Across the Lake Lake Brass & Norbert Stertzt

• Kerry Turner (b. 1960):
• 1 Bodensee Fantasie 12:36
• John Williams (b. 1932):
• 2 Hymn to the Fallen (From "Saving Private Ryan") [Transcr. for Brass Ensemble & Choir] 06:33
• Steve Jablonsky (b. 1970)
• 3 Arrival to Earth (From "Transformers") [Transcr. for Brass Ensemble & Choir] 03:27
• Hans Zimmer (b. 1957):
• 4 The Battle (From "Gladiator") [Transcr. for Brass Ensemble & Choir] 02:10
• 5 Now We Are Free (From "Gladiator") [Transcr. for Brass Ensemble & Choir] 02:37
• John Powell (b. 1963):
• 6 This Is Berk - Romantic Flight - The Kill Ring - Test Drive (From "How to Train Your Dragon") [Transcr. for Brass Ensemble] 09:08
• Gustav Mahler (b. 1860 - 1911): Symphony No. 3 in D Minor:
• 7 Symphony No. 3 in D Minor: VI. Langsam, Ruhevoll. Empfunden (Transcr. S. Mahpar for Brass Ensemble) 06:05
• Trevor Jones (b. 1949):
• 8 Main Title - Fort Battle - Promentory - Massacre - Cora (From "The Last of the Mohicans") [Transcr. for Brass Ensemble] 09:28
• Felix Mendelssohn (1809 - 1847):
• 9 Abschied vom Walde, Op. 59 No. 3, MWV F 20 (Transcr. Á Gál for Brass Ensemble) 03:27
• Hans Zimmer:
• 10 Tennessee - War - Attack (From "Pearl Harbor") [Transcr. for Brass Ensemble] 05:29
• Dmitri Shostakovich (1906 - 1975):
• 11 Prelude in E-Flat Minor, Op. 34 No. 14 (Transcr. J. Kahle for Brass Ensemble) 02:29
• Alexander Reuber (b. 1986):
• 12 Zerberus 05:03
• Total Runtime 01:08:32

Info for Across the Lake

From the nature sounds of the opening to the edgy “heavy metal” of the conclusion: this GENUIN release by the Lake Brass Ensemble is a production full of good humor and meaty sounds! The young musicians under Norbert Stertz perform this richly orchestrated brass music with an impressive low brass group, with two tenor horns and a tuba providing a velvety, fleshy lining to the brilliance of their dazzling colleagues. In addition to two world premiere recordings – Kerry Turner’s Lake Constance Fantasy and Alexander Reuber’s Cerberus – the tracklist features known and unknown, but above all magically shimmering works: film music by Hans Zimmer and John Williams, symphonic selections by Gustav Mahler, and chamber music by Dmitri Shostakovich. Simply brilliant!

Lake Brass
Norbert Stertz, conductor

Lake Brass
The Lake Brass ensemble was founded in 2010 by four horn players from the Lake Constance region. After starting out purely as a horn quartet and expanding to an octet under the direction of Szabolcs Galanthay, the group quickly grew to its current ensemble of twelve horns, two tenor horns, a tuba, and three percussionists.

Initially consisting mainly of amateurs, students from throughout the world soon joined the ensemble; all enrolled at renowned universities in Germany and Switzerland or already employed in orchestras in Germany and abroad. Since 2017 Norbert Stertz, Professor of Horn at the Hochschule für Musik Detmold, has served as director of Lake Brass.

The love of ensemble playing brings the musicians together regularly at Lake Constance. One of the group’s qualities is its mixing of cultural spheres: the musicians hailing from such countries as Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Hungary, Colombia, and the USA, contribute their sound ideals and playing traditions to the ensemble, joining together to create the incomparable sound of Lake Brass.

In this way the ensemble has developed wonderfully over the past eight years, successfully performing and interpreting even the most challenging works of the repertoire. Compared to most horn ensembles that consist only of horns, Lake Brass stands out through an unusual feature: in addition to the twelve horns which play simultaneously in the form of three horn quartets, it also includes two tenor horns and a contrabass tuba.

This group of low brass instruments is, as the name suggests, mainly responsible for the lower registers. On this recording we can also hear the very unique timbres that result when the group blends with the rest of the ensemble.

Richard Wagner was already interested in expanding the sound possibilities of horn writing, arranging for so-called Wagner tubas to be made for Der Ring des Nibelungen. With their design patterned on the tenor horn, notable for its upward-facing bell and special timbre, they significantly enhanced the tonal capabilities of composition for the horn.

Our arrangers, too, continually explore the subtleties of intonation possible with these two groups. Their objective: to write for horns while at the same time incorporating an additional, complementary timbre as support.

Booklet for Across the Lake