Hi James,
Lilypond uses these GM names, which makes Lilypond a somewhat GM
compatible
source. This means that as long as we use a GM compatible synth
everything
should have the right sound.
I was using VLC to play it. Does this mean that VLC is not GM compatible?
"Sounding like" (= using samples similar to) an English Horrn and
"transposing like an English Horn" are independent issues matters here.
Valentin's explanations regarding GM concerned the sound of instruments.
As MIDI files usually (or probably even always, I'm not sure about the
standard) contain notes in sounding (concert) pitch, it's up to the MIDI
file generator (LilyPond) to create all notes in the correct sounding
pitch. In LilyPond, this can be achieved by either \transpose'ing the
music to concert pitch (but this also affects the printed layout) or
using \transposition, which is specifically made for affecting the MIDI
output only. (I'm ignoring the issue of quoted music here.)
Lukas
