Tuneful, entertaining and superbly crafted works by the English composer Christopher Ball, who also conducts the Adderbury Ensemble on this premiere recording, with oboe & recorder soloist Paul Arden-Taylor. Includes the Recorder Concerto ("The Piper of Dreams"), Oboe Concerto, Scenes from a Comedy for wind quintet, and Pagan Piper and Pan Overheard for unaccompanied recorder. "Beautiful ... engaging ... hauntingly mellifluous ... a composer of rare brilliance ... some of the most delightful music in the modern woodwind repertoire" (Recorder Magazine) "This is a charming disc to relax with, full of the sheer enjoyment of the music" (Double Reed News) "Unremittingly pleasant ... Paul Arden-Taylor plays these technically-challenging works with authority and obvious affection" (American Record Guide) "I enjoyed the whole 67 minutes greatly" (David Mellor, Classic FM) "Perfect music for a relaxing summer day" (Humphrey Carpenter, BBC Radio 3) "Sheer joy throughout ... superbly crafted ... beautifully lyrical ... highly attractive and entertaining ... rarely indeed have I heard such seemingly effortless and immaculate recorder playing" (Hubert Culot, Musicweb) "Not only is his music tonal, well-crafted and melodic, it is unmistakably English and has an individual voice; the concertos are a delight, full of jaunty, confident ideas and whimsical turns of phrase" (Jeremy Nicholas, Classic FM Magazine, awarded runner-up Record of the Month, July 2000) Christopher Ball was awarded scholarships to study clarinet and conducting at the Royal Academy of Music, the Guildhall School of Music and the Royal Manchester College of Music (now the Royal Northern). He studied with three of the 20th century's greatest clarinet soloists: Jack Brymer, Reginald Kell and Gervaise de Peyer, and it was while performing Mozart's Clarinet Quintet at a college concert in Manchester that Sir John Barbirolli, who was in the audience, gave a bravo at the end of each movement. Shortly afterwards, Christopher Ball was invited to join the Halle Orchestra and played many times under Barbirolli, who chaired the examining panel which awarded him the Performers' Diploma with Distinction and the Gold Medal for orchestral playing. He later won a Gulbenkian Scholarship to take the advanced conducting course at Guildhall, which included masterclasses with Pierre Monteux, Constantin Silvestri, Sir Charles Mackerras, Norman del Mar and Sir Georg Solti. He won the Ricordi Conducting Prize in his first year. Orchestras he has conducted include the Vancouver Symphony, BBC Philharmonic, BBC Scottish Symphony, Ulster Orchestra, City of Birmingham Symphony, Maggio Musicale Orchestra of Florence, Bavarian State Opera, and the orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, during several seasons as conductor of the Royal Ballet. Turning later to the world of early music, he founded and directed the Praetorius Consort in 1971, playing recorders and many early wind instruments and recording for EMI, CBS and BBC Records. He also founded the London Baroque Trio in which he played recorder. He has had a 41-year association with the Royal Academy of Music where he has taught many talented young clarinettists and recorder players in the junior department. As a composer, Christopher Ball is entirely self-taught but has received many commissions to compose and arrange light orchestral music for the BBC. His aim is to compose music which will communicate with and appeal to as wide an audience as possible, and therefore he does not pursue an atonal or avant-garde style. Paul Arden-Taylor studied the oboe at the Royal Academy of Music with the late Janet Craxton, simultaneously becoming active in the early music world as a member of the Praetorius Consort, in which he played recorders and early wind instruments. Upon leaving the Academy with four diplomas and the Leila Bull Oboe Award, of which he was the first ever winner, he was appointed principal oboe at the age of 20 with the Sadlers Wells Royal Ballet Orchestra. After 5 years, an interest in light music prompted a move to the BBC Midland Radio Orchestra, and he has since built a wide-ranging freelance career, including regular work with the Royal Shakespeare Company band and as principal oboe with the English Symphony Orchestra, of which he is a founder member. He has played with many British orchestras and ensembles, and his talents as a multi-instrumentalist have kept him in demand for a plethora of recording sessions, ranging from playing penny whistle in an episode of "The Archers" to commercial CD recordings of concertos. A strong interest in the technical aspect of recording has led him, over the last few years, to combine his performing career with work as an independent recording engineer and record producer. In 1997 Paul was awarded an honorary Associateship of the Royal Academy of Music.