Onyx Brass is delighted to be commemorating its 30th anniversary with another album for NMC. As a group that has always prided itself on playing new music (well over 200 premieres and counting) it feels like a perfect fit for a momentous year. The planning of this recording/commissioning project has roots which go back 20 years: I first approached Mark-Anthony Turnage after playing for his ‘Total Immersion’ weekend with the BBC Symphony Orchestra in 2003, and I remember chatting to Errollyn Wallen on Lordship Lane in East Dulwich, London, about the possibility of a piece for us in about 2012! The plan gradually fell into place over the ensuing years. The album comprises new commissions by composers from two distinct backgrounds in terms of their relationship with the members of the group (albeit with the common thread of utter admiration!): those we have worked with as fellow performers/colleagues (Perinpanayagam, Martlew, Gardner, Harding) and those we have admired from further afield whilst playing their music in other ensembles (Wallen, Turnage, Panufnik, Dobson, Hall). Beyond ballpark timings (which in many cases have been generously exceeded), the composers were given a free brief as to content and we are thrilled by the freedom with which they have expressed themselves. They all have a sensational empathy and understanding as to the physical/technical challenges we face as brass players, and have also all imbued their works with a scintillating sense of themselves. As a group that has funded the majority of all our commissions ourselves by putting a percentage of all our concert fees away (whilst doffing an exceptionally grateful hat to the estimable John Armitage Memorial, Vaughan Williams Foundation and Ambache Trust for their invaluable help with this project), we would like to put on record our unending gratitude to all these simply INCREDIBLE composers for being so generous with their brilliance. I am proud of all our records over the years but, for me, this is the one that feels like it might be the most ‘us’ and true to the idealistic spirit we had back in 1993. We may have been slimmer and with more hair back then, but I feel that I can still recognise ourselves! Amos Miller, Onyx Brass