The players consist of a French group, the Ensemble des Cuivres d'Aquitaine based on Bordeaux and directed by Jean-Francois Dion, and an ad hoc English group ''assembled by Crispian Steele-Perkins and Martin Nicholls'' from the Gabrieli Brass Ensemble and the Sinfoniae Sacrae, and the disc appears to result from an enjoyable Anglo-French holiday get-together. The sleeve shows an attractive aerial view of the village of La Sauve-Majeure (once visited by Henry II and Thomas a Becket) where these recordings were made. About half the music is played by 'full brass', the Lully suite by the French players on their own, the rest by small English groups. Nearly all of it is well-suited to trumpets and trombones, notably the three modern works. Aaron Copland wrote this fanfare during the war, and there is a touch of inspiration about its clean open-air lines. Two items were composed by the music's over-all director, Richard Harvey, previously known to me as a recorder player. I especially enjoyed his variations on the once-popular Renaissance theme, L'homme arme, though the sleeve-note might have warned the listener that the theme takes its time before surfacing. The playing is alive and enthusiastic.
Of the other items the Lully pieces are rather undistinguished, and the Gesualdo madrigal hardly justifies its place, but the Adson and Purcell pieces are a good choice. John Adson published his Courtly Masquing Ayres ''for sackbuts and cornets'' in James I's reign, and one of those in F major is especially charming. The Funeral Music for Queen Mary sounds splendid on full brass though the chromatic timpani part worried me; much simpler drum parts would have made the music even more impressive. Nevertheless there is plenty to enjoy on this rumbustious disc, and I wish it every success.'