parry
Feelin' Good
Farnham Youth Choir
02:01 AM
Evgeni Stefan (b.1967)
Rain of Stars (Sternenregen)
Tornado Guitar Duo (duo)
02:05 AM
Sergey Prokofiev (1891-1953)
Sonata for piano no 7 in B flat major, Op 83
Khatia Buniatishvili (piano)
02:24 AM
Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958)
Silence and music - madrigal for chorus
BBC Singers, Stephen Layton (conductor)
02:31 AM
Fryderyk Chopin (1810-1849)
12 Studies, Op 25
Daniil Trifonov (piano)
03:01 AM
Joseph Haydn (1732-1809)
Mass in C major, Missa in tempore belli 'Paukenmesse' H.22.9
Hilde Haraldsen Sveen (soprano), Marianne Beate Kielland (mezzo soprano), Jonas Degerfeldt (tenor), Gabriel Suovanen (baritone), Oslo Philharmonic Choir, Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, Manfred Honeck (conductor)
03:42 AM
John B. Escosa (1928-1991)
Three Dances for 2 harps
Julia Shaw (harp), Nora Bumanis (harp)
03:48 AM
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)
Rondo concertante in B flat major, K.269
James Ehnes (violin), Mozart Anniversary Orchestra
03:56 AM
Richard Strauss (1864-1949)
Variations on a Bavarian folksong, TrV.109
Daniel Dodds (violin), Dominik Fischer (viola), Alexander Kionke (cello)
04:04 AM
Petar Dinev (1889-1980)
Ottsa i Sina & Milost mira No.7 (The Father & the Son & A Mercy of Peace No.7)
Sveta Troitsa, Plovdiv, Vessela Geleva (conductor)
04:10 AM
Imants Zemzaris (b.1951)
The Light springs
Juris Gailitis (flute), Indulis Suna (violin)
04:16 AM
Henri Duparc (1848-1933), Francois Coppee (author)
La Vague et la cloche for voice and piano
Gerald Finley (baritone), Stephen Ralls (piano)
04:22 AM
Johan Svendsen (1840-1911)
Norwegian artists' carnival, Op 14 (Norsk kunstnerkarneval)
Norwegian Radio Orchestra, Ari Rasilainen (conductor)
04:31 AM
Henricus Albicastro (fl.1700-06)
Concerto a 4 in D minor, Op 7 no 2
Chiara Banchini (violin), Ensemble 415, Chiara Banchini (director)
04:39 AM
Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847)
Prelude and Fugue in E minor, Op 35 no 1
Sylviane Deferne (piano)
04:49 AM
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
4 Lieder from the Schemelli songbook (BWV.443, 468, 470 & 439)
Bernarda Fink (mezzo soprano), Domen Marincic (gamba), Dalibor Miklavcic (organ)
04:58 AM
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)
Overture from the Incidental music to König Stephan
Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Andrew Davis (conductor)
05:06 AM
Howard Cable (1920-2016)
The Banks of Newfoundland
Hannaford Street Silver Band, Stephen Chenette (conductor)
05:14 AM
Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach (1714-1788)
12 Variations on "La Folia" (Wq.118/9) (H.263)
Andreas Staier (harpsichord)
05:23 AM
Ottorino Respighi (1879-1936)
Rossiniana - suite from Rossini's 'Les riens'
West Australian Symphony Orchestra, Jorge Mester (conductor)
05:49 AM
Bedřich Smetana (1824-1884)
2 Dances (Czech Dances, Book II)
Karel Vrtiska (piano)
05:58 AM
Robert Schumann (1810-1856)
Piano Quintet in E flat major, Op 44
Marianne Thorsen (violin), Atle Sponberg (violin), Lawrence Power (viola), Paul Watkins (cello), Ian Brown (piano)
WED 06:30 Breakfast (m002q5q6)
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’
WED 09:30 Essential Classics (m002q5q8)
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 (m002q5qb)
Tchaikovsky's Polish Symphony from the BBC Symphony Orchestra
Elizabeth Alker brings you an afternoon of exclusive music-making including a performance of Tchaikovsky's majestic Symphony No. 3, nicknamed 'Polish'. Performed by the BBC Symphony Orchestra and conductor Alpesh Chauhan, the symphony is included as part of a week-long celebration of the composer.
Elsewhere in the programme, we will hear exclusive chamber highlights recorded for the programme from London's Wigmore Hall. Today, pianist Elisabeth Leonskaja plays Brahms and the ORA Singers sing Philip Dutton. There is also an artist spotlight on the French soprano Veronique Gens as she sings music by Henri Duparc.
Richard Wagner
Siegfried Idyll
Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra
Maxim Emelyanychev (conductor)
Henri Duparc
L'invitation au voyage; Chanson triste
Veronique Gens (soprano)
Susan Manoff (piano)
Johannes Brahms
Hungarian Dance no.1
Elisabeth Leonskaja (piano)
Johann Sebastian Bach
Concerto for two harpsichords in C minor, BWV. 1062
Raluca Enea (harpsichord)
Alexander von Heissen (harpsichord)
SEMPRE Baroque Music Ensemble
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Symphony No. 3 ‘Polish’
BBC Symphony Orchestra
Alpesh Chauhan (conductor)
Philip Dutton
Time's Scythe
ORA Singers
To listen to this programme (using most smart speakers) just say, 'Ask BBC Sounds to play Classical Live'.
WED 15:00 Choral Evensong (m002q5qd)
St John's College, Cambridge
Live from the Chapel of St John’s College, Cambridge.
Introit: Bethlehem Down (Warlock, arr. David Hill)
Responses: Gabriel Jackson
Psalms 136, 137, 138 (Lloyd, Lloyd, Ley)
First Lesson: Nehemiah 2 vv1-10
Canticles: Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis (Errollyn Wallen)
Second Lesson: Romans 12 vv1-8
Anthem: Christus (When Jesus our Lord – Say, where is he born – There shall a star from Jacob come forth) (Mendelssohn)
Voluntary: Allegro giocoso (Sonata in E flat) (Bairstow)
Christopher Gray (Director of Music)
Tingshuo Yang (Organ Scholar)
To listen on most smart speakers, just say aask BBC Sounds to play Choral Evensong'.
WED 16:00 Composer of the Week (m002q5qg)
Franz Xaver Wolfgang Mozart (1791-1844)
A Love Affair
Donald Macleod surveys Franz Xaver Mozart’s secret love affair with a married women, Countess Josephine. With guest Professor Cliff Eisen, Macleod explores Mozart’s new life in Lemberg as a composer, teacher and performer, and a meeting with his mother Constanze in Denmark after more than a decade's separation.
Violin Sonata in F, Op 15 (excerpt)
Muriel Cantoreggi, violin
Hansjacob Staemmler, piano
Sinfonia in D
International New Symphony Orchestra of Lemberg
Gunhard Mattes, conductor
Das liebende Mädchen (Sechs Lieder, No 1)
Barbara Bonney, soprano
Malcolm Martineau, piano
An spröde Schönen (Sechs Lieder, No 2)
Barbara Bonney, soprano
Malcolm Martineau, piano
Piano Sonata in G
Cyprien Katsaris, piano
Violin Sonata in F, Op 15 (Polonaise)
Muriel Cantoreggi, violin
Hansjacob Staemmler, piano
In der Väter Hallen ruht, Op 12
Barbara Bonney, soprano
Malcolm Martineau, piano
Produced by Luke Whitlock
WED 17:00 In Tune (m002q5qj)
Conductor Robert Treviño and chamber folk ensemble Hedera
There’s live music from Bristol-based chamber folk ensemble Hedera ahead of the release of their debut album. Petroc Trelawny speaks to conductor Robert Treviño about his upcoming concert with the London Symphony Orchestra, as well as his new appointment as Principal Conductor of the George Enescu Philharmonic Orchestra. Petroc also talks to Washingtonian journalist Rebecca Ritzel about the Washington National Opera leaving the Kennedy Center.
WED 19:00 Classical Mixtape (m002q5ql)
The eclectic classical mix
Enjoy half an hour of downtime with a sequence of back to back classical music. Starting with an elegy for trumpet by Armenian composer Alexander Artiunian, the sequence glides through some beautifully relaxing music, including a wintry song by Jamie W. Hall, a setting of Ave Maria for cello ensemble, a tribute to music by Edward Elgar, and some wistful piano from Francis Poulenc. Philip Glass's Mishima, Percy Grainger's yearning Bridal Lullaby and Amy Beach's attractive account of Young Birches continue the mix, ending with a characteristic orchestration of Bach by Andrew Davis.
Producer: Helen Garrison
To listen on most smart speakers say, 'Ask BBC Sounds to play Classical Mixtape'.
WED 19:30 Radio 3 in Concert (m002q5qn)
Patricia Kopatchinskaja plays Bartok
The captivating and adventurous violinist Patricia Kopatchinskaja is a 2025/26 LSO Artist Portrait. In tonight's concert, she joins the London Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Simon Rattle, to play Bartok's Second Violin Concerto, a work written in 1938 during a period of unrest in Hungary. Patricia Kopatchinskaja says that it has marvellous, beautiful fairy-tale visions and stories in it.
Internationally renowned mezzo-soprano Rinat Shaham also joins the orchestra to sing Bartok's rarely performed Five Hungarian Folksongs, infused with tunes from his native country. The final work is Manuel de Falla's ballet music for The Three Cornered Hat, which is brimming with Spanish melodies and energetic dance rhythms.
Recorded on 18th January at the Barbican in London, and presented by Ian Skelly.
BELA BARTOK
Violin Concerto No 2
8.15pm
Interval
BELA BARTOK
Five Hungarian Folksongs for Voice and Orchestra
MANUEL DE FALLA
The Three Cornered Hat – Ballet
Patricia Kopatchinskaja (violin)
Rinat Shaham (mezzo-soprano)
London Symphony Orchestra
Sir Simon Rattle (conductor)
To listen on most smart speakers just say "ask BBC Sounds to play Radio 3 in Concert".
WED 21:45 The Essay (m001rz32)
On Disappointment
Food
Rachel Cooke (1969-2025) reveals which food she considers to be the most disappointing. And in this essay she also recalls her extraordinary trip to a legendary Spanish restaurant; the taste of her grandmother's cakes, never to be recreated and asks why so few eagerly anticipated meals and treats live up to our high expectations.
This series of the Essay is being broadcast again to mark Rachel Cooke’s death in November 2025.
WED 22:00 Night Tracks (m002q5qq)
A meditative moonlight soundtrack
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 (m002cp63)
Fresh from Finn Rees and Allysha Joy
‘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.
The long-term collaborator duo Finn Rees and Allysha Joy are back with a heady new release.
Poppy Daniels returns with her third Flowers pick of the week, and tonight she gives brass appreciation to an Australian trumpeter, producer and multi-instrumentalist.
Plus there’s music from Amanda Whiting, Jaleel Shaw, and Binker Golding.
THURSDAY 29 JANUARY 2026
THU 00:30 Through the Night (m002qjdt)
Debussy and Saint-Saëns from Switzerland
The Basel Symphony Orchestra is at home in the Stadtcasino in Basel for a performance under conductor Fabien Gabel of two prominent French works. Debussy's shimmering Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune and the Organ Symphony by Saint-Saëns, with soloist Christian Schmitt. The concert includes the premiere of the Viola Concerto by Swiss composer Dieter Ammann, with Nils Mönkemeyer as soloist. Penny Gore presents.
12:31 AM
Claude Debussy (1862-1918)
Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune
Basel Symphony Orchestra, Fabien Gabel (conductor)
12:42 AM
Dieter Ammann (b.1962)
Viola Concerto
Nils Mönkemeyer (viola), Basel Symphony Orchestra, Fabien Gabel (conductor)
01:16 AM
Camille Saint-Saëns (1835-1921)
Symphony no 3 (Organ), Op 78
Christian Schmitt (organ), Basel Symphony Orchestra, Fabien Gabel (conductor)
01:53 AM
Claude Debussy (1862-1918)
Ariettes oubliees - song cycle for voice and piano
Elizabeth Watts (soprano), Gary Matthewman (piano)
02:10 AM
François Couperin (1668-1733)
Rondeau: Soeur Monique from Pieces de Clavecin
Colin Tilney (harpsichord)
02:15 AM
Francis Poulenc (1899-1963)
Oboe Sonata
Eva Steinaa (oboe), Galya Kolarova (piano)
02:31 AM
Joseph Haydn (1732-1809)
Symphony no 96 in D major 'Miracle' (H.
1.96)
Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, Ilan Volkov (conductor)
02:54 AM
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)
Piano Sonata no 26 in E flat, Op 81a 'Les Adieux'
André Laplante (piano)
03:13 AM
Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741)
Gloria in D major, RV.589
Ann Monoyios (soprano), Matthew White (counter tenor), Colin Ainsworth (tenor), Tafelmusik Chamber Choir, Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra, Ivars Taurins (conductor)
03:41 AM
Florence Price (1887-1953)
Concert Overture no 2
BBC Concert Orchestra, Jane Glover (conductor)
03:57 AM
Benjamin Britten (1913-1976)
Lachrymae (Reflections on a song of Dowland) for viola and piano, Op 48
Antoine Tamestit (viola), Markus Hadulla (piano)
04:10 AM
Jean Coulthard (1908-2000), orch. Michael Conway Baker
Four Irish Songs
Linda Maguire (soprano), CBC Vancouver Orchestra, Mario Bernardi (conductor)
04:20 AM
Franz Liszt (1811-1886)
Hungarian Rhapsody no 2 in C sharp minor
Ladislav Fantzowitz (piano)
04:31 AM
Georg Philipp Telemann (1681-1767)
Sonata in A major – from Der Getreue Music-Meister
Camerata Köln, Michael Schneider (recorder), Rainer Zipperling (viola da gamba), Harold Hoeren (harpsichord)
04:38 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)
04:41 AM
Traditional Swedish, arr. David Wikander
Jag unnar dig anda allt gott (I wish you well)
Swedish Radio Choir, Eric Ericson (conductor)
04:42 AM
Jean Sibelius (1865-1957)
Serenade no 2 in G minor for violin & orchestra, Op 69b
Judy Kang (violin), Orchestre Symphonique de Laval
04:51 AM
Santiago de Murcia (1673-1739)
2 pieces from 'Codex de Saldívar'
Xavier Díaz-Latorre (guitar), Pedro Estevan (percussion)
05:00 AM
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)
Violin Concerto no 3 in G major, K.216
Nikolaj Znaider (violin), Danish Radio Chamber Orchestra, Ádám Fischer (conductor)
05:23 AM
Alexander Scriabin (1871-1915)
Poeme de l'extase for orchestra, Op 54
Orchestre National de France, Evgeny Svetlanov (conductor)
05:49 AM
George Gershwin (1898-1937)
Rhapsody in Blue
Hinko Haas (piano)
06:06 AM
Orlande de Lassus (1532-1594)
Missa Osculetur me
Royal Academy of Music Chamber Choir, Royal Academy of Music Cornett and Sackbut Ensemble, Patrick Russill (conductor)
THU 06:30 Breakfast (m002q6c6)
Rise and shine 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 (m002q6c8)
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 (m002q6cb)
Tchaikovsky's Pathétique Symphony from the BBC Symphony Orchestra
Elizabeth Alker brings you an afternoon of exclusive music-making including a performance of Tchaikovsky's passionate Symphony No. 6, the 'Pathétique'. This deeply emotional and unconventional work is performed by the BBC Symphony Orchestra and conductor Sakari Oramo as part of a week long celebration of the composer.
Elsewhere in the programme, we will hear exclusive chamber music recorded at London's Wigmore Hall. Today, clarinettist Martin Frost joins forces with the Leonkoro Quartet to play Brahms and the ORA Singers sing music by Bob Chilcott, Michael Cavendish and Thomas Morley. There is also an artist spotlight on the French soprano Veronique Gens as she sings music by Charles Gounod.
Johannes Brahms
Clarinet Quintet in B minor, Op. 115
Martin Frost (clarinet)
Leonkoro Quartet
Johann Sebastian Bach
Concerto for two harpsichords in C minor, BWV. 1060
Reluca Enea (harpsichord)
Alexander von Heisse (harpsichord)
SEMPRE Baroque Music Ensemble
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Symphony No. 6 in B minor, 'Pathétique', Op. 74
BBC Symphony Orchestra
Sakari Oramo (conductor)
Bob Chilcott
The Isle is Full of Noises
ORA Singers
Michael Cavendish
Come, gentle swains
ORA Singers
Thomas Morley (arr. Percy Grainger)
O mistress mine
ORA Singers
Charles Gounod
Où voulez-vous aller?
Viens, les gazons sont verts
Veronique Gens (soprano)
Susan Manoff (piano)
Joseph Haydn
Symphony No. 44 in E minor, Hob.
1:44 'Mourning'
Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra
Barbara Hannigan (conductor)
Grace WIlliams
Four Illustrations for The Legend of Rhiannon
BBC National Orchestra of Wales
Jac van Steen
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 (m002q6cd)
Franz Xaver Wolfgang Mozart (1791-1844)
Touring Europe
Donald Macleod follows Franz Xaver Mozart on his tour of Europe, including his first ever meeting with his aunt, Nannerl. With guest Professor Cliff Eisen, Macleod assesses the success of this performing tour, and questions why Mozart didn’t accept a prestigious offer of work at Darmstadt.
Piano Concerto No 2 in E flat, Op 25 (excerpt)
Howard Shelley, piano
Sinfonieorchester St Gallen
Variations on a Theme of an Ukrainian Folk Song, Op 18
Andriy Dragan, piano
An Emma, Op 24
Barbara Bonney, soprano
Malcolm Martineau, piano
Grand Sonata for piano and cello in E, Op 19
Julius Berger, cello
Margarita Höhenrieder, piano
Polonaise mélancolique, Op 22 No 1 (Risoluto)
Yaara Tal, piano
Piano Concerto No 2 in E flat, Op 25 (Allegro con brio)
Howard Shelley, piano
Sinfonieorchester St Gallen
Produced by Luke Whitlock
THU 17:00 In Tune (m002q6cg)
Maxim Vengerov and Peter Moore
Star violinist and conductor Maxim Vengerov performs live with pianist Evgenia Startseva.
Petroc is also joined by trombonist Peter Moore.
THU 19:00 Classical Mixtape (m002q6cj)
Your daily classical soundtrack
Take time out with a 30-minute soundscape of classical music, including music by Gustav Holst, Abel Selaocoe and Caerwen Martin.
Producer: Kevin Satizabal Carrascal.
THU 19:30 Radio 3 in Concert (m002q6cm)
Ben Goldscheider plays Mozart's Horn Concerto
The BBC National Orchestra of Wales and their principal conductor, Ryan Bancroft, are joined in Bangor by star horn soloist Ben Goldscheider to play not one but two concerti. First, one of the most well-known pieces in all classical music, Mozart's 4th Horn Concerto, and then a work written for Ben by Huw Watkins, who was a former composer in association with the Orchestra. Bookending the concert are two Finnish works that are particular favourites of Ryan Bancroft: Ida Moberg's Sunrise Suite and Sibelius's majestic 5th Symphony. The Moberg charts a full day from sunrise to the stillness of the night, and the Sibelius famously depicts a flock of swans taking flight and soaring overhead.
Recorded in Prichard Jones Hall, Bangor on 14 November and presented by Alexandra Humphreys.
Moberg: Sunrise Suite
Huw Watkins: Horn Concerto
Mozart: Horn Concerto No 4 in E flat major, K 495
Sibelius: Symphony No 5 in E flat major, Op 82
Ben Goldscheider (horn)
BBC National Orchestra of Wales
Ryan Bancroft (conductor)
To listen on most smart speakers, just say 'ask BBC Sounds to play Radio 3 in Concert'.
THU 21:45 The Essay (m001rz6w)
On Disappointment
Politics
From the fictional worlds of Yes, Minister and Trollope's Palliser novels to the real-life experiences of politicians including Rory Stewart and Chris Mullin, Rachel Cooke (1969-2025) looks at the disappointments which seem to be built into political life and affectionately recalls her own thwarted political efforts, during her student days.
This series of the Essay is being broadcast again to mark Rachel Cooke’s death in November 2025.
THU 22:00 Night Tracks (m002q6cr)
Music for the darkling hour
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 (m002cp7g)
A crooning number from The Peddlers
‘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 presents an optimistic track from the British jazz soul trio The Peddlers.
Trumpeter Poppy Daniels has been Soweto’s Flowers guest all this week, celebrating some of the contemporary artists that inspire her. Her fourth and final bunch goes to a Brazilian vocal star.
Plus there’s music from Jamie Leeming, Jill Scott, and Eugenia Choe.
FRIDAY 30 JANUARY 2026
FRI 00:30 Through the Night (m002qj5f)
Opera arias by Handel, Vivaldi and Rameau
Spanish soprano Serena Sáenz performs with Vespres d'Arnadí and harpsichordist and conductor Dani Espasa at the Palau de la Música Catalana in Barcelona. Penny Gore presents.
12:31 AM
Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741)
Symphony, from 'Dorilla in Tempe, RV.709'
Vespres d'Arnadí, Dani Espasa (conductor), Dani Espasa (harpsichord)
12:35 AM
Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741)
Sposa son disprezzata, Irene's aria from Act 2 of 'Bajazet, RV.703'
Alma oppressa, Oralto's aria from 'La fida ninfa, RV.714'
Serena Sáenz (soprano), Vespres d'Arnadí, Dani Espasa (conductor), Dani Espasa (harpsichord)
12:48 AM
Jean-Philippe Rameau (1683-1764)
Excerpts from the Suite from 'Les Indes galantes'
Vespres d'Arnadí, Dani Espasa (conductor), Dani Espasa (harpsichord)
01:02 AM
Jean-Philippe Rameau (1683-1764)
Rossignols amoureux, Aricie's aria from Act 2 of 'Hyppolyte et Aricie'
Formons les plus brillants concerts, aria from Act 1 of 'Platee'
Serena Sáenz (soprano), Vespres d'Arnadí, Dani Espasa (conductor), Dani Espasa (harpsichord)
01:14 AM
George Frideric Handel (1685-1759)
Tu del ciel ministro eletto, aria from 'Il trionfo del tempo e del disinganno'
Serena Sáenz (soprano), Vespres d'Arnadí, Dani Espasa (conductor), Dani Espasa (harpsichord)
01:22 AM
George Frideric Handel (1685-1759)
Concerto Grosso in G major, HWV.319, Op 6 no 1
Vespres d'Arnadí, Dani Espasa (conductor), Dani Espasa (harpsichord)
01:34 AM
George Frideric Handel (1685-1759)
Piangerò la sorte mia (Cleopatra's aria, Act 3 of 'Giulio Cesare, HWV.17')
Da tempeste il legno infranto (Cleopatra's aria, Act 3 of 'Giulio Cesare HWV.17)
Tornami a vagheggiar (Morgana's aria from Act 1 of 'Alcina, HWV.34')
Serena Sáenz (soprano), Vespres d'Arnadí, Dani Espasa (conductor), Dani Espasa (harpsichord)
01:52 AM
Domenico Scarlatti (1685-1757)
3 Keyboard Sonatas (Kk.443; Kk.208; Kk.29)
Claire Huangci (piano)
02:03 AM
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
Sonata for solo violin no 2, BWV.1003
Rachel Podger (violin)
02:26 AM
Domenico Scarlatti (1685-1757)
Sonata in G major, Kk.13
Mirko Jevtović (accordion)
02:31 AM
Antonín Dvořák (1841-1904)
Symphony no 6 in D major
Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, Juraj Valčuha (conductor)
03:14 AM
Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847)
Organ Sonata no 6 in D minor, Op 65 no 6
Martti Miettinen (organ)
03:29 AM
Alfred Whitehead (1887-1974)
Psalm 23 (The Lord is my Shepherd)
Tudor Singers of Montréal, Patrick Wedd (director)
03:36 AM
Milosavljevic, Ana (b.1982)
Red
Ensemble Metamorphosis
03:42 AM
Béla Bartók (1881-1945), arr. Zoltán Székely
Romanian Folk dances (Sz.56) arr. Szekely for violin & piano
Vineta Sareika (violin), Ventis Zilberts (piano)
03:48 AM
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)
Concert aria: Ch'io mi scordi di te...? Non temer, amato bene, K.505
Tuva Semmingsen (soprano), Jörn Fosheim (piano), Norwegian Radio Orchestra, Michel Tabachnik (conductor)
03:58 AM
Gertrude van den Bergh (1793-1840)
Rondeau, Op 3
Frans van Ruth (piano)
04:05 AM
François Couperin (1668-1733)
La Sultane
Concerto Copenhagen, Lars Ulrik Mortensen (director)
04:16 AM
Traditional
Wedding Song from Sønderho
Danish String Quartet
04:19 AM
Carl Maria von Weber (1786-1826)
Peter Schmoll und sein Nachbarn (Overture)
Netherlands Radio Chamber Orchestra, Antoni Ros-Marbà (conductor)
04:31 AM
George Gershwin (1898-1937), Ira Gershwin (author)
3 Songs - The Man I Love; I Got Rhythm; Someone To Watch Over Me
Annika Skoglund (soprano), Bengt-Åke Lundin (piano), Staffan Sjöholm (double bass)
04:41 AM
Isaac Albéniz (1860-1909)
Cordoba from 'Cantos de Espana' for piano, Op 232 no 4
Jin-Ho Kim (piano)
04:45 AM
Claude Debussy (1862-1918), arr. Luc Brewaeys
La cathedrale engloutie (no 10 from Preludes - Book 1)
Royal Flemish Philharmonic, Daniele Callegari (conductor)
04:52 AM
Carl Friedrich Abel (1723-1787)
Trio for 2 flutes and continuo in G major, Op 16 no 4
La Stagione Frankfurt
05:02 AM
Dimitar Nenov (1901-1953)
Theme with variations
Mario Angelov (piano)
05:17 AM
Robert Schumann (1810-1856)
Nachtlied
Bavarian Radio Chorus, Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra, Katowice, Alexander Liebreich (conductor)
05:28 AM
Samuel Barber (1910-1981)
Violin Concerto, Op 14
James Ehnes (violin), Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, Bramwell Tovey (conductor)
05:52 AM
Fryderyk Chopin (1810-1849)
Ballade no 2 in F major, Op 38
Zbigniew Raubo (piano)
05:59 AM
Ignacy Feliks Dobrzyński (1807-1867)
String Quartet no 1 in E minor, Op 7
Camerata Quartet
FRI 06:30 Breakfast (m002q6hh)
Roll out of bed into 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 (m002q6hk)
Refresh your morning with 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”
FRI 13:00 Classical Live (m002q6hq)
Tchaikovsky's Manfred Symphony from the BBC Symphony Orchestra
Elizabeth Alker brings you an afternoon of exclusive music-making including a performance of Tchaikovsky's dramatic and passionate Manfred Symphony. Performed by the BBC Symphony Orchestra and conductor Semyon Bychkov, the symphony is included as part of a week-long celebration of the composer.
Elsewhere in the programme, we will hear exclusive past chamber highlights recorded for the programme from London's Wigmore Hall. Today, pianist Elisabeth Leonskaja plays Brahms and the ORA Singers sing music by John Bennet and Jonathan Dove. There will also be two orchestral works from the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra - Dvořák's The Wild Dove and Prokofiev's Love for Three Oranges Suite.
Antonín Dvořák
The Wild Dove, Op. 110, symphonic poem
Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra
Daniel Harding (conductor)
Johannes Brahms
7 Hungarian Dances
Elisabeth Leonskaja (piano)
John Bennet
All creatures now are merry minded
ORA Singers
Jonathan Dove
Sweet are the uses of adversity
ORA Singers
Serge Prokofiev
Love for Three Oranges Suite, Op. 33a
Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra
Maxim Emelyanychev (conductor)
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Manfred Symphony
BBC Symphony Orchestra
Semyon Bychkov (conductor)
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 (m002q6hv)
Franz Xaver Wolfgang Mozart (1791-1844)
Return to Vienna
Donald Macleod pursues Franz Xaver Mozart as he returns to Vienna, a period when his health began to rapidly decline. With guest Professor Cliff Eisen, Macleod also explores whether Mozart’s own personality was perhaps one reason why his career as a composer and performer never really flourished, and how the constant comparison with his father was also a significant hindrance.
Piano Concerto No 2 in E flat, Op 25 (excerpt)
Howard Shelley, piano
Sinfonieorchester St Gallen
Engel Gottes künden
Kammerchor der Augsburger Domsingknaben
Residenz-Kammerorchester München
Reinhard Kammler, director
Rondo in E minor
Eva Oertle, flute
Vesselin Stanev, piano
Polonaise mélancolique, Op 22 No 2-4
Yaara Tal, piano
An den Abendstern, Op 27 No 1
Barbara Bonney, soprano
Malcolm Martineau, piano
Piano Concerto No 2 in E flat, Op 25 (excerpt)
Howard Shelley, piano
Sinfonieorchester St Gallen
Produced by Luke Whitlock
FRI 17:00 In Tune (m002q6hz)
Pianist Leon McCawley and jazz guitarist Tom Ollendorff
Pianist Leon McCawley plays live ahead of his Wigmore Hall recital and album release.
There's also live music from jazz guitarist Tom Ollendorff and his band.
FRI 19:00 Classical Mixtape (m002q6j4)
Switch up your listening with classical music
Take time out with a 30-minute classical soundscape, bookended with music inspired by Shakespeare and his wife Anne (also known as Agnes). This edition of the Classical Mixtape opens with Ralph Vaughan Williams’s The Cloud-Capp’d Towers (its text taken from The Tempest) and closes with music from Max Richter’s Oscar-nominated score for the 2025 film Hamnet. We also hear music from composers Joanna Marsh, Gerald Finzi, Frederic Chopin, JS Bach, Frank Martin, Dobrinka Tabakova and Clara Schumann.
Producer: Christina Kenny.
FRI 19:30 Friday Night is Music Night (m0026s7v)
British Cinema
Richard Balcombe conducts the BBC Concert Orchestra in classic film scores from British cinema, from Chichester Festival Theatre.
Presented by Petroc Trelawny.
Walton Spitfire Prelude and Fugue
Goodwin Those Magnificent Men
Vaughan Williams Prelude from Coastal Command
Vaughan Williams Prelude from 49th Parallel
Bliss March from Things to Come
Walton Charge and Battle from Henry V
Goodwin Belle’s Love Theme from Beauty & the Beast
Goodwin The Trap
Goodwin 633 Squadron
Coates The Dambusters
INTERVAL
Farnon Captain Horatio Hornblower RN
Patrick Doyle Main Title from Much Ado About Nothing
Nigel Hess Ladies in Lavender
John Ireland The Overlanders
Walton Battle in the Air from The Battle of Britain
FRI 21:45 The Essay (m001rz4x)
On Disappointment
Travel
Rachel Cooke (1969-2025) confesses to being disappointed on what she thought was going to be the trip of a lifetime, and wonders if that says more about her or about the holiday. In this essay, with the help of writers including Geoff Dyer and Susan Sontag, Rachel asks what it is that makes the perfect holiday and whether unglamorous locations might be the answer.
This series of the Essay is being broadcast again to mark Rachel Cooke’s death in November 2025.
FRI 22:00 Late Junction (m002q6jb)
Spirited free jazz and Nordic sea flutes
Verity Sharp presents her selections of new and adventurous sounds from left-field music-makers. On the bill: joyful and spirited free-jazz improvisations recorded live in the UK courtesy of Pat Thomas and XT, plus a romping sea flute and fiddle piece from Oslo. Elsewhere, Japanese musician Akhira Sano shares spatial sounds recorded in his grandparents' soon-to-be-demolished house. Plus, a near-dystopian song from the Alphabetical Four, whose bold 1930s sound merges gospel and jubilee traditions with blues and jazz.
Produced by Cat Gough
A Reduced Listening Production for BBC Radio 3
FRI 23:30 'Round Midnight (m002cp83)
Gary Crosby’s Africa Space Programme in session
‘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, Soweto welcomes British jazz royalty to the our usual ‘Round Midnight live session studio at The Premises. They are double bassist and co-founder of Tomorrow’s Warriors Gary Crosby, saxophonist Steve Williamson, saxophonist Denys Baptiste, and drummer Winston Clifford. In this special Friday night edition of the show, we hear the music of their new project ‘Africa Space Programme’. Led by Gary, the project presents improvisational music centred on jazz compositions by artists that the band admire.
Expect a musical journey guided by musicians whose trust in each other has been forged over years of playing today, plus an in conversation full of memories and wisdom from some of the UK’s enduring jazz titans.