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The Czech Philharmonic Wind Ensemble should need no introduction; just as well, as there is no note about them in the booklet! However, as many have noted, theirs is a virtuosity of the highest order, audible on their many recordings, ranging from Mozart serenades, Beethoven wind music and Dvořák to a wide range of more modern fare. I reviewed their previous release for Divine Art last year, the scintillating contemporary collection ‘Chromosphere’ directed by Shea Lolin (2/24).

This new album is a marvellous collection of music old (Krommer) and new (Woolfenden though inspired by Purcell), familiar (Strauss) and less so (Lambert), all in arrangements for full wind ensemble, mostly made by Lolin in 2025. His aim was to ‘amplify the sonic magnitude of the original works, breathing new life into classical pieces while maintaining their essence’ and it must be said that he has succeeded very well overall. Yes, one does miss the trumpets’ bright clarity in the Sinfonia from Lambert’s ballet suite Romeo and Juliet (1924-25) or the emotional depth of texture the strings bring to “The Death of Juliet’, but there are gains from the euphonious nature of the wind ensemble in Lambert’s spiky score.

The arranger’s touch was necessarily lighter in Krommer’s Octet-Partita (1806), the first of some 13 for, essentially, two wind quintets without flutes. The omissions are rectified very subtly, with a few additions to fill out the textures, an approach replicated neatly in Strauss’s marvellous early Serenade (1881). Both pieces work well in these expanded versions, though some will undoubtedly prefer the originals. Guy Woolfenden made his own wind-ensemble arrangement of Gordian Knots for clarinet choir (1995; the concluding Jig is a Purcellian chaconne rooted on Lilliburlero), tweaking the title and amplifying his music’s ‘sonic magnitude’ in the process. At the heart of the programme is Cécile Chaminade’s mellifluous Flute Concertino (1902), fitting Lolin’s wind-band setting like a glove. Fiona Sweeney is the persuasive soloist, holding her own in a part recorded by eminent competition, Emanuel Pahud (Warner, 10/21) and James Galway (RCA, 10/77, 1/78) not least. A frisson, indeed!