Brian: Symphony No 1 (Gothic) Hyperion CDA 67971/2 (2 CDs)****

Havergal Brian’s Gothic Symphony (1919-27) calls for 210 orchestral musicians (including six timpanists and 17 percussionists), four vocal soloists and a massive chorus. Last summer the BBC Proms brought together nine choirs, amounting to some 600 voices, for the work’s first professional performance in more than 30 years. The sense of occasion is palpable, and the combined forces of the BBC National Orchestra of Wales and the BBC Concert Orchestra under Martyn Brabbins, make the strongest case I’ve yet heard for the first, purely orchestral, part of Brian’s extravagantly grandiose vision. The setting of the Te Deum is a more difficult nut to crack. Even today, nine decades on, the unaccompanied choral writing seems implausibly idealistic. If you want to sample this piece, this is now the version to have. See url.ie/4qdb