Your Hundred Best Tunes

Your Hundred Best Tunes is a BBC radio music programme, always broadcast on Sunday evenings, which presented popular works which were mostly classical excerpts, choral works, opera and ballads. The hundred tunes which made up the playlist were initially selected by the creator and presenter, Alan Keith. Subsequently, tunes were suggested by requests and polls of listeners.

History The Hundred Best Tunes in the World was broadcast on the BBC Light Programme from 15 November 1959 until 7 February 1960, when Alan Keith's personal list of one hundred had all been played. The title was changed from 14 February 1960. At this point it ran for half an hour from 10 to 10.30 pm, but from 25 December 1960 it was extended and moved to earlier in the evening, running from 7.35 to 8.30 pm. From 12 March 1961 it adopted the 9 to 10 pm time slot which it would occupy for the rest of its life, on four different networks: it moved from the Light Programme to the Home Service from 5 January 1964, and remained there after it became Radio 4 from 1 October 1967, but returned to what had been the Light Programme, now renamed Radio 2, from 5 April 1970.

The last show was transmitted on 21 January 2007 – a run of over 47 years. For most of this time, it was presented by the original creator, Alan Keith, who continued up to the age of 94. After his death in 2003, Richard Baker presented the show. Holiday guest presenters included Evelyn Barbirolli, Rosalind Runcie, Earl Spencer and Ursula Vaughan Williams.

The show was cancelled by Lesley Douglas, Controller of Radio 2, who replaced it with a longer Melodies for You, presented by Alan Titchmarsh, which continued to play music from the same repertoire until it too was cancelled in 2011. A special edition of the format was aired on 30 December 2011, presented by Alfie Boe, who played a selection from the 2003 poll plus some of his own favourites.

The hundred best tunes Polls were taken to confirm the choice of the hundred best tunes. The results of the last poll in 2003 are below. The previous poll was in 1997 and the position of each work in that earlier poll is shown in the right hand column.

NumberPieceComposerPrevious1"Au fond du temple saint" from The Pearl Fishers Georges Bizet12"Nimrod" from Enigma Variations Edward Elgar 163 "Va, pensiero" from Nabucco Giuseppe Verdi 224Violin Concerto No. 1 in G Minor Max Bruch 125 Canon in D Johann Pachelbel 526 Clarinet Concerto in A Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart 337 Symphony No. 6 in F (Pastoral) Ludwig van Beethoven 278 Piano Concerto No. 2 in C Minor Sergei Rachmaninoff 89 "Intermezzo" from Cavalleria rusticana Pietro Mascagni 2310 The Lark Ascending Ralph Vaughan Williams –11 Finlandia Jean Sibelius 212 Symphony No. 9 in D Minor 'Choral' Ludwig van Beethoven 513 The Planets Gustav Holst 914 "Ombra mai fu" from Serse George Frideric Handel 1715 Piano Concerto No. 21 in C Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart 2516 Adagio for Strings Samuel Barber 1417 Piano Concerto No. 5 in E Flat 'Emperor' Ludwig van Beethoven 2418 "Méditation" from Thaïs Jules Massenet 3919 Symphony No. 9 in E Minor From the New World Antonín Dvořák 3620 Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis Ralph Vaughan Williams -21 Ave Verum Corpus Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart 2822 Miserere mei, Deus – Psalm 51 Gregorio Allegri –23 "Hallelujah!" from Messiah George Frideric Handel 3224 "Laudate Dominum" from Solemn Vespers Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart -25 "Romance" from The Gadfly Suite Dmitri Shostakovich 2926 Zadok the Priest, one of the Coronation Anthems George Frideric Handel 6827 "The Arrival of the Queen of Sheba" from Solomon George Frideric Handel 3828 Piano Concerto in A minor Edvard Grieg –29 "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring" Johann Sebastian Bach 8530 Cello Concerto in E Minor Edward Elgar 631 "What is Life?" from Orfeo ed Euridice Christoph Willibald Gluck performed by Kathleen Ferrier3033 "Baïlèro" from Songs of the Auvergne Joseph Canteloube 1833 The Blue Danube Johann Strauss II 34 "Listen to the Mocking Bird" Septimus Winner (as Alice Hawthorne) 4235 "Song to the Moon" from Rusalka Antonín Dvořák 436 "Bells Across the Meadows" Albert Ketèlbey –37 Symphony No. 3 (Organ) Camille Saint-Saëns –38 Pomp and Circumstance No. 1 Edward Elgar 3139 Violin Concerto in E Minor Felix Mendelssohn 4040 "Che gelida manina" from La bohème Giacomo Puccini 8941 The Four Seasons Antonio Vivaldi –42 Symphony No. 5 Ludwig van Beethoven –43 "Panis angelicus" César Franck 1344 "I Dreamt I Dwelt in Marble Halls" from The Bohemian Girl Michael William Balfe –45 Piano Concerto No. 1 Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky –46 "Grand March" from Aida Giuseppe Verdi 2647 "A Londonderry Air" - this was the theme tune – traditional, arranged Percy Grainger 5948 The Merry Widow Franz Lehár 6749 "Nessun dorma" from Turandot Giacomo Puccini 5150 Cantique de Jean Racine Gabriel Fauré –51 "In Paradisum" from Requiem Gabriel Fauré –52 Symphony No. 7 Ludwig van Beethoven –53 Toccata and Fugue in D minor Johann Sebastian Bach –54 Adagio in G minor Tomaso Albinoni –55 "Judex" from Mors et vita Charles Gounod –56 Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini Sergei Rachmaninoff –57 Warsaw Concerto Richard Addinsell –58 "Adagio" from Spartacus Aram Khachaturian –59 Romeo and Juliet Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky –60 "Don't Be Cross" from The Mine Foreman (Der Obersteiger) Carl Zeller 7961 "Sanctus" from German Mass (Deutsche Messe) Franz Schubert 2062 "I know that my Redeemer liveth" from Messiah George Frideric Handel 1063 "Love Duet" from Madama Butterfly Giacomo Puccini 1565 Fantasia on "Greensleeves" Ralph Vaughan Williams –65 Symphony No. 2 Sergei Rachmaninoff –66 Fingal's Cave Felix Mendelssohn –67 "Polovetsian Dances" from Prince Igor Alexander Borodin –68 The Yeomen of the Guard Gilbert and Sullivan –69 Schindler's List Theme John Williams –70 Symphony No. 5 (Adagietto) Gustav Mahler –71 "Sanctus" from St. Cecilia Mass Charles Gounod –72 Scheherezade Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov –73 "Old Comrades" ("Alte Kameraden") Carl Teike 1174 The Marriage of Figaro Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart –75 "Nuns' Chorus" from Casanova Ralph Benatzky (based on Johann Strauss II) 776 1812 Overture Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky –77 "Jerusalem" Hubert Parry 5878 "Morning Mood" from Peer Gynt Suites Edvard Grieg 4779 Concierto de Aranjuez Joaquín Rodrigo –80 "Dance of the Blessed Spirits" from Orfeo ed Euridice Christoph Willibald Gluck –81 "Casta diva" from Norma Vincenzo Bellini –82 The Nutcracker Suite Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky –83 "Softly Awakes My Heart" from Samson and Delilah Camille Saint-Saëns 4984 Eine kleine Nachtmusik Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart –85 "Ave Maria" Franz Schubert 4386 "O mio babbino caro" from Gianni Schicchi Giacomo Puccini –87 Moonlight Sonata Ludwig van Beethoven –88 "Sheep May Safely Graze" Johann Sebastian Bach –89 "Where Corals Lie" from Sea Pictures Edward Elgar -90 Concerto for Two Violins in D minor Johann Sebastian Bach –91 Clair de lune Claude Debussy –92 The Creation Joseph Haydn 7793 Crown Imperial William Walton –94 "On the Road to Mandalay" Oley Speaks –95 Romance No. 2 in F major Ludwig van Beethoven –96 The Watermill Ronald Binge 3597 The Holy City Frederic Weatherly and Stephen Adams -98 "Bredon Hill" from A Shropshire Lad Graham Peel –99 William Tell Overture from William Tell Gioachino Rossini –100 Hear My Prayer Felix Mendelssohn –

Other media Alan Keith published a book about the music played in the show in 1975. The Decca Record Company published a successful ten-volume series of records with the title The World of Your 100 Best Tunes. The BBC published a six-CD collection of the music selected by the final poll listed above.

Your Hundred Best Tunes

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