• JOHN WILLIAMS’ ‘SCHINDLER’S LIST’ TAKES THE CROWN AS THE NUMBER ONE MOVIE THEME
• JOHN WILLIAMS VOTED THE MOST POPULAR FILM MUSIC COMPOSER
• SURGE IN POPULARITY OF ENNIO MORRICONE’S MUSIC FOLLOWING HIS DEATH EARLIER THIS YEAR
• MORE THAN 21,000 VOTES CAST BY CLASSIC FM LISTENERS AND RADIO TIMES READERS
Classic FM, the UK’s most popular classical music station, has revealed the nation’s favourite film music in the Classic FM Movie Music Hall of Fame in partnership with Radio Times. The chart is the result of thousands of votes by the station’s listeners, visitors to classicfm.com and readers of Radio Times magazine and RadioTimes.com.
The score to Schindler’s List, written by John Williams, has been voted the nation’s favourite piece of film music, almost 27 years after its debut on screens, knocking Howard Shore’s score for Lord of the Rings off the top spot.
As well as taking the number one film score, John Williams has again been voted the nation’s favourite composer of film music, with five entries in the top twenty alone, including Schindler’s List, Star Wars, Jurassic Park, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone and E.T. The Extra Terrestrial.
“I’d like to express my gratitude to the listeners of Classic FM for selecting my music from Schindler’s List for this high honor. It was a privilege to be involved in the making of this film, and it’s very gratifying to know that so many people around the world continue to embrace it after nearly 30 years.”
John Williams, composer
This year’s chart also revealed a surge in popularity for film music composed by Ennio Morricone, who died in June at the age of 91, with three entries in the top 20. Morricone’s five entries in the Classic FM Movie Music Hall of Fame show the breadth of his work outside of the Westerns he is best known for, with The Mission, Cinema Paradiso and Once Upon A Time in America appearing alongside The Good, the Bad and the Ugly and Once Upon A Time in the West.
Other popular film composers include John Barry and Hans Zimmer with eight entries each in the top 100. Barry wrote the scores for Out of Africa and Dances with Wolves, which reach numbers four and five in the chart respectively, his highest placing in the chart. Hans Zimmer took third position with the score for the legendary film Gladiator, which was released 20 years ago this year.
Oscar winning Hildur Guðnadóttir, who won an Academy Award for the best original score for Joker, becoming only the fourth woman to win in the category, reached number 79 in the chart, and Debbie Wiseman, Classic FM’s composer in residence placed at 65 with the biographical film Wilde.
“It’s been a while since we polled the discerning listeners of Classic FM and readers of Radio Times about their favourite film themes and what we learn about their choices is that the greatest hits remain immovably and unimprovably great! Nobody would deny the near permanence of John Barry or the late Ennio Morricone or the trailblazing Vangelis in any Top 10.
Lord of the Rings, a true masterwork of narrative scope and innate personality will always give the other fabulous scores something to aim for. I am personally sad not to see my own choice Interstellar in the Top 10 but Hans Zimmer at 3 with Gladiator makes another mighty showing. Are we not entertained?
As for John Williams … we have found your favourite film theme and it’s as moving and mournful as any winner. Williams doubted he could pull it off. He was wrong. My advice, as ever, is to explore the lower scores. There’s a lot of invention and innovation down there. I’m humming S.T.A.Y. from Interstellar just to reset the musical universe.”
Andrew Collins, presenter of Saturday Night at the Movies on Classic FM and Radio Times Film Editor
The 100 pieces of music in the Classic FM Movie Music Hall of Fame were played on-air over the last weekend in August. The results are published at ClassicFM.com and RadioTimes.com/MovieMusic
Classic FM is available across the UK on 100-102 FM, DAB digital radio and TV, at ClassicFM.com and on Global Player.
