I'm sure that many of you will be avid followers of Classic FM and may well have participated in their 'Hall of Fame' over the years. The following is a list of all the choral works appearing in the top 100 of their 'Ultimate Hall of Fame' which totals up votes from 1976 to this year.
Fifteen choral works made the cut, including three by Mozart and two each by Handel, Bach and Faure, but none of these came out on top. Here they are in ascending order:
91 Elgar Dream of Gerontius
88 Bach Mass in B Minor
78 Bach St. Matthew Passion
72 Mozart Solemn Vespers
71 Mozart Ave verum corpus
59 Handel Zadok the Priest
55 Verdi Requiem
52 Orff Carmina Burana
42 Faure Cantique de Jean Racine
25 Faure Requiem
23 Allegri Miserere
19 Mozart Requiem
18 Handel Messiah
.... and the most popuar choral work over the last 15 years was ....
9 Beethoven Ode to Joy from the Choral Symphony
Interesting. Lots of lovely music and mostly the expected culprits rising to the top, but a bit of a surprise (to me at least) having Ode to Joy pipping Messiah and the three heavyweight Requiems to the top spot. Mind you I bet that Messiah gets performed in concert ten times as often as Beethoven's Choral Symphony. If you live in Oxford you'll definitely have several chances to hear Messiah live between now and the end of the year including at the 90th Anniversary concert of Oxford Harmonic Society on 26th November in Oxford Town Hall.
If you want to see the whole of the Classic FM 'Ultimate Hall of Fame' click here on Top 300.
