Sublimely, one year has gone by since I touched the first chord of the first song of „A Sailor Suite“.

At the beginning, I was not sure about where this musical expedition would carry me. At the outset there was this fascinating bohemian chord which initially held my breath and made me start this lovely journey.

As the „Movement I – The Long Preparation“ project was my first amour as such, I wanted to prolong the trip into the wild and unknown, most likely to be also differential and angst-inducing. In Search of liminal experiences of music and pesonality I set sail and began to sense these undefined seas and roaring storms which go along with the ups and downs of flood and tide – wavy feelings.

Finally I entitled this adventure the „Movement II – The Beauty of the Sea“ and discovered the bloom which experimenting in unknown climes brings in effect. The progress of this piece started with its percussive midsection, which ran in my mind. The surrounding flowed freely out of my hands and was working without a thought.

After such a long journey I realized how good it feels to get home again and how relieving it can be to enter shallow water after all these stormy days. You can only be sensible of this feeling of habitat in „Movement III – Coming Home for Homeland“ when you started to move out into the wild as a first step.

Already well before I finished off the first piece of „A Sailor Suite“ I had this compelling thought of getting together with a string ensemble or an orchestra to intensify these feelings of getting lost in the open sea. My parents were conducive to my passion for the encounter of the solo guitar and the orchestra by gifting me „Concierto de Aranjuez“ by Joaquin Rodrigo when I turned 16. This was most likely to be the start of my passion for this genre. This is what I just realized after years. I was inspired by my enthusiasm for a connection with a string ensemble and started to compose the harmonies and melodies of the first piece for two violins, one viola and one cello.

The fruit of the finally arranged work was phenomenal. Sophie, Claas, Lea and Veronika were just the perfectly fitting pieces for this project. I will never forget our first rehearsal! Each of you understood so well what was proceeding and what feeling I wanted to pass on with this. I started composing songs at the age of 14. Now, after all this work and struggling, I am so proud of „A Sailor Suite“. A feeling I did not have before.

Thank you!
Florian Faber