In his fascinating booklet note essay, David Gordon-Shute, Onyx Brass’s tuba player, explains how an envelope containing a small collection of composers’ letters was bequeathed to him by a great uncle who had fled Nazi Germany in the 1930s. Each of the works on this recording represents one of the writers of the letters in the collection. The earliest was written by Schumann in 1833, the same year his Impromptus were composed for the young Clara Wieck. The arrangement of the piano score for Onyx’s quintet of players works well, retaining the charm and variety of the original. The short pieces by Brahms, Franz, Mendelssohn and Rubinstein also date from the time of their letters and similarly make effective arrangements for brass quintet.

For Strauss’s Zwei Gesänge, composed for 16-part mixed choir, Onyx are joined by 11 other instrumentalists, including nine members of the brass ensemble Septura, and conductor John Wilson. Here, the arrangement for brass is not without some drawbacks. The second of the two songs, ‘Hymne’, has a convincing depth of expression and nobility. However, it’s difficult not to miss the ethereal sonorities of ‘Der Abend’ in its vocal form even as one enjoys the accuracy and tonal beauty of the ensemble’s brass-playing. Fortunately, no such issues concern the performance of Festmusik der Stadt Wien, heard in Strauss’s original scoring for 10 trumpets, seven trombones, two tubas and timpani. John Wilson leads a vivid performance with attractive lyrical byways and a rousing conclusion that bears comparison with the recordings by the Locke Brass Consort (Chandos, 2/80) and the Philip Jones Brass Ensemble (Argo, 3/80). The recording, made in the Church of St Augustine in Kilburn, captures all the performances with demonstration-quality levels of transparency, richness and presence.