Guildford Choral Society, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Hilary Davan Wetton - Parry: Job (1998)

Tracklist

01. Job, Scene 1: No. 1, There Was a Man in the Land of Uz (Narrator/Job)
02. Job, Scene 1: No. 2, And the Lord Said to Satan (Narrator/Chorus/Satan)
03. Job, Scene 1: No. 3, But Put Forth Thine Hand Now (Satan/Narrator/Chorus)
04. Job, Scene 2: No. 1, The Flocks of My Master Are Blessed of God (Shepherd Boy)
05. Job, Scene 2: No. 2, Come, O Sabean Horde! Come, and Destroy! (Satan/Chorus)
06. Job, Scene 2: No. 3, And There Came a Messenger to Job, and Said (Narrator/Shepherd Boy/Job/Satan/Chorus)
07. Job, Scene 2: No. 4, Lift Up Thy Voice, O Son of Man, and Cry (Chorus)
08. Job, Scene 3: Introduction. Now When Job's friends Heard of All This Evil (Narrator)
09. Job, Scene 3: The Lamentation of Job No. 1. Let the Day Perish Wherein I Was Born (Job)
10. Job, Scene 3: The Lamentation of Job No. 2. Why Died I Not from the Womb? (Job)
11. Job, Scene 3: The Lamentation of Job No. 3. How Should a Man Be Just with God? (Job)
12. Job, Scene 3: The Lamentation of Job No. 4. My Soul Is Weary of My Life (Job)
13. Job, Scene 3: The Lamentation of Job No. 5. Man That Is Born of Woman Is of Few Days (Job)
14. Job, Scene 3: The Lamentation of Job No. 6. O That I Were as in the Months Past (Job)
15. Job, Scene 3: The Lamentation of Job No. 7. But Now My Soul Is Poured Out upon Me (Job)
16. Job, Scene 3: The Lamentation of Job No. 8. For I Know That Thou Shalt Bring Me unto Death (Job)
17. Job, Scene 4: No. 1, Who Is This That Darkeneth Counsel by Words Without Knowledge? (Chorus)
18. Job, Scene 4: No. 2, Who Shut Up the Sea with Doors? (Chorus)
19. Job, Scene 4: No. 3, Hast Thou Commanded the Morning Since Thy Days? (Chorus)
20. Job, Scene 4: No. 4, Hast Thou Given the Horse Strength? (Chorus)
21. Job, Scene 4: No. 5, Wilt Thou Disannul Judgment? (Chorus)
22. Job, Scene 4: No. 6, Then Shall God Also Confess That Thine Own Right Hand Can Save Thee (Chorus/Narrator/Job)
23. Job, Scene 4: No. 7, And It Was So, That the Lord Turned the Captivity of Job (Narrator)

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.

This fine work has never been recorded before.

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