Eurovision 2023: classical music from every finalist country

BBC Radio 3 has compiled a playlist featuring classical music from all 26 nations competing in the Eurovision 2023 Grand Final - and it's available on BBC Sounds

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Published: May 12, 2023 at 11:55 am

Pictured above: Austrian-Moldovan violinist Patricia Kopatchinskaja, who features on the piece representing Moldova in Radio 3's Eurovision playlist

BBC Radio 3's Breakfast show has compiled a special Eurovision-themed playlist, featuring classical music from each of the 26 countries performing at the 2023 Eurovision Song Contest Grand Final.

The playlist was broadcast in full during the Breakfast show on Friday 12 May. It's now available on BBC Sounds, at https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m001lkmf

'Eurovision provided Radio 3 with the perfect opportunity for a Breakfast journey,' says Radio 3 Breakfast presenter Petroc Trelawny. 'It includes some of the finalist countries are places we visit regularly - France, Germany, Austria and Italy.

'But it was so good to mine the musical riches of Cyprus, Moldova, Albania and Australia too. And it seems that on a Venn diagram of Radio 3 listeners and Eurovision fans, there is more crossover than you might expect.'

Radio 3 Breakfast presenter Petroc Trelawny: 'It seems that on a Venn diagram of Radio 3 listeners and Eurovision fans, there is more crossover than you might expect.' Pic: BBC / Jude Edginton

The full playlist is as follows:

Classical music from all 26 Eurovision 2023 Finalists

Norway

Edvard Grieg

Peer Gynt: Morning Mood

Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra / Edward Gardner (Chandos)

Israel

Paul Ben-Haim

Berceuse sfaradite

Itzhak Perlman (violin) / Samuel Sanders (piano) (EMI)

Portugal

Pedro de Cristo

Ave maris stellapor

Cupertinos (choir) / Luís Toscano (Hyperion)

Serbia

Dušan Bogdanović

Chaconne & Gigue (inspired by Bach)

Thibaut Garcia (guitar) (Warner Classics)

From the album Bach Inspirations (Warner Classics)

Germany

Johann Sebastian Bach

Sinfonia [fragment] in D major BWV.1045

Berlin Academy for Early Music / Bernhard Forck

From the album J.S. Bach: Violin Concertos (Harmonia Mundi)

Czech Republic

Antonín Dvořák

Slavonic Dance in E minor, Op 72 No 10

Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra / Rafael Kubelík (Deutsche Grammophon)

Cyprus

Hieronymos Tragodistēs

O Great Pascha

Cappella Romana / Alexander Lingas

From the album

Sweden

Traditional Swedish

Du Ar Den Forsta

Anna Maria Friman / Arve Henriksen / Trio Mediæval

From the album TRIO MEDIAEVAL & ARVE HENRIKSEN (ECM)

Croatia

Dora Pejačević

Snow drops; Lilies of the Valley; Forget-me-not (Lives of Flowers)

Nataša Veljković.

From the album PEJAČEVIĆ: COMPLETE PIANO WORKS (CPO)

Lithuania

Leopold Godowsky

Old Vienna

Jascha Heifetz / Milton Kaye

From the album HEIFETZ ENCORES (RCA RED SEAL)

Switzerland

Ernest Bloch

Jewish Song (Jewish Life)

Edgar Moreau (cello) / Luzerner Sinfonieorchester / Michael Sanderling

From the album TRANSMISSION (WARNER CLASSICS)

Finland

Jean Sibelius

Karelia Suite

Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra / Leif Segerstam

From the album CLASSICAL IMAGES FROM FINLAND (ONDINE)

Austria

Franz Schubert

String Quintet in C (4th mvt)

Heinrich Schiff / Hagen Quartett (Deutsche Grammophon)

Italy

Antonio Vivaldi

Concerto in E minor, RV.133

Adrian Chandler / La Serenissima

From the album VIVALDI: THE FRENCH CONNECTION 2 (AVIE)

Ukraine

Valentin Silvestrov

Prayer for Ukraine (Maidan)

Kyiv Chamber Choir / Mykola Hobdych

From the album VALENTIN SILVESTROV: MAIDAN (ECM NEW SERIES)

Eurovision Signature Tune

MarcAntoine Charpentier

Te Deum H.146 (Prelude)

Les Arts Florissants / William Christie.

From the album CHARPENTIER: TE DEUM: LES ARTS FLORISSANTS, WILLIAM CHRISTIE (HARMONIA MUNDI)

Spain

Isaac Albéniz

Castilla (Suite espagnola)

Alicia de Larrocha (DECCA)

Slovenia

Fran Gerbič

In the Night

Bernarda Fink (soprano) / Marcos Fink (bass baritone) / Anthony Spiri (piano)

From the album SLOVENIJA! (HARMONIA MUNDI)

Moldova

Patricia Kopatchinskaja (pictured top), Emilia Kopatchinskaja & Viktor Kopatchinsky

Calusari

From the album RAPSODIA (NAIVE)

UK (sequence)

Wales

William Mathias

Fanfare

Richard Lea

England

John Foulds

Puppet Ballet Suite: I. Prelude

BBC Concert Orchestra / Ronald Corp.

From the album JOHN FOULDS, VOL. 4 (DUTTON EPOCH)

Scotland and Northern Ireland

Phil Coulter (composer, Scotland) / Bill Martin (lyricist, Northern Ireland)

Puppet On A String

Sandie Shaw

Belgium

Henri Vieuxtemps

Viola Sonata in B flat major Op.36 (2nd mvt)

Antoine Tamestit (viola) / Cédric Tiberghien (piano)

From the album BEL CANTO: THE VOICE OF THE VIOLA (HARMONIA MUNDI)

Armenia

Aram Khachaturian

Sabre Dance from Gayane

Vienna Philharmonic Orchestrea / Aram Khachaturian.

Fron the album LEGENDS - KHACHATURIAN: SPARTACUS (DECCA)

Armenian composer Aram Khachaturian

Australia

Nardi Simpson

Of Stars and Birds

Ensemble Offspring.

From the album WOMEN OF NOTE VOL. 3 (ABC CLASSICS)

Estonia

Arvo Pärt

Darf ich...

Viktoria Mullova (violin) / Estonian National Symphony Orchestra / Paavo Järvi

Albania

St. John Koukouzeles

Glory to the Father

Sofia Boys' Choir

From the album JOHN KOUKOUZELES (GEGA NEW)

France

Camille Saint-Saëns

Symphony No 3: 'Organ Symphony' (Finale)

Noel Rawsthorne (organ) / Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra / Loris Tjeknavorian

From the album SAINT-SAENS: SYMPHONY NO.3, DANSE, CARNIVAL (REGIS)

Poland

Frédéric Chopin

Polonaise in A major, Op 40 No 1, 'Military'

Vladimir Ashkenazy (piano)

From the album CHOPIN: POLONAISES: VLADIMIR ASHKENAZY (DECCA)

BBC Radio 3's Eurovision playlist is available on BBC Sounds at https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m001lkmf

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