He was also aware that many of the instruments used in medieval and Renaissance music had been brought to Europe from the east, as a result of the Crusades, trade through Constantinople and the Moorish occupation of Spain.
He also believed that voice production had been eastern and folksy; in European religious paintings, angels were frequently depicted singing with tightened throats and mouths barely open.
[3] Morrow decided to call his group Musica Reservata because he considered it to be unlikely that any performance of early music could be a true reproduction of the original sounds.
A programme of medieval music was performed by Grayston Burgess (counter-tenor), Eric Halfpenny (early cross flute), John Sothcott (recorder), June Baines (tenor viol), John Beckett (tenor viol and regal), Francis Baines (hurdy-gurdy and bagpipes), Michael Morrow (lute) and Jeremy Montagu (percussion).
[8] Early music performer David Munrow may have played the crumhorn for the first time with Musica Reservata at a concert held at Balliol College in Oxford on 28 November 1965.