DESCRIPTION:
Order CD at: www.christianelsaesser.de
Photos by Lena Semmelroggen
Tenor Sax Solo by Lutz Häfner

Liner Notes:

I wrote the suite "Tides" in memory of my father Horst Elsässer who passed away unexpectedly in 2004. While Parts 1 and 2 deal with different aspects of his personality, Part 3 "Rise & Arrive" is about my father's greatest passion, flying.
As a young man he became a pilot of single propeller airplanes and later he acquired the license to do aerobatics. His fascination of flying even made him to become a skydiver too. The airplane you can see on the photos is a Dornier Do 27 (owned by my godfather, Jakob Hoiss), a plane my father flew a lot with and also used it to lift skydivers. The small wooden airplane on the cover photo is a model plane that my father built for me when I was a little kid. The first 4.5 minutes of "Rise & Arrive" describe the process of getting the aircraft ready, checking that everything is functioning and planning the route. In the basic 8th note motive of this section I tried to express the technical aspects of flying. At about 4 minutes and 30 seconds the engine starts and we roll towards the runway. One minute later (5 min 30 secs) the airplane starts to take off and the journey begins...
My father took me flying many times, so I tried to capture my own excitement which I still feel when I think of those days. I hope you can feel it too!

Christian Elsässer
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Christian Elsässer has written three beautiful, expansive pieces inspired by the power, beauty and majesty of the tides to reflect the memories of his father. Each piece has its own unique atmosphere, its own shape. There is the lyricism of Clouded Sunbeams, the powerful swing of Overturning Oceans, and the slowly building shapes of Rise & Arrive. And it is all played so beautifully by the hr-Bigband, an ensemble I know quite a lot about! Christian masterfully tailors each piece to the soloists and ensemble players of the band. The composing, arranging and playing add up to a wonderful musical experience. Congratulations, Christian! I trust that we will be hearing more from you.

Jim McNeely
Chief Conductor, hr-Bigband