Since the early nineteenth century French composers have shown a particular skill and deftness of touch in handling wind instruments. The pattern was set when Anton Reicha, whose composition classes at the Paris Conservatoire included Berlioz, Franck and Gounod, wrote his 24 ‘Paris’ quintets for the unusual combination of flute, oboe, clarinet, horn and bassoon. In this collection of early to mid 20th-century works, Poulenc’s Sextet and Ibert’s Trois pièces brèves are marked by rhythmic vitality and a delicate vein of sentimentality, while Milhaud’s La Cheminée du roi René reflects the style of Stravinsky’s neo-classical period in its spiky harmony. Representing a younger generation of French composers, Jean Françaix shares something of the wit, versatility and assured technique of the group of friends known as Les Six, which included Poulenc and Milhaud.