CRITIC’S CHOICE

Sarah Urwin Jones Before we got married some years ago, my husband and I dreamt of a particular Balkan/ Klezmer band sending us on our way. Now our youngest has rooted out the CD, and we have it on loop for the (considerably enlivened) school run, a riotous cross-cultural mix of trumpet, accordion and clarinet entitled Opa Cupa, by the eponymous Italian band. In between, we have ‘mediaeval knights’ music!’ – Jordi Savall and Hespèrion XXI’S equally evocative, if somewhat more meditative, Estampies & Danses Royales.