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Your perfect Sunday soundtrack

Sarah Walker with three hours of classical music to reflect, restore and refresh, whether you’re soaking up the sunlight, powering through your to-do list, or enjoying a cuppa.

Sarah Walker with three hours of classical music to reflect, restore and refresh.

Today, Sarah shares one of the most familiar melodies from Elizabethan times, a breathtaking transcendental etude by Liszt, and a captivating performance of a movement from Vivaldi’s the Four Seasons in an arrangement for harp.

There’s also a thrilling journey through the skies from daybreak to dusk in Nielsen’s Helios Overture, a magical nocturnal tone poem by Hugo Alfgen, and music by one of China’s leading contemporary composers - Xiaogang Ye - which depicts a village in Sichuan province.

Plus, Lili Boulanger is inspired by the power of the sun.

A Tandem Production for BBC Radio 3

29 days left to listen

3 hours

Music Played

  • Johannes Brahms

    Serenade No 2 in A major, Op 16 (5th mvt, Rondo)

    Conductor: Riccardo Chailly. Orchestra: Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra.
    • Brahms: Serenades.
    • Decca Music Group Ltd.
    • 11.
  • John Dowland

    The Frog Galliard, P 23a

    Performer: Jonas Nordberg.
    • Lessons.
    • BIS.
    • 3.
  • Joseph Haydn

    Symphony No 35 in B flat major, Hob 1/35 (4th mvt, Finale)

    Conductor: Ádám Fischer. Orchestra: Austro-Hungarian Haydn Orchestra.
    • Haydn: The Complete Symphonies.
    • Nimbus Records.
    • 126.
  • Johann Sebastian Bach

    Suite No 1 in G major, BWV 1007, arr for piano (1st mvt, Prélude)

    Performer: Thomas Jarry. Music Arranger: Thomas Jarry.
    • Aparté.
  • Maurice Ravel

    Le tombeau de Couperin, M 68a (3rd mvt, Menuet)

    Conductor: Claudio Abbado. Orchestra: London Symphony Orchestra.
    • Ravel: Piano Concertos.
    • Deutsche Grammophon (DG).
  • Hugo Alfvén

    En skärgårdssägen, Op 20, 'A Tale from the Archipelago' (A Legend of the Skerries)

    Conductor: Neeme Järvi. Orchestra: Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra.
    • Alfven: 3 Swedish Rhapsodies.
    • BIS.
    • 4.
  • Ildebrando Pizzetti

    Messa di Requiem (1st mvt, Requiem)

    Conductor: Stefan Parkman. Orchestra: Danish National Radio Chamber Choir.
    • Chandos.
  • Claude Arrieu

    Quintette in C major (5th mvt)

    Ensemble: Ensemble Latitudes.
    • Musique française au féminin.
    • Disques Triton.
    • 5.
  • Charles-Valentin Alkan

    Etude from the Encyclopedie du pianiste Compositeur

    Performer: Mark Viner.
    • Brilliant Classics Licensing BV.
  • Maurizio Cazzati

    Capriccio sopra sette note

    Ensemble: L’Arpeggiata. Conductor: Christina Pluhar.
    • Warner Classics.
  • Gioachino Rossini

    Il barbiere di Siviglia (Largo al factotum)

    Singer: Simon Keenlyside. Conductor: Ulf Schirmer. Orchestra: Munich Radio Orchestra.
    • Tales Of Opera.
    • Sony Classical.
    • 1.
  • Xiaogang Ye

    Sichuan Image (No 22, 'A Morning Sun over Qiang Village')

    Performer: Yue Li. Conductor: José Serebrier. Orchestra: Royal Scottish National Orchestra.
    • Xiaogang Ye: Sichuan Image.
    • BIS.
    • 22.
  • Jean Françaix

    Quintette No 2 for flute, violin, viola, cello and harp (4th mvt, Rondo)

    Performer: Antoine Bareil. Performer: François Vallières. Performer: Jocelyne Roy. Performer: Raphaël Dubé. Performer: Valérie Milot.
    • V - Chamber Music for Harp.
    • Analekta.
    • 12.
  • František Xaver Pokorný

    Concerto for 2 Horns in F major (1st mvt)

    Composer: Friedrich Witt. Performer: Jacek Muzyk. Performer: Daniel Kerdelewicz. Conductor: JoAnn Falletta. Orchestra: Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra.
    • The Golden Age of the Horn: Concertos for 2 Horns.
    • Naxos Music UK Ltd.
    • 10.
  • Franz Liszt

    Transcendental Etudes, S 139 (No 5, Feux follets (Wills o' the Wisp)

    Performer: Daniil Trifonov.
    • Deutsche Grammophon (DG).
  • Lili Boulanger

    Hymne au soleil

    Performer: Antonii Baryshevskyi. Conductor: Michael Alber. Choir: Orpheus Vokalensemble.
    • Carus.
  • Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

    Violin Sonata No 22 in A major, K 305 (2nd mvt, 'Theme and Variations')

    Performer: Elena Urioste. Performer: Tom Poster.
  • Carl Nielsen

    Helios - overture Op.17

    Orchestra: Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra. Director: Esa‐Pekka Salonen.
    • Sony Classical.
  • Grace Williams

    Violin Sonata (2nd mvt)

    Performer: Madeleine Mitchell. Performer: Konstantin Lapshin.
    • Grace Williams: Chamber Music.
    • Naxos.
    • 2.
  • Ignace Joseph Pleyel

    Rondo for clarinet and basset horns, 'Presto assai'

    Ensemble: Swiss Clarinet Players.
    • CLAVES.
  • Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

    Vesperae solennes de confessore, K 339 (Laudate Dominum)

    Singer: Elin Manahan Thomas. Conductor: John Rutter. Choir: The Cambridge Singers. Orchestra: Aurora Orchestra.
    • This is the Day.
    • Collegium Records.
    • 02.
  • Antonio Vivaldi

    The Four Seasons, Violin Concerto in E major, No 1 Op 8, RV 269, 'Spring'

    Composer: Keziah Thomas. Performer: Keziah Thomas.
    • Convivium Records Limited.
  • George Frideric Handel

    Coronation Anthem, 'My Heart is Inditing', HWV261 (1st mvt, 'My heart is inditing')

    Choir: The Sixteen. Orchestra: Symphony of Harmony and Invention. Conductor: Harry Christophers.
    • Handel: Coronation Anthems.
    • Coro.
    • 2.
  • George Frideric Handel

    Coronation Anthem, 'My Heart is Inditing', HWV261 (2nd mvt, 'King's daughters')

    Choir: The Sixteen. Orchestra: Symphony of Harmony and Invention. Conductor: Harry Christophers.
    • Handel: Coronation Anthems.
    • Coro.
    • 3.
  • George Frideric Handel

    Coronation Anthem, 'My Heart is Inditing', HWV261 (3rd mvt, 'Upon thy right hand')

    Choir: The Sixteen. Orchestra: Symphony of Harmony and Invention. Conductor: Harry Christophers.
    • Handel: Coronation Anthems.
    • Coro.
    • 4.
  • George Frideric Handel

    Coronation Anthem, 'My Heart is Inditing', HWV261 (4th mvt, 'Kings shall be thy nursing fat')

    Choir: The Sixteen. Orchestra: Symphony of Harmony and Invention. Conductor: Harry Christophers.
    • Handel: Coronation Anthems.
    • Coro.
    • 5.
  • Pete Judge

    Twig, Leaf, Flint, Thorn

    Performer: Pete Judge.
    • Piano 3.
    • CRD Records.
    • 3.
  • Chick Corea

    Children's Song No 8, 'The Sky' (arr for guitar)

    Performer: Sean Shibe. Music Arranger: Forbes Henderson.
    • PentaTone Music BV.
  • Jean‐Philippe Rameau

    Platée (Ouverture)

    Conductor: Valentin Tournet. Ensemble: La Chapelle Harmonique.
    • Rameau: Platée.
    • Château de Versailles Spectacles.
    • 1.
  • Benjamin Britten

    The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra, Op 34 (Fugue)

    Conductor: Sir Simon Rattle. Orchestra: London Symphony Orchestra.
    • 25 Years of LSO Live.
    • LSO Live.
    • 4.
  • Felix Mendelssohn

    Rondo capriccioso

    Performer: Javier Perianes.
    • Harmonia Mundi.
  • Arnold Bax

    Tintagel

    Orchestra: Ulster Orchestra. Conductor: Bryden Thomson.
    • Chandos.

Broadcast

  • Yesterday 09:00