Prepared piano is a piano which has had its sound altered by placing objects (preparations) between or on the strings or on the hammers or dampers (Wikipedia). German experimental musician Volker Bertelman uses this prepared piano technique to create his original and intersting compositions. John Cage coined the term and pioneered the technique, but Volker expands on the idea and creates a blend of classical and indie pop sensibility. Along with prepared piano, Hauschka incorporates strings, horns, and synthesizers to create music that sounds like a cross between Múm and Philip Glass. He has released several albums over the past few years, and his newest album Ferndorf was released a couple months ago. I haven’t had much time to listen to his older stuff, but I can tell you that his most recent album is a great collection of music.
To learn more about how Volker uses the prepared piano, take a look at this Wired interview from earlier this month.
So I had the idea to invent some stuff on the strings, to get a kind of electronic sound on top of the piano sound, and that’s actually where the whole thing started. I found out that paper sounds like a high hat, and then I used beer bottle caps, three of them, on one rope, and they sounded suddenly like a tambourine. So I had on certain tones a tambourine, and then I had some high hats, so I was thinking in a kind of band arrangement, you know?
Two MP3s can be found in that interview, but I will post them here in case you never get around the reading the article.
MP3: Hauschka – Freibad
I just got around to listening the pieces you put up; they’re beautiful. It’s even got me to listening to Philip Glass again, and I haven’t listened to his work in ages. Beautiful stuff. Thank you.