No, that doesn’t refer to the BBC’s latest classic serial Lark Rise at Candleford, but to Vaughan Williams’s famous piece The Lark Ascending, which topped Classic FM’s listeners’ poll for their favourite piece of music.

It was Ralph VW’s year, for he also came third with his more substantial work Fantasies on a Theme of Thomas Tallis.

Half a century after his death, the British composer’s 1914 programme piece of a lark singing over the English countryside took the number one spot in the Hall of Fame for the second year in a row.

More than 100,000 Classic FM listeners voted in the survey.

Darren Henley of Classic FM said: “The British public has spoken and declared Vaughan Williams their champion. In the 50 years since his death, Vaughan Williams has cemented his position as among the best-loved English composers of all time.”

At number two was Rachmaninov’s Second Piano Concerto, while Beethoven’s Fifth Piano Concerto and Sixth Symphony took fourth and fifth place.

The full Top 20 :

1. Vaughan Williams - The Lark Ascending
2. Rachmaninov - Piano Concerto No 2
3. Vaughan Williams - Fantasia On A Theme Of Thomas Tallis
4. Beethoven - Piano Concerto No 5
5. Beethoven - Symphony No 6
6. Mozart - Clarinet Concerto
7. Elgar - Cello Concerto
8. Bruch - Violin Concerto No 1
9. Elgar - Enigma Variations
10. Beethoven - Symphony No 9
11. Pachelbel - Canon
12. Barber - Adagio for Strings
13. Jenkins - The Armed Man: A Mass For Peace
14. Vivaldi - Four Seasons
15. Rachmaninov - Rhapsody On A Theme Of Paganini
16. Holst - The Planets
17. Grieg - Piano Concerto
18. Tchaikovsky - 1812 Overture
19. Mozart - Requiem
20. Handel - Messiah.