Technological advances during the early 1900s delivered new versions of wind instruments that soon attracted interest from composers. The transformation was prompted by works such as Mozart’s Quintet for piano and winds, which demonstrated the enormous musical potential of instruments usually associated with outdoor performance.

Michael Collins and his ensemble London Winds also explore the vibrant colours and energy of Saint-Saëns’s Caprice, first performed in St Petersburg in 1887, and the heroic Sextet by Austrian composer Ludwig Thuille.