Violins a hit with video gaming generation

Soundtracks to video games have brought a younger generation to classical music, a new poll of the UK’s favourite pieces suggests.

Three of the top 20 from Classic FM’s Hall of Fame poll are soundtracks to video games and another nine make the top 300.

More than 200,000 votes were cast in the latest annual poll, with Ralph Vaughn Williams’ The Lark Ascending topping the vote for a second year.

John Suchet, a weekday DJ on the classical music station, said: “Twenty years after the very first Classic FM Hall of Fame countdown, I’m delighted that we’ve attracted so many votes for our chart.

“What I find truly exciting is the continued increase in a younger audience for classical music — I didn’t expect to be thanking the video game industry for introducing the genre to a new generation of people, but it’s wonderful.”

Music from the Final Fantasy series, by Japanese composer Nobuo Uematsu, is at number nine in the poll.

The Elder Scrolls, composed by Bafta winner Jeremy Soule, is at number 11. Grant Kirkhope’s soundtrack to Banjo Kazooie is number 13.

The Lark Ascending was inspired by a George Meredith poem of the same name.

The top five is completed by Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No 2, Vaughan Williams’ Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis, Elgar’s Enigma Variations and Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No 5.

— Telegraph Group Ltd

What I find truly exciting is the continued increase in a younger audience

for classical music.

John Suchet, DJ, Classic FM