Limelight talks to Russell Torrance about this year's strong contenders, Puccini's emotional manipulation, and the passion of the tuba.

Vaughan Williams tops this year’s list, inspired by ABC Classic FM’s popular Swoon programme. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in

The ABC Classic 100 20th Century countdown seemed to throw up a lot of controversy last year. I must admit that until I was on air for the first session with my partner in crime Marian Arnold, I had no idea who had won. I took a peek down the list, which felt naughty, like looking at the last page of a grand novel to see how the story finishes. There it was: No 1 – the Elgar Cello Concerto. I wished I hadn’t seen it.  There is nothing wrong with the piece – it’s a lovely work – but is such a remnant of the 19th century. It seemed unbelievable that it could have won ahead of all the other magnificent and more modern pieces from the 20th century. Of course there was no point grumbling about the decision; the people voted and they got what they voted for. But it did highlight what I thought was an interesting English bias in the voting, which Julian Day also remarked on in the January issue of Limelight. Of the top five  (Elgar Cello Concerto, Holst’s The Planets, Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue, Vaughan Williams’s The Lark Ascending and Rachmaninov Piano Concerto No 2) three are English……

Is the listener bias towards English music, as demonstrated in the results of the recent Classic 100 20th Century, a symptom of a wider problem? Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in