# Classic FM Hall of Fame



## Stoneybatter (Dec 30, 2020)

Every year Classic FM take a poll of their listeners' favourite works. This year they have collated 25 years of votes into a list of the top 300.

Obviously there's a lot of great things here. It's certainly interesting to have such a detailed popular canon.


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## Handelian (Nov 18, 2020)

I know people can be a bit snooty about classic FM but I enjoy it when driving or when getting the dinner. The music is constantly changing and so if you don’t care for a piece you don’t have to put up with it too long. The top 300 of course is about popularity and not necessarily about how great the music is. I mean no one would put Pachabel’s canon in their top 12 greatest works, for all its pleasantness!


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## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

Almost every county has the same list, only others taste.


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## Fabulin (Jun 10, 2019)

I don't see any pattern to it. What a strange ordering


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## Dorsetmike (Sep 26, 2018)

My gripe about it is they rarely play anything not in the top 300, just same old same old boooooooooring


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## Animal the Drummer (Nov 14, 2015)

I actually don't mind that because otherwise I spend relatively little time listening to that kind of repertoire. What exercises me more is their smarmy "house style" of presenting, which sets my teeth on edge.


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## Handelian (Nov 18, 2020)

Animal the Drummer said:


> I actually don't mind that because otherwise I spend relatively little time listening to that kind of repertoire. What exercises me more is their smarmy "house style" of presenting, which sets my teeth on edge.


It is a style of popular presenting. It is quite deliberate in order to contrast with the more serious classical stations. Right at the beginning the owner told the hosts that if they mentioned opus numbers they'd be fired! In fact some of the presenters knew little or nothing about classical music, at least in the beginning. Of course, we now get enthusiasts like John Suchet who has written popular biographies of composers and musicians like Alec Jones. Funny that the BBC, who said Classic FM would never last, has now produced similar programs itself to cater more for a mass audience. And a very good thing imo. The more people who hear classical music the better.


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## Nereffid (Feb 6, 2013)

I've rather obsessively kept track of every year's results. It's fascinating seeing how works change in popularity. For example, Schubert's Trout quintet (#95) started off as a Top-30 piece but doesn't even make the Top 200 now, while Williams's Schindler's List (#88) wasn't even in the first few charts but was #14 last year. There's a definite trend away from the "canon" and towards lighter new works such as soundtracks.


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## Fabulin (Jun 10, 2019)

Nereffid said:


> I've rather obsessively kept track of every year's results. It's fascinating seeing how works change in popularity. For example, Schubert's Trout quintet (#95) started off as a Top-30 piece but doesn't even make the Top 200 now, while Williams's Schindler's List (#88) wasn't even in the first few charts but was #14 last year. There's a definite trend away from the "canon" and towards lighter new works such as soundtracks.


If only that! Instead of some classical scores of... be it Korngold, Rózsa, Elmer Bernstein, or Jerry Goldsmith for example, one sees square, pop-ish music merely masquerading as classical:

Jeremy Soule's _Skyrim_, Klaus Badelt's _Pirates_..., Zimmer's _Gladiator_...

As for _Schindler's List_, it is less surprising to me than for example _The Lark Ascending_. I am mystified as to what is supposed to set the latter one apart from the multitude of other good/very good romantic tone poems. Maybe it's just a national thing. Chopin in his Poland is overrepresented as well.


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## consuono (Mar 27, 2020)

...........never mind.........


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## ORigel (May 7, 2020)

What a weird list-- St. Matthew Passion at #80? Saint-Saens' Organ Symphony in the top 20? Lots of stuff by British composers in the top 10?

The Talkclassical Reccommended Works list is far better-- the works in the upper tiers are masterpieces.


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## Handelian (Nov 18, 2020)

ORigel said:


> What a weird list-- St. Matthew Passion at #80? Saint-Saens' Organ Symphony in the top 20? Lots of stuff by British composers in the top 10?
> 
> The Talkclassical Reccommended Works list is far better-- the works in the upper tiers are masterpieces.


You have to remember that this is a list of the most POPULAR classics not the greatest masterpieces.


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## ORigel (May 7, 2020)

Fabulin said:


> If only that! Instead of some classical scores of... be it Korngold, Rózsa, Elmer Bernstein, or Jerry Goldsmith for example, one sees square, pop-ish music merely masquerading as classical:
> 
> Jeremy Soule's _Skyrim_, Klaus Badelt's _Pirates_..., Zimmer's _Gladiator_...
> 
> As for _Schindler's List_, it is less surprising to me than for example _The Lark Ascending_. I am mystified as to what is supposed to set the latter one apart from the multitude of other good/very good romantic tone poems. Maybe it's just a national thing. Chopin in his Poland is overrepresented as well.


Some Youtube commentors thought it was one of the most beautiful pieces ever. I don't know why. I listen to it perhaps once a year.


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## ORigel (May 7, 2020)

Handelian said:


> You have to remember that this is a list of the most POPULAR classics not the greatest masterpieces.


But the Organ Symphony!?


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## janxharris (May 24, 2010)

If only there were more works like _The Lark Ascending_.


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## pianozach (May 21, 2018)

This year they pointedly asked people to contribute works that weren't the same old warhorses.


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## Bulldog (Nov 21, 2013)

pianozach said:


> This year they pointedly asked people to contribute works that weren't the same old warhorses.


If that's correct, it nullifies any validity to the list.


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## Dorsetmike (Sep 26, 2018)

As they rarely play anything outside the top 300 it's no wonder the same old works are usually the only ones selected by Joe Public if that's all they ever hear.
I've often asked for works by John Stanley, nothing results, I think the only record they have is his trumpet voluntary.
Maybe we should club together and vote for one work that has never been in the top 300


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## Coach G (Apr 22, 2020)

OK, so I'll take the top 20 selections for the "FM 2020 Hall of Fame" and see if I can offer some insights that nobody asked for.

I gather by taking a quick look, that the majority of votes are coming from classical music listeners who turn on classical radio in order to be soothed and entertained, and not necessarily challenged very much. And, by the way, there's nothing wrong with that, and it's probably how most of us who are in the more fanatical group started out, or at least that's pretty much where I started before I really started going off the deep end with composers such as Shostakovich, Stravinsky, Schoenberg, etc.

20. *Sibelius*: _Finlandia_-As a teenager one of the first LPs I purchased was an old CBS budget reissue of Leonard Bernstein and the NYPO playing popular orchestral pieces by Sibelius on one side and Grieg's _Peer Gynt Suites_ on the other. While there's nothing wrong with the rousing _Finlandia_, the more interesting piece I found on that old record of mine was Sibelius' _Swan of Tounela_, and it really opened my ears to how a "slow" piece of classical music could be so beautiful as I could just picture the "swan" slowly moving through the marsh.

19. *Dvořák*: _Symphony No. 9 ('From the New World')_-An old favorite of mine, and still one of my favorite symphonies. My first recording of it was an LP by Rafeal Kubelik with the Chicago Symphony that I bought in a used record store and the recording was so old that is made back when the _New World Symphony_ was number 5 and not number 9. ON CD I have Dvorak's _New World_ by Bernstein, Ormandy, Reiner, and even a rare recording by Arthur Fiedler in an unusual instance when he covered something outside his usual "Boston Pops" genre. Though Dvorak denied that _New World_ had anything to do with being an "America" symphony it didn't stop a slew of American composers from claiming it as their own and you hear echoes of it in a whole generation of American composers such as the Boston Classicists, William Grant Still, and Florence Price; before Ives and Copland set the American school on a different track; and that's not bad.

18. *Mozart*: _Requiem_
17. *Handel*: _Messiah_-the American Gospel singer Marion Williams used to sing: "If We Never Needed the Lord Before, WE Sure Do Need Him Now"; and that about sums up the year 2020! So I guess if we're feeling obligated to include a couple of religious works in the year of COVID; these are the safe way to go; but my choice would be the Berlioz _Requiem_! After Berlioz unleashes all the forces of the apocalypse, he wraps things up with the most beautiful _Sanctus_ and then a hypnotic _Agnus Dei_. Here again, I have many recordings of the Berlioz _Requiem_ by Colin Davis, Robert Shaw, Seiji Ozawa, James Levine, and Leonard Bernstein. While Bernstein is the most robust, Davis' more restrained approached brings out Berlioz' sense of classical balance and French sophistication. Levine is worth the effort just to hear Luciano Pavarotti solo in the _Sanctus_ and every time I hear it I wish the fat man could go on singing it forever.

Someone on this thread mentioned that Bach's _St. Matthew Passion_ needs to be up here somewhere in the top 20, and the _St. Matthew_ has been hailed by some musicologists not only as the greatest religious work ever, but the greatest _musical_ work ever (even I always preferred the more raw and urgent _St. John Passion_)! All I can gather is that 2020 being such an intense year, the majority of casual listeners opted for something less intense than the _St. Matthew_, which was good enough for Good Friday but not exactly for everyday listening.

16. *Saint-Säens*: _Symphony No. 3 ('Organ')_-Another controversial choice at least according to one TC listener: and another early favorite from a another one of those old budget CBS reissues I bought in my teen years; and that recording by Leonard Bernstein with the NYPO and Maurice Raver served me so well that it was was my first choice when I upgraded to CD. I have another recording by Eugene Ormandy and E. Power Biggs, but Bernstein kills it! Who else to deliver an over-the-top symphony like St. Seans _3rd_, than an over-the-top conductor! Yeah, there are a lot of great symphonies by Beethoven, Mozart, and Brahms that probably should be rated higher than the _Organ_, but the masses also have a right to choose _fun_ over _craftsmanship_; and come to think of it, the _Organ_ is also pretty well-crafted; and organ and orchestra, and each movement seem to balance and fit together pretty much to my ears.

15. *Grieg*: _Piano Concerto_-All I can say here, is that it's about time! This little guy from Norway has been placed aside as a minor composer, lumped in the "Nationalists"; but Grieg is a great composer, even he never composed a _Requiem_, a _Ninth Symphony_, or a really long and boring opera. Some composers create powerful mountains and some create beautiful and pretty little things instead (Debussy called Grieg, "Bonbons wrapped in snow"). Grieg's grand trifecta is the _Piano Concerto_, _Piano Sonata_, and the _String Quartet_; all solid and good enough to put up against anyone else's in the Romantic genre including Brahms and Tchaikovsky.

14. *Allegri*: _Miserere_-I don't much about this piece. I have a recording by the Canadian Brass transcribed for brass ensemble. I remember it sounding very beautiful, but I'll take a pass on this one.

13. *Holst*: _The Planets_-Another favorite from my teenage years and have many recordings of it, the finest being Adrian Boult who brings out the English in it, in a very well-measured approach that serves the music best. Alternately there Bernstein and the NYPO who in true American fashion just go for broke and create a real sound-spectacular!

12. *Pachelbel*: _Canon in D major_-Not much to say here. We all know it's good and we all know that people like it; at least enough to have it be part of their wedding ceremony. So who are we to argue with them?

11. *Barber*: _Adagio for Strings_-My favorite American composer, and one my favorite composers-PERIOD. But too bad too many casual listeners stop at the _Adagio_ and don't bother to challenge themselves with _Knoxville: Summer of 1915_, _Dover Beach_, and the _Hermit Songs_. Barber, who was an accomplished baritone in his own rite, composed best for the voice, and he even made a hard-to-find but beautiful recording of himself singing his own _Dover Beach_, and probably the only time you'll hear a great composer sing on record!

10. *Vaughan Williams*: _Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis_-See _Lark Ascending_.

9. *Beethoven*: _Symphony No.9 ('Choral')_-See Beethoven's _Emperor Concerto_.

8. *Bruch*: _Violin Concerto No.1_-Excluding the Brahms _VC,_ Bruch's _VC #1_ is as good and entertaining as any of the other great Violin Concertos of the Romantic era, including the usual suspects of Sibelius, Tchaikovsky, Mendelssohn, and Wieniawski, so why not give a little guy like Bruch some love? I actually prefer Bruch's _Scottish Fantasy for Violin and Orchestra_, and that slow "Johnny" movement gets to me every time.

7. *Elgar*: _Cello Concerto_-See the _Enigma Variations_

6. *Beethoven*: _Symphony No.6 ('Pastoral')_-See Beethoven's _Emperor Concerto_.

5. *Elgar*: _Enigma Variations_-I always liked Elgar's _Cello Concerto_ well enough, the _Enigma Variations_, not so much. I understand this is a British poll, and personally as an America, if I felt obligated to include am Englishman, my first choice would be Benjamin Britten who composed plenty of thinks apart from the operas that are of lighter weight that could have made the top twenty. First and foremost is the beautiful _Serenade for tenor, Horn, and and Strings_, the _Sea Interludes_ from _Peter Grimes_, the trifecta: _Violin Concerto_, _Piano Concerto_, and _Cello Symphony_, with the _Cello Symphony_ being at least as interesting as Elgar's _Cello Concerto_.

4. *Beethoven*: _Piano Concerto No. 5 ('Emperor')_-OK, so now we get to the BIG MAN, Big Daddy Beethoven, certainly worthy of three spots in the top twenty especially given the 250th birthday celebrations. I can't argue with the inclusion of the _6th_ and _9th Symphonies_, with the _6th "Pastorale"_ being another favorite of mine that I first encountered on another budget CBS reissue featuring Bruno Walter and the Columbia Symphony Orchestra. In fact, I think I've come to love Beethoven more for when he's relaxed and mellowed out than when he's trying to be all grand, deep, and revolutionary. The _Piano Concerto #5_ is a great piece of music, but there are so many other Beethoven pieces among the chamber and piano works that are more "tight" and beautiful.

3. *Mozart*: _Clarinet Concerto_-I can't contest this one. My first recording of came from, again, a CBS budget reissue LP, with George Szell, the Cleveland Orchestra and in-house clarinetist, Robert Marcellus. You can blame it imprinting, but still my favorite version, and no other work by Mozart exemplifies the composer as a master craftsman where everything blends in seamlessly as if the music almost creates itself.

2. *Vaughan Williams*: _The Lark Ascending_-The big burly Englishman certainly deserves two spots on the list, and I enjoy RVW's pastorale works as much as anyone else does, and YouTube seems to think so, too, as every time I listen to classical music on YouTube the algorithm generates _Thomas Tallis_ and _Lark Ascending_ as my on-deck listening choice. I also have all nine RVW symphonies in my collection all by assorted composers. While I never took to RVW's symphonic cycle as a whole, the _2nd "London Symphony"_ has grown on me, as well as the _7th "Antarctica"_ as an orchestral showpiece.

1. *Rachmaninov*: _Piano Concerto No. 2_-Rach's _PC#2_ Certainly as entertaining as Tchaikovsky's _1st_, though less interesting than Rach's _PC#3_. While the two PCs by Brahms demonstrate better craftsmanship, I guess they just go down too think and heavy for a year like 2020 when Dr. Fauci keeps bringing us such (not) wonderful news on TV. But if we're out for fun, why not go with the _Paganini Variations_ where we can really hear some long-haired pianist REALLY burn it up!


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## pianozach (May 21, 2018)

pianozach said:


> This year they pointedly asked people to contribute works that weren't the same old warhorses.





Bulldog said:


> If that's correct, it nullifies any validity to the list.


Sorry, got my radio stations mixed up.

That was Classical KUSC that did that this year. https://www.kusc.org/radio/playlists/


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## consuono (Mar 27, 2020)

janxharris said:


> If only there were more works like _The Lark Ascending_.


I never cared much for that piece. That lark takes as much time to ascend as a fully loaded B-52.


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## Haydn70 (Jan 8, 2017)

pianozach said:


> Sorry, got my radio stations mixed up.
> 
> That was Classical KUSC that did that this year. https://www.kusc.org/radio/playlists/


I think you are referring to KUSC's Classical California Ultimate Playlist. Here is the link: https://www.kusc.org/radio/streams/listen-to-the-classical-california-ultimate-playlist-stream/

A strange and, of course, disappointing list, with lots of garbage on it. And, of course, serious omissions.

Starting with the omissions: 250 pieces and not one by Haydn...not one. That is the worst thing...inexcusable. There are of course numerous other works that one would hope be on the list but, well, you know...

There was, however, room for numerous movie scores, computer game music and pieces from VERY minor composers who are part of the "checkbox" crowd (check off a box for being female, check another box for not being white, etc.) and, as such, are worthier than Haydn.

I was perplexed seeing those checkbox composers and their pieces on the list as I am convinced 99.9999% of the KUSC listeners had never heard of them before this project came into existence. How did they make the cut? How were these composers and their works brought to the attention of the voters? Was there a nomination list of say 500 works including the works of these obscure composers? Nope. In the months preceding the vote KUSC personnel posted numerous blogs containing info about these unknowns and YouTube links to their music. So the fix was in. KUSC personnel, being, of course, appropriately 'woke', "nominated" the appropriate candidates and musically ignorant, virtue signaling Californians did the rest.

Some comments:

JS Bach didn't make the Top 40. His highest ranking piece came in at #47...Toccata & Fugue in d minor...what a surprise!

Some of the composers/pieces that came in ahead of JSB:
Astor Piazzolla: Libertango
Jerry Goldsmith: Star Trek
Yann Tiersen: Amelie 
Arturo Marquez: Danzón No. 2
Florence Price: Symphony No. 3
Scott Joplin: Pineapple Rag
Ennio Morricone: The Mission: Gabriel's Oboe
Howard Shore: Lord of the Rings

Ah, California...


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## Bulldog (Nov 21, 2013)

Both the Classic FM and KUSC lists stink. I'm coming to the conclusion that the only list that's worth much to me is the one in my head.


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## Chilham (Jun 18, 2020)

There's a good deal of English-bias, and a generation-bias in that top-twenty list. Plenty of Elgar, RVW, Holst and Handel, a smattering of UK advertisements from my youth, Morecambe & Wise's most iconic sketch, and a few pieces featured in film scores. It's not a serious list, although I like it.


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## Haydn70 (Jan 8, 2017)

Chilham said:


> There's a good deal of English-bias, and a generation-bias in that top-twenty list. Plenty of Elgar, RVW, Holst and Handel, a smattering of UK advertisements from my youth, Morecambe & Wise's most iconic sketch, and a few pieces featured in film scores. It's not a serious list, although I like it.


Likewise, in KUSC's Classical California Ultimate Playlist there is a bias, what I will call the southern California superficial/showbiz bias. Thus the large quantity of film scores and video game music.


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## janxharris (May 24, 2010)

consuono said:


> I never cared much for that piece. That lark takes as much time to ascend as a fully loaded B-52.


I enjoy the vivid picture painting but of course this will be different for each listener (or even non-existent).

In the middle section I see the scene shift closer to the ground where perhaps RVW includes some country folk in the scene (though this does not seem to be reflected in the poem (George Meredith) that inspired the piece). As RVW's wife said - he had:

"taken a literary idea on which to build his musical thought … and had made the violin become both the bird's song and its flight, being, rather than illustrating the poem from which the title was taken"


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## Dorsetmike (Sep 26, 2018)

Chilham said:


> There's a good deal of English-bias, and a generation-bias in that top-twenty list. Plenty of Elgar, RVW, Holst and Handel, a smattering of UK advertisements from my youth, Morecambe & Wise's most iconic sketch, and a few pieces featured in film scores. It's not a serious list, although I like it.


Maybe but the only John Stanley work ever in the top 300 list (and that not recently) is his trumpet voluntary - which also takes up a lot of space on Youtube


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## HerbertNorman (Jan 9, 2020)

Chilham said:


> There's a good deal of English-bias, and a generation-bias in that top-twenty list. Plenty of Elgar, RVW, Holst and Handel, a smattering of UK advertisements from my youth, Morecambe & Wise's most iconic sketch, and a few pieces featured in film scores. It's not a serious list, although I like it.


I have to agree there , it's blatant isn't it?


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## Chilham (Jun 18, 2020)

Dorsetmike said:


> Maybe but the only John Stanley work ever in the top 300 list (and that not recently) is his trumpet voluntary - which also takes up a lot of space on Youtube


I was only referring to the top twenty.

As for the full 300, I only ever use it as a cross-reference to guide me on anything worth listening to. Appearing on this full list alone, doesn't necessarily mean it deserves my attention. I have, or plan to listen to only 207 of the 300, which mostly equates to those that are also listed as recommended on this site.


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