THE Fine Arts Brass Ensemble - Simon Lenton and Angela Whelan (trumpets), Neil Shewan (horn), Simon Hogg (trombone) and Richard Sandland (tuba) - were a dazzling and welcome diversion.

Their chosen music, mostly transcribed from other scorings, showed how excellently such adaptations could be achieved.

Excerpts from Bernstein's Candide and West Side Story were perfect examples.

Brilliant fanfares, and crystalline clarity of high-pitched trumpets, together with a fascinating difference of sounds produced by using an array of mutes, made these extracts very exciting.

Vivaldi's Concerto for Two Violins and Cello, Op.3, No.11 worked well as presented by two trumpets and horn. The contrapuntal sections with virtuoso trumpets, and the superior low tuba sounding like a huge organ pedal stop, were captivating, and the imperceptible exchange of phrases by the trumpeters in the gentle Siciliano was done skilfully.

Brass Quintet No.1, by Malcolm Arnold, allowed each instrument to show virtuosity, as well as the sumptuous total harmony the combination could accomplish. The mournful harmonic progressions of the Chaconne, and the haunting ascending scales of the horn and tuba, conveyed the sensitivity of these musicians.

Bozza's Sonatine was very demanding technically, requiring instrumental exponents of the greatest competence.

Flamboyance and stunningly radiant sounds were the hallmarks of this work.

An incredibly fast Flight of the Bumblebee was the extremely impressive encore.

The season's final concert in this series is The Adderbury Quartet on Sunday, April 14, at 3pm.

Jill Hopkins