Although the cover and booklet-note (by the late Malcolm MacDonald) give the Brian pieces as one large suite, there are really two distinct works here: the five Symphonic Dances plus the Symphonic Variations on ‘Has anybody here seen Kelly?’. The Dances – ‘Shadow Dance’, ‘Gargoyles’, ‘Lachryma’, ‘Green Pastures’ and ‘Wild Horsemen’ – were orchestrated variously between 1921 and 1924 (several years before the rest of the opera) and are superbly drawn tone-poems featuring at various points in the opera, and form its expressive dark heart. The Symphonic Variations occur early in the opening Prologue (set in a Hampstead Heath fair the day war breaks out) and were the first to be orchestrated and extracted (in 1921); this performance runs Garry Walker’s BBC Scottish rival close.

Brian’s scintillating orchestral textures still show up brightly in these sympathetic and virtuoso accounts. The sound is a touch studio-bound but still crystal clear, comparing favourably with previous incarnations; so, too, in Foulds’s vibrant Pasquinade symphonique No 1 (1935 36), a mildly ironic take on traditional sonata form. Hopefully Heritage will release the remaining Foulds and Parry pieces from the original set in due course.