Listen to New Zealand's favourite classical music for 2018, as voted for by RNZ Concert listeners.
Illustration by Louis Agassiz Fuertes of an Eastern Meadowlark. Photo: Public Domain
For the third year in a row, and the majority of the preceding decade, Vaughan Williams interpretation of the poem by George Meredith as a "pastoral romance for orchestra" is New Zealand's most-loved piece of classical music.
Create your own Settling The Score NZ Playlist: Click the 'Add to Playlist' button on the performances you want to listen to from the list below. Then click 'Play' on your personalised playlist. Enjoy hours of great listening from RNZ Concert.
1. VAUGHAN WILLIAMS: The Lark Ascending
2. STRAUSS: Four Last Songs Op Posth Listen on YouTube
3. BEETHOVEN: Symphony No 9 in D minor Op 125, Choral
4. BEETHOVEN: Piano Concerto No 5 in Eb Op 73, Emperor
5. VAUGHAN WILLIAMS: Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis Listen on YouTube
6. ELGAR: Variations on an Original Theme Op 36, Enigma
7. BIZET: The Pearl Fishers
8. BEETHOVEN: Symphony No 7 in A Op 92
9. MOZART: Clarinet Concerto in A K622
Portrait of Sergei Rachmaninov Photo: Konstantin Somov Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
10. RACHMANINOV: Piano Concerto No 2 in C minor Op 18
11. SCHUBERT: Piano Quintet in A D667, Trout
12. BRUCH: Violin Concerto No 1 in G minor Op 26
13. BEETHOVEN: Violin Concerto in D Op 61
14. ELGAR: Cello Concerto in E minor Op 85
15. BEETHOVEN: Piano Sonata No 14 in C# minor, Moonlight
16. BARBER: Adagio for Strings Op 11
17. SAINT-SAENS: Symphony No 3 in C minor Op 78, Organ
18. BEETHOVEN: Symphony No 6 in F Op 68, Pastoral
George Frederic Handel Photo: Denner, Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons
19. HANDEL: Messiah HWV56
20. TCHAIKOVSKY: 1812 Overture Op 49 Listen on YouTube
21. FAURE: Requiem Op 48
23. DVORAK: Symphony No 9 in E minor, From the New World
24. RODRIGO: Concierto de Aranjuez
25. PACHELBEL: Canon & Gigue in D
26. VIVALDI: Four Seasons, Spring
27. SIBELIUS: Violin Concerto in D minor Op 47
28. HOLST: The Planets Suite Op 32
29. RIMSKY-KORSAKOV: Scheherazade Op 35
Scheherazade by Alberto Vargas Photo: Wikimedia Commons Public Domain
30. ALLEGRI: Miserere mei, Deus
31. BACH: Concerto in D minor for two violins BWV1043
32. TCHAIKOVSKY: Violin Concerto in D Op 35
33. BACH: St Matthew Passion BWV244
34. DEBUSSY: Suite bergamasque
35. DVORAK: Cello Concerto in B minor Op 104
36. TALLIS: Spem in alium
37. SIBELIUS: Symphony No 2 in D Op 43
38. VERDI: Nabucco
39. MAHLER: Symphony No 5 in C# minor
Composer Gustav Mahler by Emil Orlik Photo: Public Domain
40. BACH: Mass in B minor
41. BEETHOVEN: Triple Concerto in C Op 56
42. BACH: Cello Suite No 1 in G BWV1007
43. BEETHOVEN: Symphony No 5 in C minor Op 67
44. PART: Spiegel im Spiegel
45. MENDELSSOHN: Violin Concerto in E minor Op 64
46. BACH: Goldberg Variations BWV988
47. PURCELL: Dido & Aeneas
48. SMETANA: Má Vlast
49. FAURE: Cantique de Jean Racine
50. SCHUBERT: String Quintet in C D956
51. STRAVINSKY: The Rite of Spring
52. BRUCH: Scottish Fantasy Op 46
53. DVORAK: Rusalka
54. PART: Fratres
55. MOZART: Requiem in D minor K626
56. MAXWELL-DAVIES: Farewell to Stromness
57. BACH: Brandenburg Concerto No 3 in G BWV1048
58. TCHAIKOVSKY: Symphony No 6 in B minor Op 74, Pathétique
59. MAHLER: Symphony No 1 in D, Titan
Johannes Brahms in 1853 Photo: Public Domain
60. BRAHMS: A German Requiem Op 45
61. BORODIN: In the Steppes of Central Asia
62. RAVEL: Boléro
63. KORNGOLD: Die tote Stadt Op 12
64. DEBUSSY: Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune
65. CHOPIN: Nocturnes Op 9
66. SIBELIUS: Symphony No 5 in Eb Op 82
67. PROKOFIEV: Romeo & Juliet Op 64
68. GERSHWIN: Rhapsody in Blue
69. CHOPIN: Piano Concerto No 1 in E minor Op 11
70. MUSSORGSKY: Pictures at an Exhibition
Ilya Repin's celebrated portrait of Mussorgsky, painted 2–5 March 1881, only a few days before the composer's death. Photo: Public Domain
71. SCHUBERT: Piano Trio No 2 in Eb D929
72. GÓRECKI: Symphony No 3, Symphony of Sorrowful Songs
73. HANDEL: Zadok the Priest
74. GRIEG: Piano Concerto in A minor Op 16
75. MOZART: Ave Verum Corpus
