Roll over Beethoven, as ‘ Rings’ theme ranks higher in classical poll

MUSIC from the hit film The Lord Of The Rings has beaten works by Holst, Grieg and Dvorak to make it into the top 10 of classical music buffs’ favourites.

Howard Shore's compositions are ranked ninth in the annual Hall of Fame, compiled from the votes of quarter of a million Classic FM listeners in Britain.

Rockers Queen are an even more unlikely entry, but a symphonic version of their music made the chart.

Tolga Kashif's Queen Symphony makes it to number 212 in the top 300, which was counted down yesterday.

Canadian Shore's music for the Tolkien movie trilogy saw a colossal rise on the previous year, shooting up 122 places.

His dramatic scores ran rings around the Harry Potter film soundtracks by John Williams, which came in at number 57.

Tunes made famous by adverts comprise most of the contemporary music which made it into the list.

And even the piece which tops the chart for the third year running, Rachmaninov's piano concerto, has a movie connection.

The evocative music was featured in Brief Encounter, the classic film of suppressed romance.

Potter composer Williams has three other entries in the list his Saving Private Ryan score is at number 199, Stars Wars at 102 and Schindler's List at 93.

Handel's Sarabande has been given a helping hand by featuring in a Levi's ad, making its first-ever entry in the top 300 at number 75.

Classic FM managing director Roger Lewis said: "Classical music is continuing to evolve, and for many people movies are today's opera. Their music communicates universal truths with mass audiences, from the epic to the intimate. It is all about conveying emotions."

The most popular composer in the list is Mozart, with 22 entries, closely followed by Tchaikovsky, who has 20.