His passing may have gone largely unnoticed but Philip Cannon (1929-2016) was a highly respected figure still to receive his due, and this disc offers a viable overview of his output. Earliest is Cinq Chansons de femme (1952) – settings of old French ballads whose agile vocal line, heard against limpid harp-writing, is eloquently rendered by Margaret Price. Cannon’s French ancestry is obliquely evident in his String Quartet (1964), rejected by the Cheltenham Festival and taken up by the Parrenin Quartet, then among the leading new-music ensembles. Its four movements are continuous, the rhetorical urgency at the outset maintained through to an ‘infinitely desolate’ close that confirms the emotional intensity of this 20-minute whole.

Cannon remains best known for his series of large-scale choral works, of which Lord of Light (1980) is possibly the finest. While the Gloucester Requiem subtitle suggests a Howells-like lineage, the often stark writing for soloists and chorus, allied to that for an orchestra abundant in untuned percussion and an organ part of baleful import, reinforces the apocalyptic nature of the composer’s response. Not everything succeeds (setting some of the solo lines in English, French and German, besides Latin, makes minimal difference in execution), but the sustained impact of this piece as it heads toward its defiant resolution has few equals in the recent past.

Such is the impression made by a first performance that wears its 36 years lightly, thanks to the quality of the broadcast. Several other premieres of Cannon’s major works have also been preserved, and hopefully recordings of these can similarly be collected for a follow-up release.