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The Munich Radio Orchestra's version of O Fortuna, conducted by Kurt Eichhorn, is named as the UK's most-heard classical disc in a ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Radio 2 show broadcast today.

It is revealed as the No. 1 on The People's Classical Chart, Radio 2's two-hour countdown of the classical recordings most heard in all public places across the UK over the last 75 years. The show was presented by comedian and classical fan Bill Bailey and compiled by music licensing company PPL.

Twentieth-century German composer Carl Orff's O Fortuna, from his 1937 oratorio Carmina Burana, has been made popular by widespread use in adverts and films and it is the Munich Radio Orchestra's 1973 recording, featuring the Bavarian Radio Chorus & Tolzer Children's Choir, which has been played most on radio, TV and in public.

"Of course, we all knew the No. 1 would be a 13th century Latin goliardic poem!" joked Bailey.

Classical buff Stephen Fry, one of many contributors to the show, added: "For some reason, it almost sounds satanic, although it's actually a religious piece."

Inspired by a mediaeval Latin poem, the familiar, stirring O Fortuna has been used extensively as a work inspiring Jerry Goldsmith's music for the vintage 1976 horror film The Omen.

It featured in several of Michael Jackson's tours, the Old Spice TV ad and as a theme in The X Factor, as well as being is used by various football clubs as their teams take the field up and down the country, from Fulham to Doncaster Rovers.

Lewis Carnie, Head of Programming, Radio 2 and 6 Music, said: "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 programme was the follow-up to a countdown of pop recordings, The People's Chart, also compiled by PPL for its 75th anniversary, which was aired by Radio 2 at Easter. Presented by Rob Brydon, it revealed the most-played pop recording as Procol Harum's A Whiter Shade Of Pale.

Fran Nevrkla, Chairman and CEO, PPL, said: "This PPL People's Chart shows classical music's enduring popularity, from the great old recordings to new versions of the classics. We hear these recordings so often on the radio, on TV and out-and-about that it's good to remind ourselves of the artists and the record companies that put their time, talent and investment into making them.

"The chart is a huge compliment to the talent of all the musicians, singers and other performers who created all this fabulous music and whom PPL is very proud to represent among its constituents."

Beaten into second place by Orff was the London Philharmonic's 1986 EMI recording, made at London's famous Abbey Road studios, of British composer Ralph Vaughan Williams' Fantasia On A Theme By Thomas Tallis.

The composition was adapted in 1913 from 16th century composer Thomas Tallis and the version which makes No. 2 in the chart was recorded by the London Philharmonic Orchestra and conducted by Bernard Haitink.

A 1990 recording by the London Symphony Orchestra with Sir Charles Mackerras of Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherezade, adapted from the famous stories of the Arabian Nights, is at No. 3. The Australian conductor, interviewed in the programme, pronounced himself "delighted".

The most-featured piece in the Top 30 of the People's Classical Chart is Gustav Holst's The Planets, represented in four different recordings, the highest at No. 8 by Manchester's Halle Orchestra, who have worked with rock band Elbow, and which was recorded in 1975.

The country producing the most recordings in the top ten was Russia, with four; a British orchestra, the Philharmonia, had the most recordings, four, in the top 30.

The show, a Wise Buddah production for Radio 2, by journalist/broadcaster Paul Sexton, also featured interviews with classical artists such as Vladimir Ashkenazy, Katherine Jenkins, Hayley Westenra, Julian Lloyd Webber, choreographer Matthew Bourne and aficionadoes such as Rolf Harris, Sir Patrick Moore and Elbow's Guy Garvey.

SH3