When the ten virtuoso musicians of German Brass unpack their lustrous horns, trombones, trumpets and tubas and strike up Johann Sebastian Bach’s “Ratswechsel” Cantata, written...

When the ten virtuoso musicians of German Brass unpack their lustrous horns, trombones, trumpets and tubas and strike up Johann Sebastian Bach’s “Ratswechsel” Cantata, written to mark the election of a new city council, celebration is in the air. Following on from their successful album “Bach on Brass”, the ensemble now presents a joyful selection of works by Johann Sebastian Bach and his contemporaries, notably Georg Philipp Telemann and George Frideric Handel, just in time for the run-up to Christmas. From Bach’s Ratswechsel Cantata, by way of the aria “Bist du bei mir” from the “Notebook for Anna Magdalena Bach” through to his famous Doric Toccata and Fugue, this album includes works that express hope, consolation and courage. The arrangements are all showcase pieces for brass ensemble. Here are familiar works in a new, unexpected garb; they radiate a high degree of homogeneity and their sound is at once pleasing to the ear. German Brass’s performance validates the musicians’ reputation as brilliant exponents of the genre and marks them out as heralds of the happiest season of the year. Their declared role model in sound is the voluminous and multi-hued sound of the organ: the instrument has inspired arrangers and members of German Brass to produce an inimitable sound that has placed this ensemble at the pinnacle of music-making for decades.