Volker Bertelmann

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Bertelmann at the Sugar Club, Dublin (2009)

Volker Bertelmann (* 1966 in Kreuztal ) is a German composer and pianist who mainly publishes under his stage name Hauschka . He became known for his pieces of music played with the help of prepared pianos .

Life and career

Bertelmann grew up as the second youngest of six children in Ferndorf in Siegerland . At the age of eight he discovered the piano for himself at Christmas in church. He began classical piano training, which he continued for ten years.

At the age of 14 he formed his first rock band. This was followed by commissioned work for television music and activities as a singer for various bands. After graduating from high school, Bertelmann moved to Cologne , where he began studying medicine and later business administration , both of which he broke off to devote himself to music again. With his cousin Oliver Lodge-Philips, he founded the hip-hop band God's Favorite Dog in 1992 , which was best known for their piece Love and Pain . This was followed by an album and national and international appearances, including as the opening act for Fantastischen Vier . Since there were no further successes, the band lost their record deal and broke up.

After a phase of disorientation, Bertelmann moved to Düsseldorf . There he started making music again, drawing on his many years of training as a classical pianist. He composed piano pieces that he published under the pseudonym "Hauschka", which he based on the Bohemian composer Vinzenz Hauschka and the medicinal products of Dr. Hauschka chose.

The first Hauschka album Substantial was released in 2004 on the Cologne label Karaoke Kalk . The second album The Prepared Piano , also published by Karaoke Kalk , followed in 2005. On this, Bertelmann dealt intensively with the possibilities of prepared pianos , a technique first practiced by John Cage in 1940 for the alienation of the piano sound. So he clamped pieces of leather, felt or rubber between the strings, wrapped the hammers with aluminum foil, weighed the strings with objects and connected them with guitar strings or adhesive tape. In 2007, the remix album Versions Of The Prepared Piano followed , on which the pieces from the album were reinterpreted by artists such as Èglantine Gouzy , Barbara Morgenstern , Nobukazu Takemura , Wechsel Garland , Frank Bretschneider , Mira Calix and Tarwater .

In the same year Bertelmann signed a contract with the FatCat sub- label 130701 . On the 2008 album Ferndorf , Bertelmann worked with cellists, trombonists and violinists. After a concert with the Magik * Magik Orchestra , Bertelmann decided to enrich his pieces with additional instruments. The resulting works were recorded in January 2010 by an orchestra conducted by Minna Choi in San Francisco. Ian Pellicci was the sound engineer on these recordings, which were recorded in the studio TinyTelephone by John Vanderslice . Bertelmann then recorded the piano pieces in Studio Zwei in Düsseldorf . The album Foreign Landscapes was released in 2010 on 130701 .

For the 2011 album Salon des Amateurs (named after the Düsseldorf music lounge Salon des Amateurs , where Bertelmann founded the Approximation Festival together with Aron Mehzion ), Bertelmann worked with musicians such as Samuli Kosminen ( Múm , Edea ), Hilary Hahn , Joey Burns and John Convertino from Calexico together. The recordings should originally appear together with the predecessor Foreign Landscapes . On the one hand, the piano should only be used as one instrument among many, on the other hand it should mainly function as a rhythm instrument. But since the recorded pieces did not fit together in the desired way, Bertelmann decided to release both records separately. It turns Foreign Landscapes step away from the prepared piano as a solo instrument and the Salon des Amateurs development towards a rhythm more pronounced approach represents.

In 2012 Bertelmann produced the soundtrack for Doris Dörrie's film Glück and the Israeli documentary Yael Reveuny's Snow from yesterday . In May 2012 the album Silfra (named after the Silfra column ) with the American violinist Hilary Hahn was released on the Deutsche Grammophon label . This album consists of twelve improvisations recorded by Valgeir Sigurdsson at Greenhouse Studios in Iceland .

For the TV documentary series Durch die Nacht mit ... the musician took on the second leading role for the program Tori Amos & Hauschka , which was first broadcast on February 9, 2013.

In 2017 he received Oscar and Golden Globe nominations for his collaboration with Dustin O'Halloran on the score for the feature film Lion - The Long Way Home (2016) . Also in 2017 he was elected to the North Rhine-Westphalian Academy of Sciences .

He is also a member of Music AM , a project with Stefan Schneider from To Rococo Rot and Luke Sutherland from Long Fin Killie . Together with Torsten Mauss he publishes electronic music under the alias Tonetraeger .

At the end of June 2018, Bertelmann became a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences .

Volker Bertelmann lives in Düsseldorf with his wife and three children .

Discography (selection)

Volker Bertelmann with a prepared piano, 2012

Studio albums

  • 2004: Hauschka - Substantial ( Karaoke Kalk )
  • 2005: Hauschka - The Prepared Piano (Karaoke Kalk)
  • 2007: Hauschka - Versions Of The Prepared Piano (Karaoke Kalk)
  • 2007: Hauschka - Room To Expand ( 130701 )
  • 2008: Hauschka - Ferndorf (130701)
  • 2010: Hauschka - Foreign Landscapes (130701)
  • 2011: Hauschka - Salon Des Amateurs (130701)
  • 2011: Hauschka & Hildur Guðnadóttir - Pan Tone (Sonic Pieces)
  • 2011: Angela Fette & Christian Jendreiko & Hauschka & Rosilene Luduvico & Tolouse Low Trax - Swords Box Set (Apparent Extent)
  • 2011: Hauschka & Rosilene Luduvico - Indefinite (Apparent Extent)
  • 2012: Hilary Hahn and Hauschka - Silfra ( Deutsche Grammophon )
  • 2013: Hauschka - Salon des Amateurs Remixes (130701)
  • 2014: Hauschka - Abandoned City ( City Slang )
  • 2015: Hauschka - A NDO CY (Temporary Residence)
  • 2017: Hauschka - What If ( City Slang )
  • 2019: Hauschka - A Different Forest (Sony Classical)

Film scores

Singles & EPs

  • 2006: Hauschka - What A Day (Earsugar)
  • 2009: Hauschka - Snowflakes & Car Wrecks ( FatCat Records )
  • 2009: Hauschka - Small Pieces (Secret Furry Hole)
  • 2011: Hauschka - Youyoume (Serein)
  • 2012: Hauschka - Salon des Amateurs Remix EP1 (FatCat Records)
  • 2012: Hauschka - Salon des Amateurs Remix EP2 (FatCat Records)

literature

Web links

Commons : Volker Bertelmann  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Hauschka: Superficially at coolibri.de, accessed on April 2, 2012
  2. ↑ a b c d e f Unusual sounds: The sound artist and pianist Volker Bertelmann at dradio.de, accessed on March 30, 2012
  3. ↑ Five questions for ... Volker Bertelmann at metro.co.uk, accessed March 30, 2012
  4. ↑ Hauschka plays the piano  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. at viawala.de, accessed on March 30, 2012@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.viawala.de  
  5. ↑ Always in with it - article at zeit.de, accessed on March 30, 2012
  6. ↑ A Chat With Volker Bertelmann (Hauschka) ( Memento of the original from August 30, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. at fluid-radio.co.uk, accessed March 30, 2012 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.fluid-radio.co.uk
  7. ↑ Hauschka “Salon des Amateurs”  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. at beatsinternational.com, accessed March 30, 2012@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.beatsinternational.com  
  8. ↑ Tori Amos & Hauschka , accessed on August 21, 2016
  9. ^ Gregg Kilday: Academy Invites Record 928 New Members. In: The Hollywood Reporter, June 25, 2018.
personal data
SURNAME Bertelmann, Volker
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Hauschka (stage name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German composer and pianist
DATE OF BIRTH 1966
PLACE OF BIRTH Kreuztal