Ralph Vaughan Williams at the Top

Posted by Sarah Canice Funke Apr 5, 2008

Ralph Vaughan Williams may have been dead for 50 years, but his popularity in his native land lives on, evidenced by the strong support he received through Classic FM's recent Hall of Fame poll.

Vaughan Williams was a British composer through and through, taking much of his compositional inspiration from early English folk music.

Apparently the English public appreciate his dedication to promoting, preserving and championing their cultural history, as radio listeners of the UK's Classic FM radio show have voted one of his works the "best classical piece of music" for the second year in row.

Vaughan Williams' popularity is strong enough that his piece "The Lark Ascending" not only received the number one vote, but his Fantasia on a Theme of Thomas Tallis was voted into third place.

Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 2 came in second. The bastion of the classical repertoire, Beethoven, took 4th and 5th place.

Classic FM's list of top classical works covers some 300 compositions, twelve of which were written by Vaughan Williams. Understandably, Mozart, Beethoven and Bach have the most representation, but even Paul McCartney made it on the list this year for Ecce Cor Meum.

For more information, please read the BBC article.