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Colours of Autumn: A feast of great music

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

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

1000 Playlister starter: listen and send us your ideas for the next step in today's musical journey. Text 83111 or email [email protected].

1030 Album of the Week: an exciting new classical release in focus throughout the week.

1115 Playlister reveal: an uninterrupted sequence of music suggested by you in response to today's starter piece.

1200 Colours of Autumn: an indulgent selection of words and music on autumnal themes, with poetry and prose read by Anton Lesser and Josette Simon.
Today's sequence continues painting with Autumn colours, explores the seasonal migration of birds, and celebrates enduring human love into autumnal old age.

Archibald Joyce: Autumn Song (Autumn Dream)
RTÉ Concert Orchestra
Andrew Penny (conductors)

Melissa Harrison: All among the barley (extract)
Read by Josette Simon

Robert Louis Stevenson: Autumn Fires
Read by Anton Lesser

Ray Noble: By the Fireside
Al Bowlly (vocalist)
Ray Noble Orchestra

William Shakespeare: Sonnet 73
Read by Anton Lesser

Richard Strauss: September (Four Last Songs)
Felicity Lott (soprano)
Royal Scottish National Orchestra
Neeme Järvi (conductor)

Einojuhani Rautavaara: Swans migrating (Cantus Arcticus)
Lahti Symphony Orchestra
Osmo Vänskä (conductor)

Ellen P. Allerton: Indian Summer
Read by Josette Simon

Seamus Heaney: Postscript
Read by Anton Lesser

George Butterworth: The Banks of Green Willow
Hallé Orchestra
Mark Elder (conductor)

Kenneth Grahame: The Wind in the Willows (extract)
Read by Anton Lesser

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3 hours, 30 minutes

Last on

Yesterday 09:30
BBC Radio 3

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Colours of Autumn: Celebrating classical greats

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Colours of Autumn: Live from Calke Abbey

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Music Played

  • Gabriel Fauré

    Berceuse (Dolly Suite)

    Performer: Marc‐André Hamelin. Performer: Cathy Fuller.
    • Fauré: Nocturnes & Barcarolles.
    • Hyperion.
    • 27.

  • Alexander Borodin

    Petite Suite (6th mvt)

    Conductor: Geoffrey Simon. Orchestra: Philharmonia Orchestra.
    • Borodin: Requiem, Polovtsian Dances and Suite from Prince Igor.
    • Signum Classics.

  • Jean‐Philippe Rameau

    Chaconne (Hippolyte et Aricie)

    Ensemble: Les Arts Florissants. Conductor: William Christie.
    • ERATO.

  • Bedrich Smetana

    Piano Trio in G minor, Op 15 (2nd mvt)

    Ensemble: Florestan Trio.
    • Smetana, Martinů & Eben: Piano Trios.
    • Hyperion.
    • 2.

  • Franz Schubert

    Symphony No 8 in B Minor, D 759 'Unfinished' (1st mvt)

    Orchestra: Pygmalion. Conductor: Raphaël Pichon.
    • HARMONIA MUNDI.

  • Lūcija Garūta

    Autumn Song of the Migrating Birds

    Choir: Latvian Radio Choir. Conductor: Sigvards Kļava.
    • Garuta: Apple Tree.
    • SKANI.
    • 20.

  • Benjamin Britten

    Simple Symphony (1st mvt, 'Boisterous bourrée')

    Orchestra: Orpheus Chamber Orchestra.
    • Prokofiev/Bizet/Britten: Orpheus Chamber Orchestra.
    • Deutsche Grammophon.
    • 5.

  • Frédéric Chopin

    Polonaise-Fantasie in A flat, Op 61

    Performer: Richard Goode.
    • Chopin: Polonaise-Fantasie Op. 61; Nocturne Op. 55, No. 2; Mazurkas Scherzo, Op..
    • Nonesuch.
    • 1.

  • Sergey Prokofiev

    Symphony No 1 in D major, Op 25, 'Classical' (1st mvt)

    Orchestra: London Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor: Enrique Bátiz.
    • Prokofiev: The Love of Three Oranges (Suite) etc: LPO, Batiz.
    • EMI Classics.

  • Ivo Antognini

    Hope is the thing with feathers

    Conductor: Christopher Lowrey. Choir: Ensemble Altera.
    • The Four Elements.
    • Pentatone.
    • 103.

  • Claude Debussy

    Première rhapsodie, L. 116 (Version for Clarinet & Orchestra) [Live]

    Conductor: Vincenzo Milletarì. Orchestra: Odense Symfoniorkester.
    • Debussy, Nielsen, Lutosławski & Copland: Clarinet Works.
    • Orchid Classics.
    • 101.

  • Alexander Glazunov

    5 Novelettes Op.15 (Valse)

    Ensemble: Borodin Quartet.
    • Teldec.

  • Ludwig van Beethoven

    Symphony No 9 in D minor, 'Choral' (2nd mvt)

    Conductor: Sir Simon Rattle. Orchestra: Vienna Philharmonic.
    • Beethoven: Symphony No. 9, Op. 125.
    • Warner Classics.
    • 2.

  • Antonín Dvořák

    Serenade for Winds in D minor, Op 44 (2nd mvt)

    Conductor: Jakub Hrůša. Orchestra: Prague Philharmonia.
    • Supraphon.

  • Trad.

    The Song of the Birds

    Music Arranger: Pau Casals. Performer: Sol Gabetta. Ensemble: Amsterdam Sinfonietta.
    • SONY.

  • Frederick Delius

    Songs of Sunset (Pale Amber Sunlight Falls Across)

    Choir: Waynflete Singers. Choir: Southern Voices. Choir: Bournemouth Symphony Chorus. Orchestra: Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Richard Hickox.
    • Chandos.

  • The Count Basie Orchestra

    Flight of the Foo Birds

    • Count Basie, The Best of the Roulette Years.
    • EMI.

  • Fritz Kreisler

    Prelude and allegro in the style of Pugnani

    Performer: Daniel Lozakovich. Performer: Hélène Mercier.
    • Lost to the World.
    • Warner Classics.
    • 12.

  • Samuel Coleridge‐Taylor

    Romance in B major

    Orchestra: Ulster Orchestra. Conductor: Charles Peebles.
    • SOMM.

  • Dmitry Shostakovich

    Symphony No 8 in C minor, Op 65 (2nd mvt)

    Orchestra: Frankfurt Radio Symphony. Conductor: Alain Altinoglu.
    • Shostakovich: Symphony No. 8 (Complete Symphonies, Vol. 2).
    • Alpha Classics.
    • 2.

  • Johann Sebastian Bach

    Mache dich, mein Geist, bereit (Cantata BWV 115)

    Conductor: Masaaki Suzuki. Ensemble: Bach Collegium Japan.
    • Bach, J.S.: Cantatas, Vol. 27 - Bwv 5, 80, 115.
    • BIS.
    • 301.

  • Felix Mendelssohn

    A Midsummer Night's Dream Op.61 (Nocturne)

    Orchestra: City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Edward Gardner.
    • Mendelssohn In Birmingham Vol. 4.
    • Chandos.
    • 8.

  • Archibald Joyce

    Autumn Song (Autumn Dream)

    Orchestra: RTÉ Concert Orchestra. Conductor: Andrew Penny.
    • Joyce: Orchestral Works.
    • MARCO POLO.
    • 3.

  • Ray Noble

    By the Fireside

    Singer: Al Bowlly. Ensemble: Ray Noble and His Orchestra.
    • ASV.

  • Richard Strauss

    September (Four Last Songs)

    Singer: Felicity Lott. Orchestra: Royal Scottish National Orchestra. Conductor: Neeme Järvi.
    • Strauss: Four Last Songs.
    • Chandos.
    • 102.

  • Einojuhani Rautavaara

    Cantus Arcticus Op.61 (3rd mvt)

    Orchestra: Lahti Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Osmo V�nsk�.
    • Rautavaara: Angel of Light etc..
    • BIS.
    • 11.

  • George Butterworth

    The Banks of Green Willow

    Orchestra: Hallé. Conductor: Mark Elder.
    • Butterworth/Delius: English Rhapsody: Halle, Elder.
    • Halle.
    • 4.

  • George Frideric Handel

    Air and variations, 'The Harmonious Blacksmith' (Suite in E major, HWV 430)

    Performer: Murray Perahia.
    • Sony.

  • Benny Goodman

    Don't be that way - Stompin' at the Savoy

    Composer: Edgar Sampson. Ensemble: The Julian Bliss Septet.
    • A Tribute to Benny Goodman.
    • Signum Classics.
    • 1.

  • Joseph Bologne

    Symphonie concertante in A major Op.9`2 (2nd mvt)

    Performer: Yury Revich. Performer: Libor Ježek. Orchestra: Czech Chamber Philharmonic Orchestra Pardubice. Conductor: Michael Halász.
    • Saint-Georges: Orchestral Works.
    • Naxos.
    • 4.

  • Johann David Heinichen

    Pastorale in A major

    Ensemble: Musica Antiqua Köln. Conductor: Reinhard Goebel.
    • Concerti "per l'orchestra di Dresda": Musica Antiqua Koln.
    • Archiv Produktion.
    • 16.

  • George Gershwin

    Piano Concerto in F (3rd mvt)

    Performer: Daniil Trifonov. Orchestra: Philadelphia Orchestra. Conductor: Yannick Nézet‐Séguin.
    • My American Story: North.
    • DG.
    • 4.

Broadcast

  • Yesterday 09:30
    BBC Radio 3