Pour Quintette de Vents-French composer and conductor Henri Tomasi (1901-1971) published Five Secular and Sacred Dances for Wind Quintet in 1963. As with his other wind compositions Five Secular and Sacred Dances was well-received by audiences. Tomasi was born in Marseille but his Father and Mother were originally from La Casinca in Corsica. Despite being pressured into musical studies by his parents Tomasi dreamed of becoming a sailor and during the summer he stayed with his Grandmother in Corsica where he learnt traditional Corsican songs. However in 1921 he began his studies at the Paris Conservatoire and wenton to become a high profile composer and conductor. Tomasi did not forget his Corsican routes often incorporating themes of the songs he had learnt during the summers with his Grandmother in to his compositions. Five Secular and Sacred Dances is a reduction arrangement of his work of the same name for Chamber Orchestra. Comprising five movements; 1) Rural Dance 2) Secular Dance 3) Sacred Dances 4) Bridal Dance and 5) Warrior Dances Five Secular and Sacred Dances is one of three Wind Quintets by the composer. This Tomasi piece is suitable to an advanced Wind Quintet providing an exciting alternative addition to the ensemble repertoire.

Postcards was written in 1991 for the Vega Wind Quintet who first performed it at the Huddersfield Festival in the same year. It is a reworking of a set of eight Bagatelles written in 1965: each movement has been rewritten and enlarged to a greater or lesser extent. The title was chosen to emphasise the nature of the pieces which are in a sense brief postcards from different genres (fugato dance etc). John McCabe (1939-2015) was a British composer pianist and music administrator. He studied at the Royal Manchester College of Music and built a career as a virtuoso pianist. However he also wrote several hundred musical compositions ranging from large-scale orchestral works to chamber music and solo instrumental pieces - it is said the only classical genre he did not write for was opera.