Wood’s influence on music was widely felt through his pupils: Vaughan Williams, Armstrong Gibbs, Sir Thomas Beecham, Sir William Harris, and Sir Michael Tippett. But it is evident that Wood appears not to have been an ambitious man and most of his music was published posthumously. He spent much of his life in the shadow of Stanford; Wood’s own compositions have their origins in his teacher’s style and harmonic vocabulary.
Most of Wood’s church music was written with the Cambridge college choirs in mind, with their ability to sing double-choir music with relative ease. Much of his music is beyond the abilities of most parish church choirs. By way of contrast, Oculi omnium is the second of two easy, short, four-part introits published in 1927.
from notes by William McVicker © 1999