Melos EnsembleEMI Icon 918 4152 (11 CDs) *****

The Melos Ensemble, with a core membership of a dozen (string quintet, wind quintet plus harp and piano), was a leading British group, founded in 1950, that concentrated on the often hugely rewarding but less-frequently-heard mixed combinations of the chamber music repertoire. In other words, anything from Poulenc's Sonata for clarinet and bassoon or Khachaturian's Trio for clarinet, violin and piano, up to works by Harrison Birtwistle ( Tragoedia) and Peter Maxwell Davies ( Leopardi Fragments) that actually require a conductor, as well as all the sextets, septets and octets that you could wish for. This set concentrates on recordings from the 1960s and early 1970s, with a few excursions back into the 1950s. It offers a wonderful cross-section of music that's still all too rarely heard in concert, with the exception of forums such as the West Cork Chamber Music Festival. See url.ie/57cs