Early in his career, he composed mostly music for ballet and modern dance.
The 1976 performance of his "Requiem" at the Three Choirs Festival made him famous, and led to several major commissions.
Despite his numerous highly-regarded compositions for TV programs and film, his main focus was concert music.
His most famous piece of music is the "Brideshead Theme" from the hugely successful television series Brideshead Revisited (1981). It is also the only piece by Burgon to have entered the UK Singles Chart. It was released as a single in December 1981 and peaked at number 48.