Classical Music Playlist, June 2, 2026
For a lazy afternoon’s idle amusement, composer Edward Elgar improvised a new melody on the piano then explored variations on it that he thought musically resembled some of his friends. His wife, Alice, suggested he should make those tinkerings into a proper composition. And thus were born Edward Elgar’s “Enigma Variations,” today’s Midday Masterpiece in honor of Elgar’s 1857 birthday today.
6:00 a.m.
Francois Devienne
Flute Concerto No. 1
Swedish Chamber Orchestra Patrick Gallois, flute
6:18 a.m.
Jan Dussek
Piano Concerto, Op. 29 in C major Opus 29
Ulster Orchestra; Howard Shelley, conductor Howard Shelley, piano
6:42 a.m.
Gustav Mahler
Symphony No. 5: IV. Adagietto in C# minor
Philharmonia Orchestra; Benjamin Zander, conductor
6:52 a.m.
Jean-Philippe Rameau
Les Indes Galantes: Chaconne
Orchestre de la Chapelle Royale; Philippe Herreweghe, conductor
7:00 a.m.
Hector Berlioz
Roman Carnival Overture Opus 9
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra; David Zinman, conductor
7:10 a.m.
Mauro Giuliani
Guitar Concerto No. 3 in F major Opus 70
Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields; Neville Marriner, conductor Pepe Romero, guitar
7:39 a.m.
Antonio Vivaldi
Violin Concerto No. 11 in D major Opus 4/11 RV 204
Academy of Ancient Music; Christopher Hogwood, conductor Monica Huggett, violin
7:45 a.m.
Antonin Dvorak
RUSALKA: Polonaise in Eb major
Prague Philharmonia; Jakub Hrusa, conductor
7:52 a.m.
Jean Sibelius
Overture in A minor
Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra; Neeme Jarvi, conductor
8:00 a.m.
Gustav Holst
Suite No. 1 in Eb major Opus 28
North Texas Wind Symphony; Eugene Corporon, conductor
8:12 a.m.
Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Swan Lake Suite Opus 20
Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra; Herbert Von Karajan, conductor
8:39 a.m.
Robert de Visee
Sarabande, Gavotte and Chaconne
George England, baroque guitar
8:44 a.m.
Arthur Foote
Serenade: Gavotte Opus 25
Seattle Symphony; Gerard Schwarz, conductor
8:49 a.m.
Robert Schumann
Julius Caesar Overture Opus 128
London Symphony Orchestra; Neeme Jarvi, conductor
8:59 a.m.
Franz Joseph Haydn
Symphony No. 31 "Hornsignal" in D major
Lausanne Chamber Orchestra; Jesus Lopez-Cobos, conductor
9:28 a.m.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Piano Sonata No. 14 in C minor K 457 (FROM THE RUSSELL KLETZING COLLECTION)
Mitsuko Uchida, piano
9:47 a.m.
Antonio Vivaldi
Concerto for viola d'amore and lute in D minor RV 540
Parley of Instruments; Roy Goodman, conductor Paul O'Dette, lute; Roy Goodman, viola d'amore
10:00 a.m.
Sergei Prokofiev
Piano Concerto No. 1 in Db major Opus 10
Cleveland Orchestra; George Szell, conductor Gary Graffman, piano
10:16 a.m.
Alberic Magnard
Symphony No. 3 in Bb minor Opus 11
BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra; Jean-Yves Ossonce, conductor
10:55 a.m.
Claude Debussy
Scottish March (Marche Ecossaise)
Lyon National Orchestra; Jun Markl, conductor
11:02 a.m.
Carl Maria Von Weber
Bassoon Concerto in F major Opus 75
Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields; Neville Marriner, conductor Klaus Thunemann, bassoon
11:20 a.m.
Maurice Ravel
Miroirs: Alborada del gracioso (Morning Song of the Jester)
London Symphony Orchestra; Claudio Abbado, conductor
11:29 a.m.
Franz Liszt
Piano Concerto No. 2 in A major
Budapest Festival Orchestra; Ivan Fischer, conductor Zoltan Kocsis, piano
11:50 a.m.
George Friederich Handel
Concerto Grosso No. 3 in G major Opus 3/3 HWV 314
Academy of Ancient Music; Richard Egarr, conductor
11:59 a.m.
Mikhail Glinka
Valse Fantasie
Detroit Symphony Orchestra; Neeme Jarvi, conductor
12:10 p.m.
Johann Sebastian Bach
Art of the Fugue: Contrapunctus No. 9 BWV 1080
Les Violons du Roy; Bernard Labadie, conductor
12:13 p.m.
Gustav Holst
Brook Green Suite Opus 190
English Chamber Orchestra; Steuart Bedford, conductor
12:22 p.m.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Piano Concerto No. 23 in A major K 488
English Baroque Soloists; John Eliot Gardiner, conductor Malcolm Bilson, fortepiano
12:49 p.m.
Antonin Dvorak
Violin Concerto: III. Allegro giocoso ma non troppo (Finale) in A minor Opus 53
London Philharmonic Orchestra; Daniel Barenboim, conductor Itzhak Perlman, violin
1:00 p.m.
Georg Philipp Telemann
Tafelmusik II: Concerto for 3 violins in F major
Musica Antiqua Koln; Reinhardt Goebel, conductor Members of...
1:15 p.m.
Connor Chee
Navajo Vocable No. 9
Emanuele Arciuli, piano
1:18 p.m.
Louis Moreau Gottschalk
Souvenir de Porto Rico Opus 31
Alan Feinberg, piano
1:25 p.m.
Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach
Oboe Concerto in Eb major Wq 165 / H 468
Freiburg Baroque Orchestra; Thomas Hengelbrock, conductor Peter Westermann, oboe; Andreas Staier, harpsichord
1:50 p.m.
Anatol Liadov
The Enchanted Lake Opus 62
London Symphony Orchestra; Neeme Jarvi, conductor
2:00 p.m.
Edward Elgar
Enigma Variations Opus 36
London Symphony Orchestra; Pierre Monteux, conductor
2:30 p.m.
Ralph Vaughan Williams
The Lark Ascending
Philharmonia Orchestra; Andrew Litton, conductor Anne Akiko Meyers, violin
2:46 p.m.
Felix Mendelssohn
Calm Sea and Prosperous Voyage Overture Opus 27
Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra; Christoph Von Dohnanyi, conductor
3:00 p.m.
Maurice Ravel
Mother Goose Suite
Boston Symphony Orchestra; Charles Munch, conductor
3:19 p.m.
Amy Beach
FOUR SKETCHES: 4. Fire-flies Opus 15
Joanne Polk, piano
3:23 p.m.
Philip Glass
Etude 6
Vikingur Olafsson, piano
3:28 p.m.
Antonio Vivaldi
Concerto for two violins, Op. 3, No. 8 in A minor Opus 3 RV 522
Tafelmusik; Jeanne Lamon, conductor Jeanne Lamon, violin; Genevieve Gilardeau, violin
3:39 p.m.
Edvard Grieg
Lyric Suite Opus 54
Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra; Neeme Jarvi, conductor
3:59 p.m.
Johann Sebastian Bach
Keyboard Concerto No. 7 in G minor BWV 1058
Australian Chamber Orchestra Angela Hewitt, piano
4:14 p.m.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Symphony No. 35 "Haffner" in D major K 385
Scottish Chamber Orchestra; Jukka-Pekka Saraste, conductor
4:38 p.m.
J. P. E. Hartmann
Hakon Jarl Opus 40
Danish National Symphony Orchestra; Thomas Dausgaard, conductor
4:49 p.m.
Ralph Vaughan Williams
Wasps: Overture
Royal Liverpool Philharmonic; James Judd, conductor
5:00 p.m.
Franz Schubert
Symphony No. 5 in Bb major D 485
Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields; Neville Marriner, conductor
5:28 p.m.
Teresa Carreno
Reverie-Impromptu Opus 3
Alexandra Oehler, piano
5:35 p.m.
Sergei Rachmaninoff
Vocalise Opus 34/14
Orchestra of St. Luke's; Michael Stern, conductor Joshua Bell, violin
5:42 p.m.
Benjamin Britten
Gloriana: Courtly Dances
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra; Andre Previn, conductor
5:54 p.m.
Johann Sebastian Bach
2 Gavottes in G minor BWV 995
Sharon Isbin, guitar
5:58 p.m.
George Frederick Bristow
Symphony No. 3 in F# minor Opus 26
Detroit Symphony Orchestra; Neeme Jarvi, conductor
6:33 p.m.
Andrea Falconieri
Folias echa para mi Senora
Chatham Baroque
6:38 p.m.
Malcolm Forsyth
Golyardes' Grounde
Canadian Brass
6:42 p.m.
Bela Bartok
Romanian Folk Dances SZ 68
Orpheus Chamber Orchestra
6:49 p.m.
Agustin Bardi
Gallo Ciego blind rooster
Apollo Chamber Players Hector del Curto, bandoneon
6:53 p.m.
Xavier Dubois Foley
Shelter Island
Randall Goosby, violin; Xavier Dubois Foley, double bass
