The five original members of London Winds have been playing together since 1988 and a sense of innate musical understanding emerges on this disc of 20th-century wind classics. Each one is a finely crafted gem even if, as a collection, the focus is often on humour rather than anything too profound.

Ligeti’s Six Bagatelles make a lively disc-opener, especially the pungent Allegro con spirito, though they expose occasional problems in Philippa Davies’s flute and piccolo intonation. Michael Collins (clarinet) and Robin O’Neill (bassoon) chuckle away in the Allegro grazioso. Barber’s Summer Music opens in nostalgic mood not a million miles away from Knoxville, flute and clarinet solo runs nicely lazy in feel. Fast staccatos are precise and Richard Watkins’s horn snarls effectively towards the end. Gareth Hulse phrases the oboe’s central theme languidly to crown a lovely performance.

The longest work on the disc is Carl Nielsen’s Wind Quintet, composed to render the musical personalities of the members of the Copenhagen Wind Quintet. There’s plenty of personality in the playing here, with much wit in the Allegro ben moderato and the charming Minuet. Nielsen closes with a set of variations, each tracked separately by Chandos, in which you can sense London Winds having much fun. The wit continues in Hindemith’s Kleine Kammermusik, especially the ‘tipsy waltz’ second movement. Peter Sparks (bass clarinet) joins the regular line-up for Janáček’s Mládí (Youth), which returns the ensemble to the earthy roots of Ligeti’s Bagatelles. It contains the same zest for life heard in Janáček’s The Cunning Little Vixen or Sinfonietta, and London Winds deliver an exuberant account, surpassing my previous favourite, the Michael Thompson Wind Quintet.