Although a contemporary of Vaughan Williams and Holst, his compositional style is completely different from theirs. His thirty-two symphonies reflect influences from Bruckner, Elgar, Mahler, Sibelius and perhaps Nielsen too, from within the symphonic tradition. Beyond that one can detect the influences of composers such as Stravinsky, Schoenberg, and Varèse. With regard to the great Viennese pioneer of serialism, his liking for extremely elaborate orchestral textures, as well as his stretching of (and eventual abandonment of) tonality finds an echo in the first four symphonies of Brian.