UKH

Down to the last 50 out of 300 pieces of music in Classic FM's annual Hall of Fame poll.

The last twenty years have been monotonously  predictable with the winner being either Rachmaninov's Second Piano Concerto  or Vaughan Williams's "Lark Ascending"  being voted into top place on eighteen of those years. 

Has anyone  got any predictions or suggestions about what  will or what should take this year's top spot?

You can go online to listen and see what's already gone.

I just hope it's not Einaudi. 

Finlandia at the moment. Beautiful!

In reply to Tom Valentine: really hope it’s not Lark Ascending, can’t stand listening or playing it myself.

In reply to wert:

Great piece!

HaHa.

I haven't voted this year, but usually vote for Berlioz' Symphonie Fantastique, and the Helios Overture by Nielsen, then Beethoven's Ninth Symphony.

In reply to wert:

My wife agrees totally: too screechy. I think the same about Barbers'Adagio.

I greatly envy your ability to play it, though.

In reply to wert

I much prefer to hear and see the real thing! I am surprised that Gluck doesn't feature. Some lovely opera, but at the end of the day it has to be anything by Ludwig van B!

In reply to Sean Kelly:

Sadly opera doesn't feature much in this poll : last year's final hundred had only a handful of pieces.

In reply to Tom Valentine:

Any Mahler  (except 5th symphony adagio)?

I’ve been enjoying Saint Saëns Piano Concertos lately, did any make it?

Does anyone else find that audio quality is much better on Radio 3?

In reply to kevin stephens:

Not yet. Carnival of the Animals and Danse Macabre went in the 100's and Organ symphony 3 was at 50. Don't hold your hopes too high in a poll which rates The ET theme better than anything by Puccini..........( he said sniffily)

In reply to Tom Valentine:

Rachmaninov  at number 4 

"All by myself, just wanna be, all by myself........"

Nimrod at 3. 

Beethoven 9 at 2.

So that means there'll be no surprises for number one. 

In reply to Tom Valentine:

Noooooooooo! 🤢👎🤦🏻‍♀️

In reply to Tom Valentine:

Stockhausen?

In reply to wert:

Sorry, it was always on the cards. My wife's teeth are on edge already and that's just listening to the preamble which is people saying why they voted for it.

In reply to kevin stephens:

It is better as the bandwidth is not compressed as much. But you have to up the volume as a consequence.

In reply to Sean Kelly:

Ah! But which 3 minute Gluck snippet would you go for...

In reply to Sean Kelly:

Yes, classic FM optimised for car radio DAB. I’m lucky enough to have a top end FM tuner, which is superb on Radio 3

In reply to Tom Valentine:

Radio 3 on FM has all but disappeared from my area of Gwynedd, to be replaced by BBC Radio Wales! DAB radio not available here either. Not a happy bunny, as someone once said. 

In reply to Tom Valentine:

I would love it to be something by George Butterworth - Banks of Green Willow or A Shropshire Lad.

But unlikely I'm afraid.

I think his music is much neglected. He might have gone on to become one of our greatest composers had his life not have been cut short by a sniper's bullet on the Somme in 1916

In reply to Trangia:

Agree re  Butterworth and those 2 pieces. Pastoral music defined. In contrast I can’t stand Beethoven’s so called pastoral symphony 

In reply to Tom Valentine:

The Jonathan Sacks interview afterwards was interesting.

In reply to Myfyr Tomos:

If you can get it Radio 3 via internet is reasonable 

In reply to kevin stephens:

Yes, thanks Kevin. I do that, but it's not...   the same somehow.

In reply to Myfyr Tomos:I know what you mean, I’ve also invested in a good quality roof mounted FM aerial which makes a big difference 

In reply to Trangia:

Apparently he gave up composing some time before heading for the front, and destroyed most of his works. Of course he might have changed his mind later, we'll never know.

In reply to kevin stephens:

Yes that Adagietto, exquisite as it is, is just done to death. There's so much of Mahler to choose from. I'd find it difficult to pick any particular passage from all those utterly magnificent symphonies and song-cycles as a Classic FM style "soundbite", but if pressed I might go for the final few minutes of the adagio from symphony no.4. Heard it performed live once by the Halle under Mark Elder, and it was just staggeringly transcendent, like entering a new universe!

In reply to Ratfeeder:

One of my favourites, Songs of a Wayfarer is tacked onto the end of my copy of Symphony No 4

In reply to kevin stephens:

Nice one. Love Songs of a Wayfarer. Along with Symphony No.1, which uses a lot of the thematic material from the song-cycle, it sets the whole Mahlerian agenda: the homeless wanderer searching for meaning and fulfillment, never knowing if he'll find it or not. Progressive tonality leading ultimately, in the hands of Schoenberg etc., to atonality.

In reply to Ratfeeder:

I always put a vote in to the Classic FM Hall of Fame for Schoenberg's 4th String Quartet. No luck as yet.

In reply to Andy Clarke:

Well that does surprise me. Keep putting the votes in!