On the evidence of these CDs, conductor William Vann totally believes in this piece; he offers a compelling reading, drawing from the excellent Crouch End Festival Chorus and LMP (all of whom would have been new to the piece) a thrilling account. The soloists are all on fine form, with Sarah Fox in the title role singing with burnished tones, and Toby Spence as the conflicted king exploiting his ringing top register.

Every aspect of this performance sounds like a labour of love. Rudge’s soaring, expressive singing as Meshullemeth gives the piece its real heart, and she’s accompanied with intense sympathy by the conductor William Vann, who avoids any suggestion of bombast or sentimentality, and builds Parry’s great paragraphs so eloquently and with such assurance that you’d think he’d been conducting this music all his life.

A major and distinguished addition to the Parry discography.

At its best, it’s stirring stuff indeed, and the choral writing in places anticipates the grandeur of Elgar’s Gerontius...the Crouch End Festival Chorus have a whale of a time baying for blood to appease their pagan god Moloch in Act One, and are equally impassioned in the wonderful lament for the dispossessed Jews of Jerusalem...The London Mozart Players play out of their boots for William Vann, who directs with terrific drive and impetus, and the low brass-winds and percussion literally have a blast in the numerous death-or-glory outbursts.

It’s all you might imagine a grand piece by Parry to be: resolute, bold, melodic – and surprising: the tune for the hymn Dear Lord and Father of Mankind was lifted directly from this piece. Vann and his excellent forces make a convincing case for more performances.

You don’t have to be Parry’s champion Prince Charles to feel a thrill as the soprano Sarah Fox rings out as Judith, the Crouch Enders exult, the tenor Toby Spence sonorously conveys the vacillating king Manasseh and Parry creates sequences of stirring clamour. Give it a spin