James Vivian’s previous solo disc of 2005 – a survey of works built upon the Passacaglia (on JAV) – drew deservedly high plaudits. This new anthology is an equally satisfying and diverse programme, tailor-made for this gloriously unabashed Romantic instrument, a Harrison and Harrison of 1926, transplanted to the Temple Church from the ballroom of Glen Tanar House in 1953 as a replacement for the Rothwell organ destroyed by the Luftwaffe in 1941.

Opening with a vigorous rendition of Whitlock’s richly coloured and affectionate tribute to his friend, the Bournemouthian artist and musician Bernard Walker, the temperature drops down for that quintessential “Temple” piece, Walford Davies’s Solemn Melody. The Voluntary in D by one of Davies’s predecessors as organist of the Temple, John Stanley, provides a welcome contrast, a refreshing appetiser to Walter Emery’s beefed-up edition of SS Wesley’s evergreen Choral Song and Fugue. The improvisatory quality of Bridge’s Allegretto grazioso is caught to perfection. The same applies to Howells’s ruminative First Rhapsody, which grows and glows in all the right places.

Vivian brings the full weight and majesty of the Temple organ to bear on Harwood’s workmanlike early C sharp minor Sonata, a piece which owes much to Germanic models, especially those of Rheinberger. However, the undoubted masterpiece on the disc is Francis Jackson’s Toccata, Chorale and Fugue, composed in 1955. Now in his 94th year and still going strong as composer and performer, Jackson has written a piece that sounds as fresh as ever, especially with such compellingly masterful playing. The recorded sound is absolutely first-rate. I loved this disc.