About NMC

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The release of NMC D001 nineteen years ago was an optimistic gesture - at the time there was no guarantee that it would be followed by D002, let alone D150, which will be the NMC Songbook , released in April 2009. By the standards of the recording industry, NMC remains very small: but, unlike many labels that were around in 1989 it is still going strong, and, most importantly, has kept available every recording released since then. Its aims remain the same as they've always been: the best of British contemporary music, played and recorded to the highest standards.

NMC Recordings was founded in 1988 by the Society for the Promotion of New Music. Following the success of two pilot releases in 1989 – Jonathan Harvey's Bhakti, and a disc of contemporary piano music performed by Michael Finnissy – it became an independent charitable company, set up with funding from the Holst Foundation. Since then, the label has become established as "Britain's most important producer of CDs of interesting new or recent and neglected work from this country" (The Sunday Times).

NMC's 20th Anniversary will be marked in April 2009 by its largest-scale project to date, and its first venture into commissioning: the NMC Songbook is a collection of songs by nearly 100 composers, over 4 discs, specially written to mark the label's anniversary, and performed at a series of concerts at Kings Place (where they were also recorded). Other major projects throughout the year will include Unknown Britten - including a premiere recording of three additional songs intended as part of Les Illuminations - commissions to mark Endymion's 30th birthday, and Maxwell Davies's landmark opera Taverner. 

Our successes have included Gramophone Awards for Robin Holloway's Second Concerto for Orchestra (1994, for NMC's first venture into opera, the world premiere recording of The Mask of Orpheus by Sir Harrison Birtwistle (1998) and for Jonathan Harvey's Body Mandala (2008). However, our best-selling disc has undoubtedly been Anthony Payne's elaboration of the sketches for Elgar's Symphony No.3, nominated for Gramophone's 1998 Orchestral Award and selling over 40,000 copies to date.

A major development of the past few years has been the launch of the Ancora series, with nearly 25 deleted discs reissued from other labels. Where possible we have added new recordings or combined different CDs in order to enhance the originals. We are particularly grateful for help from Arts Council England in making this project possible and bringing such vital music back to life.

When NMC began, we hoped that we would be able to feature the music of younger, less established composers. But the sheer amount of previously unrecorded music that seemed essential to put on CD meant that we were only rarely able to do this. So we're delighted that we have been able to redress the balance somewhat, with The Hoxton Thirteen, the Schubert Ensemble's remarkable Chamber Music 2000 series, and the forthcoming NMC Songbook - all featuring composers, not only new to NMC, but just as often new to CD altogether.

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Ancora

Ancora is NMC's re-issue series, bringing back into the catalogue important twentieth-century recordings from Collins Classics, Unicorn-Kanchana and other labels. Selected titles,Ancora+, include additional works recorded especially for the series.

Ancora features leading British composers including Harrison Birtwistle, Judith Weir, Alexander Goehr, Robin Holloway and Hugh Wood. Its line-up of internationally respected orchestras and artists includes the London Symphony Orchestra, Philharmonia Orchestra, and BBC Symphony Orchestra; soloists Sarah Walker, Tasmin Little, Nicholas Daniel and Heinrich Schiff, as well as conductors Michael Tilson Thomas, Mark Elder and Oliver Knussen. Many of the recordings were originally made with funding from Arts Council England, and NMC is grateful to both Arts Council England and the Holst Foundation for financial assistance without which this series would not be possible.

Launched in March 2003 with Thea Musgrave's Helios and Memento Vitae, the initial series of 15 releases now extends to nearly 25 discs, with recordings by Richard Barrett, Colin Matthews and Simon Bainbridge .