Recently I have listened to two fabulous brass ensembles. In Austria while on the Your Turn Tour I was given a CD by a brass quintet called Sonusbrass, and enjoyed their playing of music by Albinoni, Bach, Pachabel and Vivaldi (the CD is called Barocco). And then, in mid December I listened to a concert given by  Prime Brass and the chorus of the Cambridge Philharmonic Society. Prime Brass are a group of Cambridge-based musicians who play as a quintet, and in larger configurations too. They play in a variety of styles (contrast, for example, their playing of Jeremiah Clarke's Trumpet Voluntary with their take on Brubek's Blue Rondo a la Turk).

The December concert I attended included Paul Patterson’s Magnificat, Howard Blake’s Four Songs of Nativity, and Patterson’s Paris Fanfare for ten players which was electrifying - nearly lifting the roof off the church where the concert was taking place. Absolutely awe-inspiring (You can click on the names of Paul Patterson's pieces to hear extracts from the Paris Fanfare and the Magnificat).