All this cheerful music was written in London in late Stewart times, the first three composers being foreigners who did much to improve our standards of violin playing. The Matteis Divisions require three virtuoso violinists and it is delightful to hear them chattering away like starlings. The best of these 'foreign' items is the one by our old friend 'anon', clearly an Italian and here at the top of his form. But can such advanced music really be as early as 1700? English composers show up well notably Croft in the theatre pieces he wrote for Farquhar's comedy. The twin rivals. The gaps in the overture as published must result from a trumpet part being omitted and the editors of this LP have devised a solution which I found completely convincing. Steele-Perkins plays the solos in this and the Keller and the Eccles Trumpet Overture with nice, bright, clean tone. A manuscript version is used for the last-named rather than the published one, which has a few more bars and tempo marking ( ''Brisk'') in the finale. The Purcell Trumpet Tune is well-known as a harpsichord piece, but it is a pleasure to hear what was surely the original version for trumpet and strings which the editors found in a Cambridge library. Enjoyable light-weight music of excellent quality. Recommended.'