Considering that William Mathias was one of the most original and distinctive voices writing for the organ in the latter half of the last century, the relative lack of representation in the catalogues is little short of scandalous. John Scott’s disc (Nimbus, 6/93), made shortly after the composer’s death, has long been the only worthwhile recording of this repertoire, but it was far from comprehensive (significant works such as the Partita and Variations on a Hymn Tune were omitted).

Here, at last, we have the first truly comprehensive survey of Mathias’s organ music, including pieces which I suspect very few organists never knew existed (notably the Prelude, Elegy and Toccata of 1955, his earliest known foray into writing for the instrument). It is also useful to have the particularly complex Antiphonies prefaced by the two ancient hymns on which it is based – even if treble James Orrell is placed so far distant that you have to strain your ears to hear him intone the Vexilla regis – and to hear that remarkably confusing Welsh hymn tune “Braint” given out by the Liverpool Welsh Choral before Mathias’s ingenious but, if you don’t know the tune, not always coherent, Variations.

On top of all this comes really first-rate playing from Richard Lea, organist and assistant director of music at Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral, and a magnificent, demonstration-quality recording of what is, for me, one of the greatest English organs of the 20th century. Lea has real fire in his spirit and Mathias’s characteristically angular rhythms and jocular dancing melodies leap out of the pages with almost hypnotic persuasiveness. Everything here is a performance to be reckoned with and while it might be said that, in places, Mathias was inclined to resort to stock devices giving some of these pieces a certain sameness, Lea’s masterly handling of the instrument and his understanding of the music ensures that every single note stands out proudly as never a wasted note.