These four delightful concertos are the work of young men: Linley and Wesley were still in their mid teens when they wrote them, Shaw and Brooks probably not much older. It reminds us that artistic talent tended to be fostered and developed early at a time when lives were shorter and more uncertain than today. The work by Linley is the only survivor of his twenty violin concertos and strongly shows the influence of his Italian travels. The Wesley is similarly bold in the juxtaposition of apparently contrasting styles, here the Classical and the Baroque.

While Shaw and Brooks remain in rather greater obscurity (the latter not even earning a mention in Grove), their concertos are equally attractive and assured.