William Henry Harris (1883-1973) is best remembered today for his Anglican church music and, even then, for really just one work, the unaccompanied double-choir anthem ‘Faire is the heaven’ of 1925. His musical talents led him from a humble start in Fulham to a long and illustrious career trajectory via a scholarship at the Royal College of Music, through organist posts at New College and Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford, to his appointment in 1933 to St George’s Chapel, Windsor. Here his duties included tutoring the two princesses, Elizabeth and Margaret Rose, in music, retiring in 1961. His composing career was equally long. The earliest music on this handsome two-disc set, the Andante in D and Allegretto in F sharp minor, date from 1899. The final Prelude in G appeared in 1973, the year of his death.

Stylistically Harris remained a late Victorian/Edwardian composer. Parry, Stanford and – perhaps – Rheinberger are his steadfast influences. There is barely a trace of the agony of Vierne, for example, or the mannered complexity of Howells. Instead there is a good deal of gentle introspection throughout the 42 tracks recorded, with plenty of music, essentially jottings, that could quite easily have served as Evensong preambles. When he feels inspired, though, and raises his voice, Harris has something much more important to say. The Flourish for an Occasion and the Epilogue on Dix reveal a stronger, more passionate character. His longest piece, the three-movement Sonata of 1938, has come in for some criticism. However, under Daniel Cook’s masterful hands and feet it comes across as something substantial and absolute, full of contrapuntal mastery and structural contrast. Almost a quarter of the pieces recorded here remain unpublished. Of these, the Scherzetto is the most delightful, with a hint of nautical light-footedness.

Priory’s Neil Collier has done a superb job in capturing the glorious Durham Willis/Harrison and Harrison in its finest fettle. With excellent annotations from John Henderson, this is an interesting release that does Harris proud.