The Book of Revelation is the Bible’s sting in the tail, with graphic descriptions of sinners getting what’s coming to them: slaughter, earthquakes, a bottomless pit and other such apocalyptic treats. In the King James version its tone is both prosaic and hectoring, making it challenging to set to music. Eugene Goossens did so, premiering his oratorio The Apocalypse in 1954, two years before he was ejected from Australia for his scandalous interest in witchcraft. The work takes Handel’s oratorios as a model, but is reminiscent of Walton’s Belshazzar’s Feast in its flashy orchestral effects. Unlike Walton’s masterwork, it contains long stretches of solo narration and Goossens’ unvarying, stentorian setting of these soon becomes tiring.