Francophiles, rejoice! This year, for the first time, the ABC Classic FM Top 100 celebrates the music of one country and one culture: France. Voting opens today, giving Classic FM listeners the chance to rediscover their favourite Gallic works and have their say in what is played in concert and on air for the final countdown beginning October 8.

The shortlist of masterpieces on the voting form stetches from the Middle Ages to the modern age, from Adam to Widor and across all genres of classical music.

ABC Classic FM producer Lucas Burns says he started puting together the 2012 list by “compiling the French works that made it into previous Classic 100 Countdowns”. Then he “added a further selection of music that we know from experience is popular in concerts, as well as works that have been recorded and broadcast many times.”

The offerings are bound to be more broadly listener-friendly than the 2011 list of 20th-century music, and what better excuse to listen to Classic FM with a croissant and chocolat chaud in hand?

Limelight expects Debussy’s Clair de Lune, Erik Satie’s Gymnopédies, Ravel’s Boléro and Fauré’s Requiem high on...