UPLIFTS

It would be misleading to assert that a woodwind trio (oboe, clarinet, bassoon) has a propensity for entertaining music rather than solid serious stuff. The temptation for this idea arises simply because there is a lot of skilled lightweight music at hand to encourage a disc for those odd moments.

With the exception of Villa-Lobos, French composers of the earlyish 20th century fill 22 tracks of 25. Which also raises the point that the French have a knack for the 'delicious' balanced between serious music and the jolly stuff that is artless.

The seasoned players of the London Wind Trio have the right edge for this repertoire: all manner of subtleties rise to the surface and then drop away as the next one arises, be it tune, harmony, rhythm or texture. A composer new to me is Henri Tomasi, born in Marseilles in 1901. He also perpetuates this Gallic touch of a feather. [Listen - track 11, 00:00-01:04.]

To listen to the aural illustrations in this review, you may need to download RealNetworks' realplayer G2.