'Lord of the Rings' score in classic top 10

Music from the film trilogy The Lord Of The Rings has beaten works by Holst, Grieg and Dvorak into a top 10 of classical music fans' favourite works. Howard Shore's compositions were ranked ninth in an annual hall of fame compiled from the votes of 250,000 Classic FM listeners.

Shore's music rose from its position in last year's poll by 122 places. The Canadian composer's scores fared better than the Harry Potter film soundtracks by John Williams, which were in 57th place.

Pieces of music made famous by advertisements made up most of the contemporary music featured on the list. The work in first place for the third year running, Rachmaninov's Piano Concerto in C minor, also has a connection to films. The music featured in the 1945 Oscar-winnerBrief Encounter.

Williams had three other entries – his score for Saving Private Ryan was at number 199, while his work for Schindler's List was in 93rd place. The score for the Star Wars trilogy was placed 102nd.

Handel's "Sarabande" was given a helping hand into the chart after featuring in an advert for Levi's. The piece made its first entry in the top 300 at number 75.

Roger Lewis, managing director of Classic FM,said: "Classical music is continuing to evolve and for many people movies are today's opera. Their music communicates universal truths with mass audiences from the epic to the intimate. It is all about conveying emotions."

Mozart was the most popular composer in the poll, with 22 entries, although his only top 10 composition was Clarinet Concerto in A, which took second place. Tchaikovsky featured 20 times in the poll.