Hauschka - Versions Of The Prepared Piano (Karaoke Kalk, 2007)

1 Èglantine Gouzy - Mr. Spoon (Two Stones)
2 Barbara Morgenstern - Im Schlaf (Where Were You?)
3 Nobukazu Takemura - Assembler's Mix (Kein Wort)
4 Wechsel Garland - Es Waren Einmal (Two Stones)
5 Takeo Toyama - Kotoba Naku (Kein Wort)
6 TG Mauss - Things (Twins)
7 Vert - Rocket Man (Traffic)
8 Frank Bretschneider - Stumm (Kein Wort)
9 Mira Calix - Without Morning Mix (Morning)
10 Chica And The Folder - Para Bien (Ginko Tree)
11 Hauschka - Flying Horses (Traffic)
12 Tarwater - World Of Things To Touch (Two Stones)

Dans Versions of the Prepared Piano, album collectif paru récemment, Hauschka a invité des amis musiciens à revisiter ses enregistrements en intégrant des passages chantés. Le piano préparé de Mira Calix, Wechsel Garland et Barbara Morgenstern témoignent des nombreuses passerelles musicales qu’offrent les compositions d’Hauschka en y ajoutant des facettes d’une étonnante nouveauté. Le piano préparé de Mira Calix, Wechsel Garland et Barbara Morgenstern témoignent des nombreuses passerelles musicales qu'offrent les compositions d'Hauschka en y ajoutant des facettes d'une étonnante nouveauté.
Arte

2007 is a vintage year for the Hauschka fan, we're only four months in and we've already had two albums from Volker Bertelmann's gorgeous piano project. This is the second (after Fat Cat's incredible 'Room to Expand') and pits a selection of artists against Bertelmann in a somewhat inspired skit on the traditional 'remix album' concept. You might be pretty burnt out on remixes alltogether, I know I struggle sometimes, but where Bertelmann excels is in his ability to choose artists that will do his work justice. Picking tracks from his 2005 album 'The Prepared Piano' the artists lend their stylistic advances to pieces of music that were just stripped down enough for a 'remix' to actually do the tracks justice, and the album is kicked off in style by French lady Eglantine Gouzy. Gouzy instantly shows a masterful restraint, lending her lovely vocals to Bertelmann's instrumental work 'Two Stones', this is a perfect example of a remix that can enhance the power of the original, and Gouzy's romantic delivery sounds totally at home pitted against Bertelmann's piano work. Elsewhere we have German chanteuse extraordinaire Barbara Morgenstern coming straight from the commercial and critical success of last year's 'The Grass is Always Greener' and producing an equally addictive slice of electronic pop, using haunting motif's of Bertelmann's 'Where Were You?' as a guide. It's not all pop music though, Japanese experimental deity Nobukazu Takemura jumps straight in with his glitchy and chopped up version of 'Kein Wort', melting it beyond all recognition, and the album's surprise highlight comes from 12k/Mille Plateaux/Raster Noton stalwart Frank Bretschneider - adding his distinctive rhythm and electronic grind to the track, resulting in an intense soup of dreamy post-shoegazer electronics. The album draws effortlessly to a close with Tarwater's simply gorgeous take on 'Two Stones', a track which ended up dropping into the band's recent Morr Music album in revised form, and you suddenly realise you've just listened to a remix album without having to skip a track or remove the cd altogether. It's quite an achievement really, and with a keen ear for picking very differing artists who are all respectful to the source material Bertelmann has managed to put together yet another hugely enjoyable album. It seems there's life in the old piano yet - highly recommended!
Boomkat

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Hauschka - Room To Expand (130701, 2007)

1 La Dilettante (4:06)
2 Paddington (3:57)
3 One Wish (5:20)
4 Chicago Morning (4:56)
5 Kleine Dinge (4:04)
6 Belgrade (3:33)
7 Sweet Spring Come (3:53)
8 Femmeassise (4:04)
9 Watercolour Milk (4:29)
10 Zahnluecke (3:44)
11 Fjorde (3:38)
12 Old Man Playing Boules (3:21)

Après les réussis Substantial et The Prepared Piano (Karaoke Kalk, 2004 & 2005), Volker Bertelmann aka Hauschka délivre son nouvel opus sur le structure 1130701, sous-label de FatCat ayant accueilli Sylvain Chauveau, Set Fires To Flame ou encore Max Richter.

Ce changement de label s’accompagne d’une musique encore évoluée : le pianiste de Düsseldhorf a, soit, convié à nouveau les belles atmosphères mélancoliques qui étaient l’apanage de son premier album, les tentations rythmiques et les arrangements discrets qui étaient l’apanage du second, pour magnifier son art et écrire ce Room To Expand. Un opus habile, et varié.

Jeux de répétitions, façon Steve Reich, orchestré de bien belle manière, en ouverture (La Dilettante), ou exercice à la rythmique enlevée, presque électronique (Paddington), Room To Expand commence bien. One Wish marque un retour à la composition atmosphérique, mais à la mélodie palpable, à l’atmosphère contemplative, dont ont l’évolution est constante. Belgrade offre une autre vignette originale, avec ses instruments à vent. Il en va de même pour Sweet Spring Comes, basé sur un bruit métallique étonnant. Room To Expand prouve ainsi (encore une fois, serait-on tenté d’ajouter), morceau après morceau, que Bertelmann est devenu un maître du piano, entre passé, présent et futur, et un concepteur hors pair de scénettes variées, toujours touchantes.

Autres Directions

I know what you're thinking - another piano album, why should we care? Well it's time to start caring; Hauschka (aka German feller Volker Bertelmann) has somehow managed to cast off the shackles of a now hardly fresh sound to produce something deceptively simple and devastatingly effective. Firstly it's worth knowing what a prepared piano is, Bertelmann used this approach on his 2005 album 'The Prepared Piano' but here his ideas really come to fruition - using bits of leather, felt, paper, tin foil or whatever else he can find to wedge, strap and throw onto the piano strings to produce hisses, clicks, clatters and clanks giving the piano an almost sampled electronic feel. As these sounds are gently layered he comes up with something which is intelligently produced yet gorgeous and hugely enjoyable at the same time. The album's first real stand out moment (of many) comes from the second track 'Paddington' which takes looping phrases, plucked piano strings and clunking wooden percussion and builds them into a magnificent clamorous and almost poppy celebration of the age old instrument. Eventually he allows the introduction of subtle woodwind and the song comes to a fuzzy stuttering head sounding quite unlike anything you've heard before. Throughout the record there are of course references to classic film soundtracks, the work of the great composers, the Chicago post-rock sound of Tortoise and their offshoots, contemporary electronic music and the modern piano music of for example Max Richter or Goldmund but Bertelmann here has found his unique voice and has discovered how to express himself originally and powerfully. Take 'Chicago Morning', another real stand-out moment, which builds with such playful abandon it's hard not to imagine it accompanying equally emotive visuals - maybe the cynically melancholic film work of Todd Solondz or the off-kilter romantic naivety of Wes Anderson for example. It's impossible to stress the genuine love for music that's expressed here, there's no pandering to any style or genre, no pretentiousness - this is simply great music and reminds you that someone, somewhere still cares. Utterly gorgeous and frankly unmissable...
Boomkat

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