On Friday night we danced our way through 500 years of music, following like the children of Hamlin, wherever the piper took us, though in this case it was the Empire Brass Quintet which enchanted us.

The Quintet, well-known as North America's finest brass ensemble, are no strangers to Bermudian audiences, and at the City Hall theatre Rolf Smedvig and Marc Reese (trumpet), Gregory Miller (horn), Mark Hetzler (trombone) and Kenneth Amis (tuba) exceeded expectations. The evening was a lighthearted one, with many of the pieces dances, from the medieval 'Basse Dance Bergeret' by Tylman Susato to Duke Ellington's 'It don't mean a thing (if it ain't got that swing)'.

Members of the ensemble took it in turns to introduce the piece to be played, their witty comments a delightful alternative to studious programme notes, yet no less informative.

Knowing something of the context in which a piece was written and a biographical note about the composer makes a piece so much more enjoyable, and the ensemble's humorous introductions meant one didn't have to be a serious scholar to be able to have some insight into the music, and this made for a very entertaining evening.

So, for example, one's enjoyment of the 'Basse Dance Bergert' noted above, its lively melody interwoven in an intricate pattern, was enhanced by the tidbit of knowledge that the composer Susato was the first composer to print music on paper. And Anthony Holborne's 'Gigue', a Renaissance piece, was written without bar lines, the musicians deciding where the emphasis should be put, and playing 5,018 notes in three and a half minutes!

Prokofiev's 'Troika' from Lieutenant Kije, a fast-paced race across the snowy fields of a Russian winter, was more delightful for knowing that it was from a Russian comedy (who knew there was such a thing?), and that Lieutenant Kije was in fact a character invented by a company of soldiers on whom they could blame anything that went wrong – at a time before the SNAFU was invented.

The programme, united by the theme of dance, included 'Dance Arabe' and 'Dance Russe' from The Nutcracker and a 14th century traditional Irish Kesh jig, and allowed each ensemble member in turn to revel in the range of sound possible from his instrument and his virtuosity, which was astonishing, and left the audience, never mind the musician, breathless. 'Rondo alla Turka', from Mozart's 'Piano Sonata No 11', showcasing the tremendous skill of Kenneth Amis on tuba, came with a story of his dislike of Saturday morning piano lessons, and was dedicated to his long-suffering teacher Olivette Morris and all those budding pianists who hate to practise. The first half of the programme ended with another dedication – to world peace. The arrangement of the familiar 'Amazing Grace' highlighted the horn and the trumpet, the sweet, soulful sounds uplifting.

The second half of the programme opened with the world premier of Amis' 'A Scent of Paradise' especially commissioned for the 400th anniversary of Bermuda's settlement. Memory is evoked particularly by scent, and Amis recognised that whenever he thought of Bermuda, it was its unique scent, quite different even from other coastal communities, that came to mind. Trying to describe a smell is difficult enough, conveying it through music seemed nigh impossible – and yet Amis was able to capture the salty tang in the opening bars of the trumpet that gave way to the mellow tones of the horn and trombone, and ended with long notes as the sun sank beneath the western horizon and conjured the scent of a cool damp evening following a hot summer's day.

The rest of the second half was a romp through the twentieth century, featuring arrangements of works by the likes of Gershwin, Ellington and Copland. The programme ended with 'Simple Gifts' from Copland's 'Appalachian Spring', and the audience came away feeling that they had indeed been blessed with a gift – but one that was anything but simple.