David Sanford (b. 1963): Credo
Joseph Haydn (1732-1809): Feld-Partie (arr. Jon Nelson)
Daniel Grabois (b. 1964): Drift
Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971): Suite for Brass Quintet (arr. Raymond Stewart and Jon Nelson)
Samuel Barber (1910-1981): Adagio mesto from Piano Sonata in E-Flat Minor, Op. 26 (arr. Daniel Grabois)
Daniel Grabois (b. 1964): Gravikord

If you enjoy the sonic signature of brass instruments and don't mind an unusual mélange of styles, time periods and sounds grouped together on the same album, then this latest offering by the Meridian Arts Ensemble, an American brass ensemble founded more than 35 years ago and whose wide range of recordings have explored music from Gesualdo to Zappa, is earmarked for you.

For instance, their intonations are so precisely detailed that even some of the odd (nontraditional as they call them) noises they generate during David Sanford's Credo sound expressive. And when it comes to pinpoint ensemble accuracy, they nail it in Haydn's Feld-Partie (outdoor music for wind band), flawlessly arranged by Jon Nelson, the ensemble's trumpeter. And what a change in character from bright in the Haydn to dark and mellow as they drift (pun intended) into Drift by Daniel Grabois, the ensemble's French Horn player.

Particularly striking is Daniel Grabois' masterful arrangement for brass quintet of the slow movement of a Piano Sonata by Samuel Barber. If anyone ever told me they could effectively turn any piano piece into an ensemble work for brass instruments I would say they were out to lunch. But hey, you would be surprised at how good this sounds, especially in the way it projects the work's dark character. And Igor Stravinsky's angular and quirky neoclassical soundworld sounds great here within the clear harmonic layout of the brass instruments.