Black Mountain Alexej Gerassimez, NDR Radiophilharmonie & Gordon Hamilton

• Alexej Gerassimez (b. 1987): Piazonore:
• 1 Gerassimez: Piazonore 06:08
• Water Cycle:
• 2 Gerassimez: Water Cycle: I. Frozen Structures 03:07
• 3 Gerassimez: Water Cycle: I.I Fractured Interlude 01:47
• 4 Gerassimez: Water Cycle: II. Fluid Textures 03:55
• 5 Gerassimez: Water Cycle: III. Expansive Particles 03:46
• Flower in the Wind:
• 6 Gerassimez: Flower in the Wind 05:02
• Black Mountain:
• 7 Gerassimez: Black Mountain: I 03:26
• 8 Gerassimez: Black Mountain: II 02:24
• 9 Gerassimez: Black Mountain: III 02:17
• Toru Takemitsu (1930 - 1996): Toward the Sea:
• 10 Takemitsu: Toward the Sea: I. The Night 02:37
• John Psathas (b. 1966): Leviathan:
• 11 Psathas: Leviathan: I. Hightailin' to Hell, Pt. 1 02:53
• 12 Psathas: Leviathan: I. Hightailin' to Hell, Pt. 2 04:30
• 13 Psathas: Leviathan: II. The Final Brook, Pt. 1 04:10
• 14 Psathas: Leviathan: II. The Final Brook, Pt. 2 04:17
• 15 Psathas: Leviathan: III. Soon We'll All Walk on Water, Pt. 1 01:13
• 16 Psathas: Leviathan: III. Soon We'll All Walk on Water, Pt. 2 02:12
• 17 Psathas: Leviathan: IV. A Falcon, a Storm, or a Great Song, Pt. 1 01:39
• 18 Psathas: Leviathan: IV. A Falcon, a Storm, or a Great Song, Pt. 2 02:38
• 19 Psathas: Leviathan: IV. A Falcon, a Storm, or a Great Song, Pt. 3 01:58
• 20 Psathas: Leviathan: IV. A Falcon, a Storm, or a Great Song, Pt. 4 01:21
• Total Runtime 01:01:20

Info for Black Mountain

Alexej Gerassimez is one of the world's most extraordinary percussionists – a musician who continually redefines the boundaries of his instrument with inexhaustible curiosity, technical brilliance and artistic vision. With ‘Black Mountain’, he is now releasing his new album – also his first featuring his own compositions for percussion and orchestra. The live recording of two concerts with the NDR Radiophilharmonie conducted by Gordon Hamilton (May 2025) presents a musical journey between archaic rhythms, orchestral soundscapes and delicate chamber music moments.

The initial spark for the programme's development was Gerassimez's idea of ‘Elements of Drums’: an exploration of the basic material components of percussion instruments – water, wood, stone, metal and skin – and their sonic development into orchestral spheres.

Black Mountain is not just an album, but a document of curiosity, devotion and wonder at what sound can be. Every beat, every rustle, every metallic shimmer tells of movement and metamorphosis – of the transformation of ice into water, rhythm into melody, silence into sound. Or, as Alexej Gerassimez himself describes it: 'Black Mountain is like a travelogue of all my recent musical discoveries, experiences and encounters. And it's fantastic to be able to tell this story together with the NDR Radiophilharmonie and Gordon Hamilton.'

Alexej Gerassimez, percussion
NDR Radiophilharmonie
Gordon Hamilton, conductor

Alexej Gerassimez
born in Essen, Germany, is as multi-faceted as the instruments he works with. His repertoire ranges from classical to contemporary and jazz to minimal music whilst also performing his own works.

As a soloist, Alexej Gerassimez is a guest with internationally renowned orchestras (including NDR Radiophilharmonie Hannover, Münchner Philharmoniker and Konzerthausorchester Berlin under the baton of conductors such as Tan Dun, Kristjan Järvi, Eivind Gullberg Jensen, Alexander Liebreich and Jonathan Stockhammer.

Alexej is also a soloist and an enthusiastic chamber musician. His partners include pianists Arthur and Lucas Jussen and jazz pianist Omer Klein. With the SIGNUM saxophone quartet, Alexej Gerassimez will embark on a “journey through the universe” in the newly conceived programme “Starry Night” and an album will be released in spring 2021 by Berlin Classics. His repertoire is constantly expanding with new commissioned works. Several world premieres are scheduled for the coming seasons: a new double concerto for viola and percussion by Finnish composer Kalevi Aho, a new percussion concerto by New Zealand composer John Psathas commissioned by the Tonhalle Düsseldorf. As well as a concert by Japanese composer Malika Kishino at the Philharmonie Essen. The world premiere of John Psathas’ concerto “Leviathan” will take place in October 2021 at the Berlin Philharmonie with the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin conducted by Markus Poschner, followed by a concert at the Elbphilharmonie. Three concerts with the Düsseldorf Symphony Orchestra conducted by Alpesh Chauhan are scheduled for November 2021.

Alexei Gerassimez was part of the “Junge Wilde” programme at Konzerthaus Dortmund as and is participating in the three-year sponsorship program of the “stARTacademy von Bayer Kultur”.

Since November 2017 Alexej Gerassimez is professor for percussion at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Munich.

This album contains no booklet.