'Classical music was the soundtrack of my childhood' - Good Morning Britain's Charlotte Hawkins on her compilation album

Early risers will know Charlotte Hawkins best for her job as a presenter on ITV’s Good Morning Britain.

But in the past three years she has moved into radio as well, helming her own show at Classic FM. Her Smooth Classics at Seven programme, broadcast on Sunday evenings, showcases her love of classical music – a fondness she has had since childhood.

Now she has taken things a step further, by curating Mindful Moments, the first of what is intended to be a series of compilation albums on Sony Classical. “I’ve grown up with classical music, it was the soundtrack of my childhood,” says the 45-year-old, who also appeared in the 2017 series of Strictly Come Dancing.

“My dad was a vicar, he would blast classical music out at every opportunity, and I had loads of friends who were interested in classical music but didn’t know where to start. I thought there was something here because where do you go with that introduction to classical music if you don’t know anything about it, so I wanted to pull together some of my favourite pieces to be able to share them with other people, so that’s where the partnership with Sony came about.”

Hawkins says everything was brought into focus by the Covid-19 pandemic “which has been so shocking and devastating for so many people”.

“For me, it was a change of circumstances, just coping with a crazy schedule from the newsroom point of view with this story that was ever-present that we had to deal with on a daily basis and also try to do other things like home schooling, it was a challenge in itself at times, and these particular pieces of music were ones that definitely helped me through it.

“It’s an intensely personal selection that I put together and I thought long and hard about what pieces should go in and what order, I wanted to create the right emotional response.

“I wanted it to allow people to have a bit of musical escapism, to have the right tempo pieces of music, but I didn’t want it to be too despondent, I wanted it to have that uplifting feeling at the same time.

“I just think for me having that time to take yourself out of a situation and let the music wash over you, have that feeling of mindfulness.

“Music is good for the soul and I truly believe in the restorative powers of music, and I guarantee that anyone listening to this selection of music will feel better as a consequence.”

Alongside pieces “that people will know and love” from Debussy, Elgar, Beethoven and Bach are “some more recent musical gems that people may not have heard of” by contemporary composers such as Alexis Ffrench, Ludovico Einaudi, Hans Zimmer and Yann Tiersen.

Hawkins, who played multiple instruments in childhood herself, says her five-year-old daughter Ella Rose provided a sounding board. “She is good at having an emotional response to a piece of music.

“Sometimes with those slower pieces of classical music they can make you feel a bit sad, so I’d say to her, ‘Thumbs up or thumbs down, I’m going to play you a piece of music, I want it to be calming and relaxing but I want it to make you feel happy’.

“I’d play it and I’d get a thumbs-up or she’d say, ‘Mummy, it makes me feel a bit sad or a bit scared’. Some of the ones in a minor key have that creepy feeling about them. So we worked really hard together to make what was exactly the right selection of music.

“I’m so excited to be able to share it with people, and I think at this time more than ever, I really wanted to send out a musical hug to anybody who needs it right now.

“This music has helped me and I just hoped that it will do the same for other people.”

Mindful Moments is out now on Sony Classical.

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