Andreas N. Tarkmann, one of today's most creative arrangers of instrumental and vocal music, has personal reasons for setting himself the task of producing music for wind ensemble based on operas by Albert Lortzing: "There are many reasons that I felt compelled to choose the operas of Albert Lortzing for my Hamoniemusik arrangements. Lortzing's music was still very popular in my childhood in the 1960s and 70s and such a staple in opera houses and in the media that his music accompanied me in my musical development as a natural part of the canon of classical music. To me, this music was especially genial and cheerful, slender in tone and full of inspired melodies. Beyond that, I liked the humorous and pithy song texts and ironic characterizations of philistine public officials and dignitaries, even if some of the life's maxims set to music seemed a bit too deep naïve and inherently German in their emotional content even then... Four decades later... I renewed my interest in Albert Lortzing and his music, since I noticed that his operas are gradually disappearing from the schedules of German opera houses..." The Stuttgart Winds bring Tarkann's project to life on this release.