‘X Factor’ theme tune named UK’s most widely-heard classical track
By ANITuesday, December 29, 2009
LONDON - ‘X Factor’ theme tune ‘O Fortuna’ has topped the list of UK’s most widely heard classical tracks since records began.
The song, a Carl Orff composition from his 1937 oratorio Carmina Burana, emerged as the most played classical recordings of the past 75 years.
The piece has also featured in scary movie ‘The Omen’ and in the Old Spice aftershave ads.
The list was compiled for BBC Radio 2 by royalties collection body PPL from songs played on TV, radio, online streaming and in public places such as shops.
Standing second in the list was Vaughan Williams’ ‘Fantasia On A Theme By Thomas Tallis’.
At the third place was Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade, while Tchaikovsky’s ‘The Sleeping Beauty’ and Schumann’s ‘Romance In F Sharp Major Op 28/2′ stood at fourth and fifth place respectively.
The top 30 most played works over the past three quarters of a century were revealed in Radio 2 programme The People’s Classical Chart, presented by comic and musician Bill Bailey.
German composer Orff’s chart-topper was inspired by a medieval Latin poem and the stirring, slightly sinister-sounding tune has been featured in anything from Michael Jackson tours to pre-match warm-ups for clubs such as Fulham and Doncaster Rovers.
However it has become best known in recent years as a tension builder for hit ITV1 talent show ‘The X Factor’.
The Munich Radio Orchestra’s recording of O Fortuna from 1973, featuring the Bavarian Radio Chorus and Tolzer Children’s Choir, is the one which has been most played, according to PPL.
The most-featured work in the top 30 is Gustav Holst’s ‘The Planets’, with four different recordings, including one by Manchester’s Halle Orchestra - who recently recorded with rock band Elbow - at number eight.
Britain’s Philharmonia Orchestra was the ensemble with most recordings in the top 30 with four.
“O Fortuna is a timeless piece of music that continues to be played, performed and loved over 70 years after its composition and this is a wonderful recording of the work,” the Telegraph quoted Radio 2’s head of programming, Lewis Carnie, as saying.
The top 30 (Conductor or featured artist in brackets):
1. Orff - O Fortuna From Carmina Burana (Kurt Eichhorn)
2. Vaughan Williams - Fantasia On A Theme By Thomas Tallis (Bernard Haitink)
3. Rimsky-Korsakov - Scheherazade (Charles Mackerras)
4. Tchaikovsky - The Sleeping Beauty (Mikhail Pletnev)
5. Schumann - Romance In F Sharp Major Op 28/2 (Joseph Cooper)
6. Delibes - Sylvia (Richard Bonynge)
7. Rachmaninov - Symphony No 2 (Vladimir Ashkenazy)
8. Holst - The Planets (James Loughran)
9. Tchaikovsky - The Sleeping Beauty (Valery Gergiev)
10. Schubert - Symphony No 5 (Neville Marriner)
11. Rachmaninov - Piano Concerto No 2 (Vladimir Ashkenazy)
12. Bizet - Carmen (Giuseppe Sinopoli)
13. Holst - The Planets (John Eliot Gardiner)
14. Vaughan Williams - The Lark Ascending (Sarah Chang)
15. Zipoli - Elevazione For Cello And Oboe (Robert Clark)
16. Beethoven - Symphony No 6, Pastoral (John Eliot Gardiner)
17. Grieg - Piano Concerto (Krystian Zimerman)
18. Tchaikovsky - Swan Lake (Charles Dutoit)
19. Litolff - Scherzo (From Concerto Symphonique No 4) (Peter Donohoe)
20. Holst - The Planets (Simon Rattle)
21. Vivaldi - The Four Seasons (Nigel Kennedy)
22. Rodrigo - Concierto De Aranjuez (Julian Bream)
23. Saint-Saens - Symphony No 3, Organ (Myung-Whun Chung)
24. Elgar - Cello Concerto (Jacqueline Du Pre)
25. Bruch - Violin Concerto No 1 (Maxim Vengerov)
26. Mendelssohn - Symphony No 4 In A Major, Italian (John Eliot Gardiner)
27. Orff - O Fortuna From Carmina Burana (Riccardo Muti)
28. Rimsky-Korsakov - Scheherazade (Seiji Ozawa)
29. Holst - The Planets (David Mathias Lloyd-Jones)
30. Mendelssohn - A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Yoel Levi) (ANI)
