Several composers from the European continent established themselves in Britain in the first half of the 18th century. For a lot of them, mainly influenced by the Italian style, it was a necessity to musically integrate their compositions, while they helped moulding the element of “Britishness” in British music in the first place. On this CD the Ensemble Chameleon around the British bassoonist Jennifer Harris (who is living in Germany today) explores the musical style of John Ernest Galliard and Luigi Merci, complementing it with Scottish traditional songs. The multifaceted, colourful interpretation shows that the bassoon does not solely exist to serve as a muffled and dusty bass of the wind family: it is able to sigh, to speak and to laugh, in short: to come alive.