There are signs of a much overdue, and very welcome, Parry revival. Apart from Blest Pair of Sirens, little of Parry's choral music has been performed—or recorded—in recent years. His star was to a large degree eclipsed by that of his slightly younger contemporary Elgar at the end of his lifetime, but there's no doubt that the latter was strongly influenced by Parry's music, especially when it came to writing his oratorios, as this recording well shows. Parry's Job, written in 1892, pre-dates all of Elgar's oratorios and it is easy to detect its influence in, for instance, The Dream of Gerontius, written ten years later.

The precise moment that Holst's career hit its apogee can be fixed in history as October 7, 1925, the day his Choral Symphony, setting texts by Keats, was premiered in Leeds. Since the public premiere of The Planets in 1920, Holst had been England's most popular living composer. He was mobbed by his fans at the premiere, but its repeat in London with the same performers three weeks later bored critics and put the audience to sleep. From that moment, Holst's career started to slide and he was soon eclipsed by William Walton as England's most popular living composer.