Classic FM's Hall Of Fame, the radio station's annual countdown of the 300 ‘best’ pieces in the classical canon as voted for by the listeners, boasted an unexpectedly controversial denouement on Monday evening after a series of online campaigns resulted in the soundtrack for the video game Skyrim placing number five in the list, while a piece called Aerith's Theme from Final Fantasy 7 charted an astonishing third.
The soundtracks were sandwiched by Beethoven’s 'Emperor' piano concerto, and Vaughan Williams' seminal 'Fantasia On A Theme Of Thomas Tallis' and 'The Lark Ascending'.
‘Dragonborn’, the centrepiece of the Skyrim's monumental score, is the second time composer Jeremy Soule has placed in the charts, rising 233 places from last year. Aerith's Theme, from composer Nobuo Uematsu, charted 16 in 2012.
Now both composers find themselves in the vaunted company of some of the greats of classic music.
Although the station has long included film scores in its daily output, the inclusion of video game music sparked some dissent from the purists, however many listeners took to the social networks on Monday evening to voice their approval. Here are some of the best tweets: