Florian Weber's "Imaginary Cycle", conceived for the unusual instrumentation of brass ensemble and piano, is idiosyncratic, large-scale and unique in its basic structure, a hybrid of several musical languages that seamlessly combines the harmonic with the daring. Weber presents a cycle in four parts, plus an opening and an epilogue. In it, the German pianist is accompanied by a group of four euphoniums, a trombone quartet as well as the flautist Anna-Lena Schnabel and Michel Godard on the rarely used historical brass instrument "Serpent". Together they perform a work that blurs the boundary between improvisation and composition. As the ensemble elegantly travels through Weber's multi-idiom work, symphonic passages mingle with intricate counterpoints, pastoral ideas are contrasted with more contemporary textures, and each voice of the ensemble plays an independent role and blends into a whole. "Imaginary Cycle" is a daring and spectacular endeavor that follows Weber's contributions to the albums of Matthieu Bordenave, Ralph Alessi and his own quartet recording Lucent Waters - even if the musical overlaps between those recordings and the present album are rather small and ambiguous. The project, which was recorded in July 2023 at the Sendesaal Bremen, was created from the outset in close collaboration with Manfred Eicher, who produced the album.