Top 10 British works 2008

See how the Brits fared in our 2008 countdown...

Our homegrown composers can hold their own against the best the world has to offer, as this list of the top works by British composers shows (Handel is classed as a Brit because although born in northern Germany, he lived in London for most of his life and took British citizenship in 1727). Elgar and Vaughan Williams each take three of the top ten places.

1. Vaughan Williams – The Lark Ascending (1)
2. Vaughan Williams – Fantasia on a Theme of Thomas Tallis (3)
3. Elgar – Cello Concerto (7)
4. Elgar – Enigma Variations (9)
5. Jenkins – The Armed Man: A Mass for Peace (13)
6. Holst – The Planets (16)
7. Handel - Messiah* (20)
8. Handel – Solomon* (55)
9. Elgar – Pomp and Circumstance Marches (67)
10. Vaughan Williams – Five Variants of Dives and Lazarus (74)