Hauschka – Ferndorf

Volker Bertelmann aka Hauschka is a pianist and composer from Germany exploring the possibilities of prepared piano – where one plays a piano that had its sound altered by placing objects between or on the strings or on the hammers or dampers. So what he’s doing is:

Clamping wedges of leather, felt or rubber between the strings; preparing the hammers with aluminium paper or rough films; placing crown corks on the strings, weaving guitar strings around the piano’s guts, or pasting them down with gaffa tape – his resulting tracks are composed both originally and charmingly. The results are vivid, unconventional pieces made in a spirit of playful research-enthusiasm.

And the last sentence there holds true – often together with a string duo, the compositions on this album actually grow into each other as an orchestrated daydream – on a distant village (Ferndorf) indeed.

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hauschka on myspace