If you buy one Baroque music disk this year, let it be this one," said Paul Shoemaker of Music Web, who also called this release "a magical balance of crispness, bounce, swing, sweetness and dignity." The Brook Street Band definitely have something new to say in this form, and bring effervescence and vitality to a well known recording.

The Brook Street Band is an award winning specialist in eighteenth century repertoire that takes its name from the London street where George Frideric Handel lived and composed for most of his working life. Its various prizes include BBC Radio 3 Young Artists' Forum and the Byrne Award, given by the Handel Institute for Handel scholarship.

It was formed in 1995 by the baroque cellist Tatty Theo with the aim of exploring lesser-known works by Handel and his English and European contemporaries, and interpreting more familiar works in the light of recent scholarship. The Brook Street Band performs small to large scale repertoire ranging from intimate chamber music to concerts with double orchestra and choir.

The Brook Street Band has performed extensively at Festivals around Britain, including teaching and performing residencies at the Dartington International Summer School. The Band also gives concerts and runs education projects for the Handel House Museum in London.

The Brook Street Band also believes in commissioning contemporary works for period instruments. Those who have written for the group include the celebrated composer and educationalist David Bedford and renowned composer and vocalist Errollyn Wallen. One of the Band's most notable contemporary projects has been working with Errollyn on a song cycle The Queen and I, initiated for 2003 in anticipation of the 400th anniversary of the death of Elizabeth I.