Classical Music Playlist, February 10, 2026
There is so much to delight and wonder about Tchaikovsky’s 6th Symphony, titled “Pathètique.” He considered it his best work. And there’s the great fun of the exuberant 3rd movement false ending that often prompts audiences to burst into spontaneous applause (but that’s not the end of the symphony!). And just nine days after Tchaikovsky conducted the premiere, he was dead. Many agree that with its slow and long fade out of the final movement, the symphony is a reflection on death, but is the symphony a premonition of HIS OWN death? And just how did he die? Was it suicide? Tchaikovsky’s “Pathétique” Symphony No. 6 is today’s Midday Masterpiece.
6:00 a.m.
Antonio Vivaldi
Recorder Concerto in C minor RV 441
Camerata Koln
6:11 a.m.
Sergei Rachmaninoff
Sonata for Cello and Piano in G minor Opus 19
Yo Yo Ma, cello; Emanuel Ax, piano
6:51 a.m.
Astor Piazzolla
Baires Promenade
Cortango
6:54 a.m.
Astor Piazzolla
Libertango
Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra; Edward Gardner, conductor Alison Balsom, trumpet
7:00 a.m.
George Friederich Handel
Concerto Grosso No. 2 in F major Opus 6/2 HWV 320
Boston Baroque; Martin Pearlman, conductor
7:12 a.m.
Ludwig Van Beethoven
Piano Concerto No. 3 in C minor Opus 37
Staatskapelle Dresden; Hans Vonk, conductor Christian Zacharias, piano
7:47 a.m.
John Williams
Superman: Main Title
London Symphony Orchestra; John Williams, conductor
7:53 a.m.
Mikhail Glinka
RUSLAN AND LUDMILA: Overture
Los Angeles Philharmonic; Andre Previn, conductor
7:59 a.m.
Frederic Chopin
Piano Concerto No. 2: I. Maestoso in F minor Opus 21
Mahler Chamber Orchestra; Mikhail Pletnev, conductor Daniil Trifonov, piano
8:16 a.m.
Joseph Kraus
Sinfonia in Eb major VB 144
Concerto Koln
8:38 a.m.
Johan Helmich Roman
The Drottningholm Music (4)
Stockholm Museum Chamber Orchestra; Claude Genetay, conductor
8:52 a.m.
Johann Christian Bach
Symphony in G major Opus 8/2
Hanover Band; Anthony Halstead, conductor
9:00 a.m.
Johann Nepomuk Hummel
Piano Concerto No. 2 in A minor Opus 85
English Chamber Orchestra; Bryden Thomson, conductor Stephen Hough, piano
9:32 a.m.
Antonio Vivaldi
Flute Concerto No. 1 "La Tempesta di Mare" (The Storm at Sea) in F major Opus 10 RV 433
Australian Chamber Orchestra; Richard Tognetti, conductor Emmanuel Pahud, flute
9:39 a.m.
Ernest Bloch
Concerto Grosso No. 2 for strings
San Diego Chamber Orchestra; Donald Barra, conductor
10:00 a.m.
Camille Saint-Saens
SAMSON ET DELILA: Bacchanale Opus 47
Minnesota Orchestra; Eiji Oue, conductor
10:08 a.m.
Alberic Magnard
Symphony No. 4 in C# minor Opus 21
BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra; Jean-Yves Ossonce, conductor
10:45 a.m.
Amy Beach
Violin Sonata: III. Largo in E minor Opus 34
Neave Trio; Odaline de la Martinez, conductor Tasmin Little, violin; John Lenehan, piano
10:53 a.m.
Franz Schubert
Impromptu No. 2 in Eb major Opus 90/2 D 899
Andras Schiff, piano
10:59 a.m.
Claudio Monteverdi
Monteverdiana
Los Angeles Guitar Quartet
11:07 a.m.
Frederick Delius
On Hearing the First Cuckoo in Spring
Northern Sinfonia of England; Richard Hickox, conductor
11:15 a.m.
Johannes Brahms
Clarinet Quintet in B minor Opus 115
Pacifica Quartet Anthony McGill, clarinet
11:54 a.m.
Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky
EUGENE ONEGIN: Polonaise
New York Philharmonic; Leonard Bernstein, conductor
12:00 p.m.
Frederic Chopin
Concert Rondo "Krakowiak" in F major Opus 14
Warsaw Philharmonic; Kazimierz Kord, conductor Garrick Ohlsson, piano
12:16 p.m.
Samuel Barber
Adagio for Strings Opus 11
Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra; Leonard Slatkin, conductor
12:24 p.m.
Charles Gounod
Symphony No. 1 in D major
Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra; Christopher Hogwood, conductor
12:53 p.m.
Alexander Glazunov
Symphony No. 6: III. Intermezzo in C minor Opus 58
BBC Welsh Symphony Orchestra; Tadaaki Otaka, conductor
12:59 p.m.
Alexander Borodin
PRINCE IGOR: Polovetsian Dances
Atlanta Symphony Orchestra; Robert Shaw, conductor Atlanta Symphony Chorus; Robert Shaw Festival Singers
1:12 p.m.
Xuefei Yang
Xinjiang Fantasy
Xuefei Yang, guitar
1:17 p.m.
Johann Sebastian Bach
Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring
Voces8; Eric Whitacre, conductor Nelson Freire, piano
1:22 p.m.
Ludwig Van Beethoven
Symphony No. 2 in D major Opus 36
Orchestre Revolutionnaire et Romantique; John Eliot Gardiner, conductor
1:56 p.m.
Camargo Mozart Guarnieri
Brazilian Dance (Dansa Brasiliera)
Simon Bolivar Orchestra; Maximiano Valdez, conductor
2:00 p.m.
Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Symphony No. 6 "Pathetique" in B minor Opus 74
Philharmonia Orchestra; Riccardo Muti, conductor
2:47 p.m.
Teresa Carreno
Nocturne, "Souvenirs de mon pays"
Alexandra Oehler, piano
2:55 p.m.
Manuel de Falla
EL AMOR BRUJO: Ritual Fire Dance
S. W. German Radio Symphony Orchestra; Jose Serebrier, conductor
3:01 p.m.
Antonin Dvorak
My Home Overture Opus 62
Los Angeles Philharmonic; Andre Previn, conductor
3:11 p.m.
Bear McCreary
Battlestar Galactica: Dreilide Thrace Sonata No. 1
Bear McCreary, piano
3:17 p.m.
Aaron Copland
Rodeo: Hoe-Down
Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra; Leonard Slatkin, conductor
3:22 p.m.
Arthur Foote
Piano Trio No. 2 in Bb major Opus 65
Neave Trio
3:45 p.m.
Leos Janacek
Suite (Serenade) Opus 3
Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra; Libor Pesek, conductor
3:59 p.m.
Stanislaw Moniuszko
Bajka (The Fairy Tale): Overture
Warsaw Philharmonic; Antoni Wit, conductor
4:14 p.m.
Sergei Rachmaninoff
Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini in G minor Opus 43
San Francisco Symphony; Edo de Waart, conductor Zoltan Kocsis, piano
4:37 p.m.
Gabriel Faure
Pavane Opus 50
Seattle Symphony; Ludovic Morlot, conductor
4:44 p.m.
Benjamin Britten
Matinees musicales (Suite after Rossini) Opus 24
National Philharmonic Orchestra; Richard Bonynge, conductor
4:59 p.m.
Ludwig Van Beethoven
Symphony No. 4 in Bb major Opus 60
Royal Liverpool Philharmonic; Charles Mackerras, conductor
5:31 p.m.
Jacob Gade
Copenhagen Life, Waltz
Odense Symphony Orchestra; Matthias Aeschbacher, conductor
5:37 p.m.
Frederic Chopin
Piano Concerto No. 1: III. Rondo in E minor Opus 11
Mahler Chamber Orchestra; Mikhail Pletnev, conductor Daniil Trifonov, piano
5:47 p.m.
Andrea Zani
Cello Concerto No. 8 in C minor
Cologne Academy; Michael Alexander Willens, conductor Martin Rummel, cello
6:00 p.m.
Anton Reicha
Wind Quintet, Op. 88, No. 6 in F major Opus 88/6
Michael Thompson Wind Quintet
6:34 p.m.
Gustav Mahler
Symphony No. 5: I. Trauermarsch (Funeral March) in C# minor
Berlin Philharmonic; Claudio Abbado, conductor
6:47 p.m.
Igor Stravinsky
Fireworks (Feu d'artifice) Opus 4
Seattle Symphony; Gerard Schwarz, conductor
6:52 p.m.
Cui Shiguang
Mountain Spring
Li Fan, piano
