Havergal Brian’s monumental ‘Gothic’ Symphony, the first of 32 symphonies, with combined forces of around 1000 musicians is possibly the largest-scale symphony ever written, outdoing the most extreme demands of Mahler, Strauss or Schoenberg. Inspired by Goethe’s Faust and the Gothic Age as a period of almost unlimited expansion of human knowledge, it incorporates a vast number of musical influences, from medieval plainsong to early 20th century techniques. After the purely orchestral Part 1, Part 2 is a gigantic setting of the Te Deum inspired by the mighty Gothic Cathedral and the music that was sung in it.