Classical music for focus and inspiration

“A woozy version of Donald Byrd's Cristo Redentor opens tonight's Mixtape, a work Byrd described as "a modern hymnal... approaching this tradition with respect and great pleasure". The gallant double bouree of JS Bach's Cello Suite No 3 in C major BWV 1009 next, a rollicking nonet by Louise Farrenc - the only woman to hold a full chair at the Paris Conservatoire in the 18th century - and Shostakovich's unashamedly heart-on-his-sleeve Romance from The Gadfly. Then Toumani and Sidiki Diabate's chiming koras follow the "perfect love and adoration" of Gavin Bryars's Lauda Dami conforto, Dio - Give me comfort, O God, and joy. And to end, the sprightly finale from Haydn's Symphony No 53, "L'Impériale".”