Here are the Top 30 favourite classical music pieces as voted for by RNZ Concert listeners in Settling The Score 2022, and what people love about them:
1 JENKINS, K: The Armed Man: A Mass for Peace (Including the Benedictus)
Continuing a trend of living composers taking out the top spot, this piece by Welshman Karl Jenkins dates from 2000. Although commissioned by the Royal Armouries Museum it is essentially an anti-war work and as well as using the text of the Latin mass draws on texts from other religions.
Voter comments about The Armed Man: A Mass for Peace included:
"It captures the spirit of dawn. How the world feels, in the moment of beginning - and ending. It takes me to a place where I am in the moment, a meditation of imminence."
"A lot of modern music has a "predictable" quality about it, not so "The Armed Man". It surprises time & time again, making it a fresh experience each time. I find it uplifting & spiritually refreshing."
"I have sung this piece of music. Each rehearsal I loved it more. With the orchestral accompaniment it was such a thrilling work to perform. Different moods emotionally demanding, meaningful."
" Hauntingly beautiful… especially the Benedictus."
"I experienced a great presentation of this by the Dunedin City Choir. An opportunity to reflect on the challenges and troubles facing people of this world right now and in the past."
Curtain Raiser: Find out more about The Armed Man: A Mass for Peace in this introduction to the piece with Brian Kay
2 VAUGHAN WILLIAMS: The Lark Ascending
"This piece of music takes me right back to those long hot summer holidays in the rural area of Stratford-upon-Avon in the late 1960's. I was cycling along country lanes hearing skylarks singing and watching them glide on the gentle summer breeze. Whilst the music is quintessentially English it takes one back to a simpler way of life. Vaughn Williams captured the rural life so very well."
"An enduring favourite of mine as I think Vaughan Williams captures in music the verses of Meredith's lyrical poem so aptly. We truly follow the lark as he "wings up the spiral stair" in a "song of light"."
" Because larks are joyful and they helped me to decide to keep working in the country rather than in the noisy, congested city."
" I have always loved the sound of string instruments, especially the violin which I played when younger, and I have been extremely moved by Ralph Vaughan Williams' sweeping singing compositions, particularly 'The Lark Ascending' when it has been scheduled for funerals of personal significance."
3 BEETHOVEN: Symphony No 6 in F Op 68, Pastoral
" A wonderful piece of music playing the sounds of nature, the weather (rain and thunder) , and the thanks from the shepherds."
" The most evocative, well-structured and powerful of Beethoven's great symphonies."
" I close my eyes and can envisage the beauty of the countryside. Seeing Disney's Fantasia just emphasises the music to me."
" My mother passed away some years ago now, and whenever I am feeling deeply sad because I miss her so very much, somehow RNZ Concert manages to play one of her many favourite pieces of music, and this particular best-loved symphony, never fails to make me feel like she is reaching out and letting me know that she is near and that I shouldn’t be sad that she is gone as she lives on in every note of music I listen to."
4 BEETHOVEN: Symphony No 9 in D minor Op 125, Choral (Ode to Joy)
Beethoven conducting Photo: Katzaroff, Public Domain
"Good luck playing this live. The story of a stone deaf Beethovan thumping the beat for the orchestra to follow, then being nudged so he could look up and see the standing ovation of the audience when it finished - so moving - its worth playing just to give the background to this piece."
" 2nd movement, gloriously joyful and totally captivates me every time I hear it. I use it for the ring tone on my cellphone, delaying answering a call so that I can listen to the music. It's hard to fathom how anybody could hear that music in their head and then transcribe it."
" Received this symphony (on an LP😀) for my 15th birthday. I still remember listening closely to Schiller's Ode to Joy and was overcome by the message and how impactful it was amplified by the music. Decades later, this music still has an enormous impact on me."
" Greatest piece of music ever written. Makes me cry with joy when I hear it."
" This has been my favourite music throughout my adult life. I am now 73 years old and the magic of this music has still not dimmed."
5 BEETHOVEN: Piano Concerto No 5 in Eb Op 73, Emperor
" Beethoven is my favourite composer. His music is stunning but in terms of sheer impact, The Emperor gets me every time. I cannot have this piece of music on in the background. Whenever this piece is on, I have to actively listen to it, everything around me stops, and tears stream down my face. I am in awe of its beauty."
" I cannot imagine a more perfect blend of piano and orchestra than that achieved by Beethoven. Along with unforgettable melodies, heartbreaking emotions and rivetting tension-and-release moments, this has been a favourite of mine since I first heard it live in Wellington about 70 years ago."
" I find this one of the most stirring of concerti and yet it has some wonderfully soft parts to it also. What a hall shaking finale it has!"
" The teasing out of the theme that erupts into an explosion of the unaccompanied passage. I know very little of the names of the movements, but the sole piano section takes my breath away."
"When I was a boy in the 1950's my father had a Bakelite 78 rpm disc of this work. I softening the disc in hot water and turned it into a flower pot. it was a nice pot with a hole in the middle to drain the water. My father made me buy a replacement record out of my pocket money. The new record cost 6 shillings and it took me three weeks to save up. My mother was pleased with my flower pots. My father wasn't."
6 ELGAR: Cello Concerto in E minor Op 85
" Since I was a child, I have loved the deep mellow vibrating tones of the cello, and Edward Elgar's composition is surely one of the very best and most moving cello concertos."
" I've always loved this piece. It is sophisticatedly dramatic and, although it is a cello concerto, the orchestra plays a important part in the sound. The scales played by the cello are epic and spine-tingling."
" It is the most complete piece of music I have ever heard. It says everything about the joys and sorrows of life."
7 MOZART: Clarinet Concerto in A K622
I have loved this piece since a child, I never tier of listening to it and still always stop and enjoy it whenever I hear it playing."
"Intense moments from Out of Africa."
" Old faithful. Mozart wanted to create something beautiful and he succeeded magnificently. Again something I never tire of. So evocative! It takes me straight to love and nature, I hang on every note. Martin Frost does a fabulous job of it."
8 VAUGHAN WILLIAMS: Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis
"Can't not have a WW piece with the 150th anniversary. Evocative of ancient ruined abbeys and the ghosts of history."
" It goes back to a performance I heard by the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra (string ensemble) in an old stone church when I was in England once. It was just magical."
" This reminds me of my father, a RAF pilot, flying over England."
" The sound of the Universe in harmony with itself "
9 PART, A: Spiegel im Spiegel
" An opportunity for soul reflection as if a mirror is held to our soul. - Now we see as if in a mirror darkly - then we will see face to face."
" Our baby loves this song - as a newborn we could put it on and she would calmly hang out in her bed which was impossible to achieve otherwise."
" Spiegel im spiegel soothes and calms my soul. I can be absorbed in its gentle melody and can dream of floating on a gentle stream with no more cares."
Composer Janet Jennings Photo: Supplied
10 JENNINGS, J: Prelude, Fugue, Variations, and Chaconne [NZ]
11 ELGAR: Enigma Variations (including Nimrod & Lux Aeterna)
12 JENNINGS, J: Pictures at the Waikato Museum [NZ]
13 ALLEGRI: Miserere mei, Deus
14 BACH: Brandenburg Concerto (s)
15 FAURE: Requiem Op 48
16 BIZET: Au Fond du Temple Saint, from The Pearl Fishers
17 RACHMANINOV: Piano Concerto No 2 in C minor Op 18
18 DVORAK: Symphony No 9, From the New World (including Largo, 'Goin' Home')
19 DEBUSSY: Clair de lune, from Suite bergamasque
20 STRAUSS, RICHARD: Four Last Songs
21 BARBER: Adagio for Strings (or choral version 'Agnus Dei')
22 HOLST: The Planets (including Jupiter, Mars, Venus, etc...)
23 CHOPIN: Nocturne (s)
24 MORRICONE: Gabriel's Oboe, from The Mission
25 BEETHOVEN: Symphony No 7 in A Op 92
26 BACH: St Matthew Passion
27 LILBURN: Four Canzonas [NZ]
28 VIVALDI: Four Seasons
29 BACH: Cello Suite (s)
30 SIBELIUS: Finlandia
See details of the music that was broadcast on the radio on Labour Day Monday by clicking here.
Find out more about Settling The Score 2022 on RNZ Concert here.
Listen in again on New Year's Day for an encore of Settling The Score 2022 on RNZ Concert.
