Suzi,
Weren't you happily shocked, when watching "Master and Commander," that the tune, "Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis came on?!!
I was very pleased by that.
When that music started in the theater, my kids turned to me and just smiled. They are very familiar with the Vaughn Williams piece because I have a CD of several of his songs, and the 'Thomas Tallis' piece is on there. They had heard it a LOT before the movie, and even more since we got the soundtrack! Do you have the soundtrack? A lot of wonderful percussion; sounds like the Japanese Taiko drums and some other Polyneisian influences on some of the songs.
I LOVE the Thomas Tallis piece...I play the M&C soundtrack ALL the time.