Brahms, Bruckner, Mendelssohn, Schumann: Music for Brass Septet review – uplifiting debut from a magnificent seven

String players have a vast library of chamber music at their disposal, winds a smaller one, brass almost none at all. The aim of Septura is to expand – by arrangements, transcriptions and commissions – the repertoire for brass septet (the size of the orchestral brass section). Their founder-director, trumpeter Simon Cox, has skilfully arranged Mendelssohn’s C minor organ sonata Op 65 No 2, Schumann’s Vier doppelchörige Gesänge Op 141, Five Choral Preludes by Brahms and Four Motets by Bruckner. Currently resident at the Royal Academy of Music, this enterprising ensemble consists of principal players from our leading orchestras (LSO, Philharmonia, RPO, BBC SO, CBSO, Scottish Opera and Aurora) – all ace musicians, as this stirring, thoughtful debut CD for Naxos confirms. Look out for the next in the series.