performing ensemble: Onyx Brass


The highly acclaimed brass quintet Onyx Brass makes its Chandos debut with the premiere recording of a collection of fugues by Bach and Shostakovich, arranged for brass ensemble. ‘Easily the classiest brass ensemble in Britain’, wrote BBC Music magazine recently. Individually, the members hold permanent, principal positions in the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestra of English National Opera, English Chamber Orchestra and Royal Ballet Sinfonia.

The members came together to fill a gap in the market for serious yet approachable music for brass quintet. 200 years of history stand between the two composers, yet these fugues are very closely linked.

The fugues of J.S. Bach have come to be regarded as the supreme examples of the form, inspiring composers right up to the present day. Shostakovich is reputed to have memorised the whole of the Well-tempered Clavier by the time he was fifteen, and his 24 Preludes and Fugues, Op. 87 were written following his visit to Leipzig for the bi-centenary celebrations of Bach’s death.

His cycle for piano, following the aim of Bach’s Well-tempered Clavier for organ, was written to explore each major and minor key of the chromatic scale. The fugues of both composers have been transcribed for many instrumental combinations, but they are particularly suited to the homogeneous sound of a brass ensemble.

The selection on this recording pairs the composers by key, each pair of fugues showing, even more than usual, the incredible gifts of the composers, as five distinct instrumental timbres beautifully highlight the counterpoint.


“Four musicians playing what was conceived for one lessens the impact of the whole but enhances the horizontal line of each of the parts. The brevity of some of the pieces and the brassy timbre makes them sound fanfaronic. This is more true of the Bach than the Shostakovich, whose sometimes tortured harmony sounds thoughtful and well-suited to these arrangements. Two trumpets, horn, trombone and tuba are used. Their tone is clean and the phrasing well shaped, with intelligent application of slurs.”
The Times, 21st June 2008 ***

“Onyx Brass come alive as responsive individuals most readily in the Shostakovich, The G major Fugue is supremely virtuoso, the E minor resplendent and dramatic, the D major questing and deft.”
Gramophone Magazine, September 2008