Although the Hungaroton label has, unusually for Eastern Europe, ventured into historical performance, this is an old-school performance of the instrumental music of Johann Hermann Schein, who wrote neither the "chamber music" nor "music for brass" promised by the cover. Most of the music here was written for unspecified instrumentation, and viols, keyboard, or lutes were common choices for one type or another. There's certainly a market for performances that reduce it all to the dimensions of the modern brass quintet; witness the continuing success of groups like the
Canadian Brass. And there's absolutely nothing wrong with the playing of Hungary's
Ewald Brass Quintet, a group of former students at the Ferenc Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest. They have the combination of total smoothness and liveliness that fans of the genre enjoy, and it's fair to say that such fans will be pleased to discover a new ensemble from hitherto unfamiliar quarters. For the general listener, however, there's also a weakness, namely that 44 short pieces for brass quintet can be a bit of a slog after a while, especially when they're grouped together into sets of similar works as they are here. Schein's dance pairs, suites, and chorales were all written for settings in which various kinds of music would have been performed or various ensembles might have appeared, and even a traditional brass quintet program is more varied than this. For the committed brass fan or player, however, there's much to hear. Booklet notes are in English, French, German, and Hungarian.