Classical Music Playlist, December 4, 2025
Finnish composer Jean Sibelius was virtually the only person from Finland known to the world for many years. As such, he was so revered in his home country that the Finnish government commissioned Sibelius to compose a new symphony, his Fifth, for the celebrations of his own 50th birthday in 1915 which was declared a national holiday. The Sibelius Symphony No. 5 is today’s Midday Masterpiece.
6:00 a.m.
Arcangelo Corelli
Concerto Grosso No. 11 in Bb major Opus 6
The English Concert; Trevor Pinnock, conductor
6:11 a.m.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Flute & Harp Concerto in C major K 299
Berlin Philharmonic; Claudio Abbado, conductor Emmanuel Pahud, flute; Marie-Pierre Langlamet, harp
6:40 a.m.
Francesco Tristano
Toccata
Arctic Philharmonic; Christian Kluxen, conductor Francesco Tristano, piano
6:43 a.m.
Diego Ortiz
Recercada No. 2
Daniel Hope, violin; and friends
6:46 a.m.
Carlos Baguer
Symphony No. 13 in Eb major
London Mozart Players; Matthias Bamert, conductor
7:00 a.m.
Giovanni Paisiello
Concerto for Mandolin in Eb major
Il Giardino Armonico; Giovanni Antonini, conductor Avi Avital, mandolin
7:18 a.m.
Joseph Kraus
Sinfonie in D major VB 143
Concerto Koln
7:38 a.m.
Antonin Dvorak
Symphony No. 5: III. Scherzo in F major Opus 76
Czech Philharmonic Orchestra; Vaclav Neumann, conductor
7:47 a.m.
Bedrich Smetana
Ma Vlast: IV. From Bohemia's Woods and Meadows
Janacek Philharmonic; Theodore Kuchar, conductor
8:01 a.m.
Frederic Chopin
Fantasia on Polish Airs in A major Opus 13
Warsaw Philharmonic; Antoni Wit, conductor Eldar Nebolsin, piano
8:17 a.m.
Johann Sebastian Bach
Brandenburg Concerto No. 2 in F major BWV 1047
European Brandenburg Ensemble; Trevor Pinnock, conductor
8:32 a.m.
Alexander Borodin
PRINCE IGOR: Polovetsian Dances
Bavarian Radio Symphony & Chorus; Esa-Pekka Salonen, conductor
8:48 a.m.
Jean Sibelius
Finlandia Opus 26
Helsinki Philharmonic; Paavo Berglund, conductor
8:58 a.m.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Serenade for Winds in Eb major K 375
Winds of the Chamber Orchestra of Europe
9:24 a.m.
Antonio Vivaldi
Four Seasons: Autumn (L'Autunno) in F major Opus 8 RV 293
Boston Baroque; Martin Pearlman, conductor Christina Day Martinson, violin
9:38 a.m.
Giuseppe Verdi
NABUCCO Overture (Sinfonia)
Philharmonic of La Scala; Riccardo Muti, conductor
9:48 a.m.
Ralph Vaughan Williams
Wasps: Overture
Royal Liverpool Philharmonic; James Judd, conductor
10:00 a.m.
Antonin Dvorak
Czech Suite Opus 39
Prague Philharmonia; Jakub Hrusa, conductor
10:26 a.m.
Anton Arensky
Piano Quintet: Scherzo Opus 51
Ying Quartet Adam Neiman, piano
10:37 a.m.
Richard Strauss
Serenade in Eb major Opus 7
Seattle Symphony; Gerard Schwarz, conductor
10:50 a.m.
Johannes Brahms
Symphony No. 2: IV. Allegro con spirito in D major Opus 73
Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra; Riccardo Chailly, conductor
11:00 a.m.
Johann Strauss, Jr.
Morning Papers Opus 279 (Morgenblatter)
Chicago Symphony Orchestra; Fritz Reiner, conductor
11:12 a.m.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Piano Concerto No. 27 in Bb major K 595
Orpheus Chamber Orchestra Richard Goode, piano
11:45 a.m.
Manuel Ponce
Romantic Sonata: III. Musical Moment (Sonata romantica "Hommage a Franz Schubert")
Marcin Dylla, guitar
11:48 a.m.
Franz Schubert
Moments Musicaux No. 3 in F minor Opus 94 D 780
Radu Lupu, piano
11:54 a.m.
Leo Delibes
Sylvia: Procession of Bacchus from Act III
San Francisco Symphony; Michael Tilson Thomas, conductor
12:01 p.m.
Michael Torke
Javelin
Atlanta Symphony Orchestra; Yoel Levi, conductor
12:13 p.m.
Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Swan Lake Suite Opus 20
Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra; Herbert Von Karajan, conductor
12:42 p.m.
Georges Bizet
CARMEN: Habanera: L'amour est un oiseau.
L'Orchestre de la Suisse Romande; Choeur du Grand Theatre de Geneve; Thomas Schippers, conductor Regina Resnik, mezzo-soprano
12:46 p.m.
Karen LeFrak
Habanera Nights
Sharon Isbin, guitar; ...and friends
12:53 p.m.
John Williams
Hook: Flight to Neverland
Boston Pops Orchestra; John Williams, conductor
1:00 p.m.
Sergei Prokofiev
Symphony No. 1 "Classical" in D major Opus 25
Chamber Orchestra of Europe; Claudio Abbado, conductor
1:17 p.m.
Clara Schumann
Piano Concerto in A minor Opus 7
Royal Liverpool Philharmonic; Holly Mathieson, conductor Isata Kanneh-Mason, piano
1:41 p.m.
Edvard Grieg
String Quartet No. 2 (unfinished): II. Allegro scherzando in F major
Oslo Camerata; Stephan Barratt-Due, conductor
1:52 p.m.
Johann Sebastian Bach
Sinfonia (Konzertsatz) in D major BWV 1045
Brandenburg Consort; Roy Goodman, conductor
2:00 p.m.
Jean Sibelius
Symphony No. 5 in Eb major Opus 82
San Francisco Symphony; Herbert Blomstedt, conductor
2:33 p.m.
Camille Saint-Saens
Carnival of the Animals: The Swan (Le Cygne)
Sheku Kanneh-Mason, cello; Isata Kanneh-Mason, piano; Jeneba Kanneh-Mason, piano
2:39 p.m.
Florence Price
Dances in the Canebrakes
Chicago Sinfonietta; Mei-Ann Chen, conductor
2:52 p.m.
Cecile Chaminade
Concertino Opus 107
Residentie Orkest Den Haag; Neeme Jarvi, conductor Sharon Bezaly, flute
3:02 p.m.
Gabriel Faure
Piano Quartet No. 2: IV. Finale - Allegro molto in G minor Opus 45
Yo Yo Ma, cello; Emanuel Ax, piano; Isaac Stern, violin; Jaime Laredo, viola
3:15 p.m.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Symphony No. 39 in Eb major K 543
Scottish Chamber Orchestra; Charles Mackerras, conductor
3:48 p.m.
Claude Debussy
Clair de lune ("Moonlight")
Hayato Sumino, piano
3:56 p.m.
Gaspar Sanz
Canarios
Chatham Baroque
4:01 p.m.
Franz Liszt
Hungarian Fantasy
London Symphony Orchestra; Jun'ichi Hirokami, conductor Barry Douglas, piano
4:20 p.m.
Johann Sebastian Bach
Brandenburg Concerto No. 1 in F major BWV 1046
Boston Baroque; Martin Pearlman, conductor
4:42 p.m.
Johann Strauss, Jr.
Blue Danube Waltz Opus 314
Chicago Symphony Orchestra; Fritz Reiner, conductor
4:54 p.m.
Leonard Bernstein
CANDIDE: Overture
New York Philharmonic; Leonard Bernstein, conductor
5:00 p.m.
Robert Schumann
Symphony No. 3 "Rhenish" in Eb major Opus 97
Orchestre Revolutionnaire et Romantique; John Eliot Gardiner, conductor
5:31 p.m.
Xuefei Yang
Xinjiang Fantasy
Xuefei Yang, guitar
5:38 p.m.
Antonin Dvorak
My Home Overture Opus 62
Los Angeles Philharmonic; Andre Previn, conductor
5:49 p.m.
Leos Janacek
Moravian Dances
Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra; Libor Pesek, conductor
6:00 p.m.
Camille Saint-Saens
Piano Quartet in Bb major Opus 41
Fine Arts Quartet Cristina Ortiz, piano
6:34 p.m.
Ingolf Dahl
Music for Brass Instruments: Intermezzo
New World Brass; Michael Tilson Thomas, conductor
6:39 p.m.
Camargo Mozart Guarnieri
Enchantment (Encantamento)
Simon Bolivar Orchestra; Maximiano Valdez, conductor
6:47 p.m.
Adolphus Hailstork
Deep River: Rhapsody for String Quartet
Apollo Chamber Players Hector del Curto, bandoneon
