Classical Music Playlist, June 4, 2026
Jean Sibelius (circa 1940-45) | Photo: Wikipedia
Years before completing it, Jean Sibelius had thought to compose his Seventh Symphony in three movements. But the single movement work he finished in 1924 was structurally so different from a standard symphony that he initially didn't even call it a symphony but rather premiered as "Fantasia sinfonica," finally naming it "Symphony 7" when it was published. The symphony’s density of musical ideas condensed into a single movement is what led conductor Sir Simon Rattle to say about the composer, "Sibelius is so concentrated and exact. With Sibelius you feel that if one drop touched your skin it would burn right through the bone." The single-movement Sibelius Symphony No. 7 is today’s Midday Masterpiece.
6:00 a.m.
Georg Philipp Telemann
Concerto for 3 trumpets in Bb major TWV 44:43
English Chamber Orchestra; Raymond Leppard, conductor Wynton Marsalis, trumpet
6:10 a.m.
Franz Joseph Haydn
String Quartet "The Rider" in G minor Opus 74/3
Kodaly Quartet
6:33 a.m.
Edvard Grieg
Peer Gynt Suite No. 2 Opus 55
San Francisco Symphony; Herbert Blomstedt, conductor
6:51 a.m.
Antonio Vivaldi
Violin Concerto, Op. 3, No. 6 in A minor Opus 3/6 RV 356
Venice Baroque Orchestra Avi Avital, mandolin
6:59 a.m.
Hubert Parry
Symphonic Variations
London Philharmonic Orchestra; Adrian Boult, conductor
7:13 a.m.
Johann Sebastian Bach
Orchestral Suite No. 4 in D major BWV 1069
La Petite Bande; Sigiswald Kuijken, conductor
7:34 a.m.
Heitor Villa-Lobos
Prelude No. 1
Xuefei Yang, guitar
7:38 a.m.
Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky
EUGENE ONEGIN: Polonaise
Cleveland Orchestra; Christoph Von Dohnanyi, conductor
7:44 a.m.
Stanislaw Moniuszko
Bajka (The Fairy Tale): Overture
Warsaw Philharmonic; Antoni Wit, conductor
7:59 a.m.
Hamilton Harty
Fantasy Scenes
Ulster Orchestra; Takuo Yuasa, conductor
8:12 a.m.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Piano Concerto No. 25 in C major K 503
English Baroque Soloists; John Eliot Gardiner, conductor Malcolm Bilson, fortepiano
8:43 a.m.
Gabriela Lena Frank
Leyendas: VI. Coqueteos
Del Sol String Quartet
8:47 a.m.
Felix Mendelssohn
Athalia: March of the Priests Opus 74
New York Philharmonic; Leonard Bernstein, conductor
8:52 a.m.
Leo Delibes
Sylvia: Procession of Bacchus from Act III
San Francisco Symphony; Michael Tilson Thomas, conductor
9:00 a.m.
Wilhelm Peterson-Berger
Symphony No. 5 "Solitudo" in B minor
Norrkoping Symphony Orchestra; Michail Jurowski, conductor
9:29 a.m.
Cecile Chaminade
Les Sylvains (The Fauns) in D major Opus 60
Anna Shelest, piano
9:33 a.m.
Claude Debussy
Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun
Cleveland Orchestra; Pierre Boulez, conductor
9:43 a.m.
Johann Heinrich Schmelzer
Sonata Quarta, from Sonatae unarum fidium in D major
Carrie Krause, baroque violin; John Lenti, theorbo
9:54 a.m.
Antonin Dvorak
Poetic Tone Pictures: III. In the Old Castle Opus 85/3
Antonin Kubalek, piano
10:00 a.m.
George Friederich Handel
Concerto Grosso No. 2 in Bb major Opus 3/2 HWV 313
Academy of Ancient Music; Richard Egarr, conductor
10:12 a.m.
Nainita Desai
My Mind Is Still
Voces8
10:19 a.m.
Alexander Glazunov
Piano Concerto No. 2 in B major Opus 100
BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra; Martyn Brabbins, conductor Stephen Coombs, piano
10:40 a.m.
Franz Joseph Haydn
Symphony No. 39 in G minor
Heidelberg Symphony; Thomas Fey, conductor
10:59 a.m.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Clarinet Concerto in A major K 622
German Chamber Philharmonic; Florian Donderer, conductor Martin Frost, clarinet
11:28 a.m.
Dmitri Shostakovich
Jazz Suite No. 1
Concertgebouw Orchestra; Riccardo Chailly, conductor
11:37 a.m.
Georges Bizet
L'Arlesienne Suite No. 2
Ulster Orchestra; Yan Pascal Tortelier, conductor
11:55 a.m.
John Williams
Hook: Flight to Neverland
Boston Pops Orchestra; John Williams, conductor
12:01 p.m.
Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov
Capriccio Espagnol Opus 34
Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra; Neeme Jarvi, conductor
12:18 p.m.
Elena Kats-Chernin
Lullaby for Nick
Tamara-Anna Cislowska, piano; Elena Kats-Chernin, piano
12:21 p.m.
Esther Abrami
Transmissions
Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra; Irene Delgado-Jimenez, conductor Esther Abrami, violin
12:26 p.m.
Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Romeo and Juliet Fantasy Overture
Philharmonia Orchestra; Riccardo Muti, conductor
12:47 p.m.
Franz Liszt
Mephisto Waltz No. 1
Chicago Symphony Orchestra; Fritz Reiner, conductor
1:00 p.m.
Arcangelo Corelli
Concerto Grosso No. 4 in D major Opus 6
Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra; Nicholas McGegan, conductor
1:10 p.m.
Astor Piazzolla
La Muerte del Angel (Death of the Angel)
Franz Halasz, guitar
1:13 p.m.
Johannes Brahms
Hungarian Dance No. 9 in E minor
London Symphony Orchestra; Neeme Jarvi, conductor
1:17 p.m.
Jean-Baptiste Lully
Alceste Suite
Le Concert des Nations; Jordi Savall, conductor
1:39 p.m.
Ottorino Respighi
Ancient Airs and Dances: Suite No. 2
Lausanne Chamber Orchestra; Jesus Lopez-Cobos, conductor
2:00 p.m.
Jean Sibelius
Symphony No. 7 in C major Opus 105
Berlin Philharmonic; Herbert Von Karajan, conductor
2:24 p.m.
Antonio Vivaldi
Violin Concerto No. 3 in G major Opus 3/3 RV 310
Tafelmusik; Jeanne Lamon, conductor Elizabeth Wallfisch, violin
2:32 p.m.
Ludwig Van Beethoven
Piano Sonata No. 17 "Tempest": III. Allegretto in D minor Opus 31/2
Richard Goode, piano
2:38 p.m.
Antonin Dvorak
Slavonic Dance No. 8 in G minor Opus 46
Cleveland Orchestra; Christoph Von Dohnanyi, conductor
2:43 p.m.
Franz Liszt
Les Preludes (Symphonic Poem #3) S 97
Chicago Symphony Orchestra; Georg Solti, conductor
3:00 p.m.
Mikhail Glinka
Spanish Overture No. 2
BBC Philharmonic Orchestra; Vassily Sinaisky, conductor
3:10 p.m.
Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Sleeping Beauty Suite Opus 66
Philadelphia Orchestra; Riccardo Muti, conductor
3:32 p.m.
Alexander Zhuk
Ukrainian Rhapsody
Anna Shelest, piano
3:40 p.m.
Gustav Mahler
Symphony No. 5: III. Scherzo in C# minor
Berlin Philharmonic; Claudio Abbado, conductor Gerd Seifert, horn
3:59 p.m.
Kurt Atterberg
Horn Concerto Opus 28
Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra; Gerard Oskamp, conductor Albert Linder, horn
4:19 p.m.
Mohammed Fairouz
Piano Miniature No. 6, Addio
Lara Downes, piano
4:21 p.m.
Cecile Chaminade
Arabesque Opus 61
Peter Jacobs, piano
4:27 p.m.
Jan Dismas Zelenka
Capriccio No. 2 in G major Z 183
Bern Camerata; Alexander van Wijnkoop, conductor
4:41 p.m.
Giuseppe Verdi
DON CARLOS: Ballet Music
BBC Philharmonic Orchestra; Edward Downes, conductor
5:00 p.m.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Symphony No. 29 in A major K 201
The English Concert; Trevor Pinnock, conductor
5:24 p.m.
Alan Hovhaness
Symphony No. 2 "Mysterious Mountain" Opus 132
Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra; Jesus Lopez-Cobos, conductor
5:41 p.m.
George Friederich Handel
Concerto Grosso No. 2 in F major Opus 6/2 HWV 320
Handel & Haydn Society; Christopher Hogwood, conductor
5:53 p.m.
Jean Sibelius
Andante Festivo
Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra; Neeme Jarvi, conductor
6:00 p.m.
Franz Joseph Haydn
Symphony No. 48 "Maria Theresa" in C major HOB 48
Orpheus Chamber Orchestra
6:28 p.m.
Samuel Coleridge-Taylor
Romance in G major Opus 39
Chineke! Orchestra; Kevin John Edusei, conductor Elena Urioste, violin
6:39 p.m.
Fela Sowande
African Suite: Selections
Chicago Sinfonietta; Paul Freeman, conductor
6:50 p.m.
Elena Kats-Chernin
Bach Study
Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra Tamara-Anna Cislowska, piano
6:54 p.m.
Gabriel Olafs
Fantasia for cello and orchestra
Reykjavik Orchestra; Viktor Orri Arnason, conductor Steiney Sigur�ardottir, cello; Gabriel Olafs, piano
