Articles
2008 Ten Favourite Labels
Ten Questions Celer
Ten Questions Deadbeat

Albums
Anzio Green
Ariel Abshire
Osman Arabi
Arastoo & AEMAE
Asymmetrical Head
Benoît Pioulard
Bohren & der Club of Gore
Matt Borghi
Celer
Cubenx
Anders Dahl
Davis & Roux
Deadbeat
Feu Follet
Formication
Generic
Stefan Goldmann
Gultskra Artikler / Lanterns
Hauschka
Hexes & Ohs
Koen Holtkamp
I Am Robot And Proud
Illusion of Safety
Integral
Koen Park
Akira Kosemura
Koushik
Library Tapes
Lineland
Mamiffer
Melodium
Moon
Oppressed By The Line
Pillars and Tongues
Rumpistol
Kamran Sadeghi
Sans Serif
Signal Deluxe
Skogen
Saul Stokes
Matthew Sweet
Tapage
Thursday / Envy
Windy & Carl

Compilations / Mixes
An Taobh Tuathail II
Chaos Restored 2
DFPRMX
Kuniyuki
Message Subatomic World
Pero es olor en el cuarto...

EPs
Canyons!
Budhaditya Chattopadhyay
Cubenx
Dokuro
Fraction
Lee Holman
Ikonika
King Midas Sound
Michael Lambright
Library Tapes
Lilienweiss
MRK1
:papercutz
Spencer Parker
Poratz
Spartak + John Chantler
Andy Vaz

Hauschka: Ferndorf
FatCat

Ferndorf, named after the German village where classically-trained pianist Volker Bertelmann grew up, represents a significant step forward in the Düsseldorf-based composer's Hauschka project. His fourth full-length (the first two on Karaoke Kalk, 2004's Substantial and 2005's The Prepared Piano, and the third, Room To Expand, on FatCat) expands on the primarily piano (and oft-“prepared” piano) focus of the previous output by bringing other players into the mix, with cellists Insa Schirmer and Donja Djember added to five pieces and Schirmer, violinist Sabine Baron, and trombonist Bernhard Voelz added elsewhere. The guests' playing not only enriches Bertelmann's tracks with sensual colour and pushes the material towards a more fully-orchestrated style but also offers a counterpoint to his oft-staccato piano rhythms; in “Schönes Mädchen,” for instance, the strings' elegant glide obviously differs from the piano's clockwork pulse.

That Ferndorf is no somber affair is intimated at the outset by “Blue Bicycle” whose breezy tempo is suggestive of a cyclist's sprint through the German countryside on a summer afternoon. In the jubilant “Rode Null” (a mountain behind his parents' house), the rhythmic thump of a plucked string and pinging “prepared” piano shiver form a backdrop for buoyant string interplay. The expanded sonic palette enlivens “Freibad” (an outdoor swimming pool in a forest where Volker and friends swam in the moonlight) when trombone and strings complement Bertelmann's playing. Other moods in these largely three- to four-minute-long miniatures range from reflective (“Morgenrot”) to dramatic (“Nadelwald,” the dark wood through which he rode his sled during winter).

That the material is often wistful in character isn't surprising, given the nostalgic dimension associated with the album title. That some of the pieces sound more formally composed and others more spontaneous is also understandable, given that the five Bertelmann recorded with the cellists (“Blue Bicycle,” “Morgenrot,” “Neuschnee,” “Alma,” “Nadelwald”) are, in fact, improvised pieces while the others were completed using overdubs of the contributors' playing. Sometimes the difference between formally-composed and spontaneous collapses: in the emotive “Alma,” for example, the dialog between strings and piano is so carefully executed, it's hard to believe it's an improvisation.

Though it's become somewhat of a Hauschka signature, at times the prepared effects prove distracting. The piano melodies in the folk waltz “Heimat,” for example, are endearing enough all by themselves and the additional layers are more an interference than enhancement. The lovely “Eltern” would likewise be fine sans the “prepared” dimension, and so too would the melancholy waltz “Weeks of Rain” that closes the album. It's no accident that the sparser piano-and-strings arrangement Bertelmann uses for the elegant “Neschnee” impresses so much more. A subtler and more judicious distribution of the “prepared” effects in future recordings might be worth considering.

November 2008