UKH

It's Hall of Fame time again. 

Any tips for a winner? 

Or will we be raking through the same old favourites?

It's a bit hard to define Classical music. The theme from Wolf Hall has just been on and it has a classic feel to it.

I've never heard of Samuel Coleridge Taylor before ( though I've always liked Deep River as a song, especially with Paul Robeson singing.)

In reply to Tom Valentine:

Unfortunately the Lark Ascending will probably be in the top slot again. Personally I can’t stand the piece. Too many strings, not enough brass! 😉

In reply to wert:

VW had two in the top five last year. A bit much. 

In reply to Tom Valentine:

Agreed. Would be nice to see a symphony in the top slot.
My current top 5, in no particular order, would be Cesar Franck (D minor), Brahms 2, Dvorak 8, Saint-Saens (Organ) and Mahler 1. 

In reply to Tom Valentine:

I always vote for Schoenberg's 3rd String Quartet. No luck as yet.

In reply to wert:

Can you remember when Bruch was top with his violin concerto? When I first learned of that piece, When I was a student, it seemed that hardly anybody knew of it. Now it probably is seen as old hat, due to.... Classic FM amongst others. CFM plays parts of such pieces too much, and not the whole piece, enough.

I did vote for two symphonies:-

1. 1830 Symphony Fantastique. Hector Berlioz

3. Beethoven's Symphony No 9.

(No 2 Was Bach's Goldberg Variations, which I possess about 8 versions of, and can play the Aria, and parts of the rest.)

In reply to Tom Valentine:

Classic FM  youtube.com/watch?v=PmqRL2EdTVg&

In reply to Tom Valentine:

Here 

youtube.com/watch?v=E2BOAvHwaKM&

In reply to wert:

would you rather :

1) Classic FM just keeps on doing what it’s been doing since it started

2) Classic FM ceases to exist 

In reply to Blue Straggler:

Out of those two choices, number 1. 

IMHO it does a better job of making classical music more accessible to the masses than radio 3, despite the adverts. 

In reply to wert:

I don't think there's any need to rank them. They're setting out to do different things. Plenty of room for both. Sadly I imagine R3 will continue to be under threat from populist administrations with an antipathy to all things BBC.

In reply to wert:

My feeling too. I used to be quite sniffy about it (not so much because of the adverts, but because so much of the content seemed to be "those classical pieces you punters will know only from adverts") but I think they have got a bit better plus sometimes that sort of thing is just what you need! In my car I have various audio sources (CD player, streaming the mp3s from my phone over Bluetooth, and I vary between BBC Radio 6Music, Radio 3 and Radio 2) but every now and then, Classic FM fits the bill, like when the radio stations are playing genres that I just don't like and I am tired of the same old tunes from my phone. 

In reply to Andy Clarke:

Remember, the new (massive Tory-donating, pro-populist) Chairman of the BBC has 'an antipathy to all things' the BBC used to stand for, particularly impartiality.

In reply to Gordon Stainforth:

Exactly. I can't offhand think of a more philistine administration than the current lot.

In reply to Tom Valentine:

My one year old grandson likes a bit of Classic FM when he's in the car 

The other day they played the Wallace and Gromit theme, I'll vote for that

In reply to Tom Valentine:

I know virtually nothing about classical music and don't listen to either Radio 3 or Classic FM, the latter I assume to be similar to the album my parents had when I was a child "Hooked on Classics". I am however aware of Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, if nothing else for his similarity in name to the poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge, something that I am sure I was taught at school.

In reply to The New NickB:

I presume that you are saying what I've always taken as read, that it is one and the same person. Although now you make me doubt myself. I know that the musician was one of the first recognised black composers.

In reply to veteye:

SCT (the black composer) was named in honour of STC (the white romantic poet).

In reply to Andy Clarke:

That makes sense, in that before knowing about the musician, I thought of SCT as part of the Lake District literary gang.

In reply to veteye:

Which one he asked insouciantly? He wrote three, but only one is regularly performed. IMHO the 2nd and 3rd are equally as good, but what would I know?

He also wrote a large orchestral work with violin solo, not called a concerto for some reason,  called Scottish Fantasia. I recommend that too if you like that sort of music.

In reply to Rog Wilko:

I love the Scottish Fantasy too, probably more than the No 1, which is what I was referring to. I came across it when I was probably in 2nd year at university, as the reverse side of the No 1 concerto on an LP, played by the SNO (Not royal at that time), conducted by Sir Alexander Gibson, who lived in a huge house about 400 yards from my room in one of the halls of residence in Glasgow.

In reply to veteye:

That's an extraordinary coincidence! When I was at Uni (Sussex) in the early '60s I discovered a fantastic hi-fi unit in a quiet corner of the main building somewhere with about half a dozen LPs on a shelf. One of these was Scottish Fantasia! At the time I had almost no knowledge of and not much interest in classical music, and this was an early part of my education.

In reply to Rog Wilko:

I didn't see this until now, as I had a mad chase to the Lake District, and did a walk up Blencathra, including Sharp Edge, where I managed to almost find climbing off to one side. Then down to the col and meandered up Banner Crags' peak. None of my friends were available for climbing. All too busy familying, or listening to Classic FM! If you fancy a climb sometime, and I'm free then I'm up for classics (not FM) including on Scafell/pike, but the latter may not be your best idea from what I've read on your profile.

Currently ClassicFM is playing Bach's Brandenburg No3, which was my first LP, as a Christmas present, when I was about 10-11. I got 1,3, and 6 on that LP. I always intended getting 2, 4 and 5, but never got that complimentary LP.

It was good to hear Aarvo Part's Spiegline in spiegline (or similar) well up the list, as I love that piece too.

In reply to Tom Valentine:

Well it is down to the last 10 places now. The tenth is the 1812 overture by Peter I Tchaikovsky.

I'm not sure where my choices came, are you aware of the numbering of yours?

In reply to veteye:

I didn't actually enter, my wife does that. My choices would have been long gone.

(221 220 209)

In reply to wert:

Well Rach 2 Piano is at 2. So you're right. It is a bit tedious I suppose.

In reply to veteye:

Shame there wasn’t a bird ban on this particular count down. 😉
Eleven times number one, ruddy Lark! 😈