6/8/2025 | Entertainment | AU
Let's talk about the quiet rebellion happening in Australia's classical music scene. On the surface, this year's ABC Classic 100 Piano countdown delivered the expected result: Beethoven's 'Emperor' Concerto took the crown. Again. At this point, the man might as well have a permanent reservation for the top spot. But dig deeper, and you'll find the real story isn't about who won, but how generations are rewriting the rules of what makes piano music matter.
Picture this: while baby boomers were busy ensuring Beethoven's victory, nearly half the top 100 featured 20th and 21st century works. That's right, Rachmaninov's passionate concertos shared space with the delicate Minecraft soundtrack. The 18 24 age group couldn't even decide between Rachmaninov's Piano Concerto No. 2 and Joe Hisaishi's Howl's Moving Castle score, which tells you everything about how blurred the lines have become between concert halls and anime studios.
There's something poetic about nine year olds swaying the vote with Scott Joplin's 'The Entertainer' (because apparently all children are secret ragtime fans) while their older siblings boosted Studio Ghibli tracks into the rankings. Meanwhile, Australia's middle aged voters staged their own civil war between Team Moonlight Sonata and Team Emperor Concerto, with state lines drawn like some musical version of the country's infamous sporting rivalries.
Let's not overlook the quiet victories either. Composer Elena Kats Chernin became Australia's stealth MVP with three pieces in the countdown, while Nat Bartsch made history as the most recently composed work on the list. The presence of 11 female composers and 11 Australian works suggests the ivory tower of classical music might finally be cracking open. Even Jane Austen got a double nod through competing Pride and Prejudice adaptations, because nothing says 2025 like regency romance soundtracks going head to head.
What does it all mean? That people still crave the emotional wallop of a Beethoven concerto, but won't apologize for also wanting their childhood nostalgia served with piano accompaniment. That the instrument Chopin once called 'the most perfect expression of every emotion' now expresses everything from 18th century hunts to pixelated block building symphonies. Most of all, it proves that in an age of streaming algorithms and 15 second viral clips, Australia still cares enough about piano music to passionately vote over 139,000 times.
The next time someone declares classical music is dying, point them to the nine year old methodically learning 'The Entertainer', the teenager blasting Hisaishi covers on YouTube, or the fact that Minecraft's ambient piano tracks can hold their own against works composed for kings. The piano might be 300 years old, but as this countdown proves, its playlist is forever evolving.
Legal Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not reflect the official position of ABC Classic or its affiliates. All musical opinions subject to change based on mood, earworm potential, and whether that one Chopin nocturne comes up on shuffle.
By Homer Keaton , this article was inspired by this source.