A prolific composer, Scott wrote some four hundred works including: four Symphonies, three Operas, two Piano Concertos, four Oratorios, Concertos for Violin, Cello, Oboe and Harpsichord, several Overtures, Tone Poems, many Chamber works and innumerable songs.

Cyril Scott was "a pioneer of British piano music, producing more piano works in the period 1903-1914 than any other British composer and any other international one, with the exception of Scriabin... (He) was a key figure before World War I in helping Britain to break away from musical conservatism and the prevailing Germanic influences.” (Lisa Hardy, The British Piano Sonata 1870-1945)

There is a story that when Bernard Shaw commented to Elgar on the (then) daring harmonies of his Second Symphony Elgar replied "You mustn’t forget, it was Cyril Scott started all that!"

Described by Eugene Goossens as "the father of modern British music" he was admired by composers as diverse as Claude Debussy, Richard Strauss, Igor Stravinsky and his lifelong friend Percy Grainger.

Even Sorabji, one of the most extraordinary musical figures of the time and one of Scott’s severest critics had high praise for the Piano Concerto No.1 (1914) which he lauded several times in print and in a letter to Scott many year later complained of "the neglect of that best of modern British piano concertos, your own enchanting work".

By the start of World War II Scott’s popularity had declined. There were fewer performances and virtually no recordings but he was undeterred and produced two Symphonies, an Opera, an Oratorio, Concertos, Quintets, Quartets, Trios and Sonatas, working until the final three weeks of his life when he finished the revision of his last composition barely able to hold the pen at the age of 91.

During that time he also revised the wonderfully evocative Early One Morning for piano and orchestra (1931, rev.ed 1962).

In 2004 Chandos issued the Third Symphony, The Muses (1939), the Tone Poem, Neptune (1935), the 2nd Piano Concerto (1958) with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Martyn Brabbins and soloist Howard Shelley. It received rave notices. Peter Dickinson in the Gramophone described it as "A remarkable discovery in twentieth century British music" and sales in 2004 exceeded all expectation.

The Sonatina for Guitar (1927) commissioned by Segovia was thought lost and had acquired almost legendary status among guitar historians.

Rediscovered in 2001, it was hailed by Angelo Gilardino, Director of the Segovia Museum as "one of the summits of the guitar’s repertoire of the 20th century".

Sonatina for Guitar has been recorded by Tilman Hoppstock on the Signum label and published by Bèrben Edizioni Musicali with one of Scott’s own paintings on the cover.

Dutton Laboratories began their exploration of Cyril Scott's music in 2002. With the London Piano Quartet in that year they issued the Quartet op.16 in E minor (1899) and the Quintet for Piano, 2 Violins, Viola and Violoncello (1920). Nona Liddell - violin, Elizabeth Turnbull - viola, David Kennedy - violoncello, Philip Fowke pianoforte and Marilyn Taylor - violin.

In 2003, with the Archaeus Quartet, Dutton produced three of the four String Quartets: No. 1(1919), No. 2 (1957) and No. 4 (1960). Ann Hooley and Bridget Davy - violins, Elizabeth Turnbull - viola, Martin Thomas - violoncello.

Writing in the Gramophone, Ivan March headlined his review of the string quartets: "A fine quartet capture the vitality and melancholy of this composer's soundworld".

" Cyril Scott", he wrote, "is best known for his piano piece Lotus Land, and it might be thought that the first and second of his string quartets, with their translucent textures and nostalgic languor share something of the same atmosphere. Yet the uneasy chromaticism and ever-changing time-signatures of these chamber works create a more anxious soundworld and the melancholy First Quartet (1919) is closer to the milieu of Schoenberg's Verklaerte Nacht . The Second Quartet dates from three decades later, yet its unsettled mood follows recognisably from its predecessor. The Fourth Quartet (1965) is much less approachable, austere in its chromaticism, although building on the eerie, wayward lyricism of the earlier works.

This is fascinating music and very persuasively played, too: the Archaeus Quartet respond to its harmonic freedom, catching its vitality and delicate evocation."

In the third CD, a double volume, Anya Alexeyev joined Leslie De'Ath to record all the two-piano works including the Theme & Variations of 1933 and the Three Symphonic Dances arranged by Percy Grainger (1920). Concert pieces, Ballet Suites, including Karma Suite (1924) and some hitherto unpublished works complete the volume.

The 4th CD, also a double volume, came out in 2007 and is divided into two parts, works composed before 1910 and those composed after, ending with the Victorian Waltz (1963), of which Leslie De'Ath wrote in his liner notes:

"(It) was Scott's last completed piano composition. Its delicate and subtle nostalgia for a bygone era brings to mind Strauss's Vier lezte Lieder. Based on a fragment written by a friend of his youth, T. Holland-Smith, it is a touching farewell to the instrument that played such a fundamental role in shaping the composer's creative life."