Ludwig Nuss – “Night Over Lake Tarawera”

Do you know Lake Tarawera? This lake is a very real place on the North Island of New Zealand, and with a length of 39 km, it is the largest of the lakes around Mount Tarawera, a volcano which was active into the late 19th century.

So, those are the bare facts about the name of this CD “Night Over Lake Tarawera” But why this title?

Already from the first sounds of the eponymous first track, one can feel the mystique of this secret shrouded place – and like no one else, the trombone of Ludwig Nuss enables the listener to experience these emotions.

With a sure hand he selected the tracks with Michael Abene, responsible for almost all of the arrangements on this CD. Broadway and Hollywood classics from Henry Mancini, Jerome Kern and Kurt Weill are flanked by the compositions of Ludwig Nuss, and each piece does justice to the magnificence of the place. Ludwig Nuss’s fellow musicians on this production are all high-caliber colleagues from his musical sphere, such as Bassist John Goldsby, drummer Hans Dekker, Karolin Strassmayer (here on flute and clarinet) and last but not least, Nuss’s son Benyamin at the piano. They convey Nuss’s inspiration and support it with expressive, powerful and sensitive playing.

It is music which draws one in and awakens a curiosity to discover this mystical place, it invites, even seduces one to plumb the depths of your own soul…