An elegant set of quiet piano compositions, swathed
with a coating of rumbling bass notes and flickering
DSP effects, Volker Bertelmann’s debut exhibited
a pathos-laden romanticism, slowly distilled through
gossamer melodies and bleary whisps of sound. For
The Prepared Piano, Bertelmann once again approaches
the piano with a Spartan reductivism, clamping wedges
of leather or felt between the piano-strings and preparing
hammers with aluminium paper, but pieces are now firmly
nestled in East Asian harmonies and rollicking rhythmic
progressions.
Though few instruments are employed, lightly strummed
guitar, fluttering mists of digital texture and subtly
shifting piano motifs swell into condensed clouds, every
once in a while coalescing into flitting half-melodies,
and often swarming the sound field in such a way that
a full orchestra seems present. The thick, trudging
bass and brittle snaps, which serve as low-key rhythm
tracks, endow this effort with a dash of furtive flavor,
but it is the tender, tentative melodicism and sparse
melancholy of other works such as Twins and
Kreuzung that lubricate the proceedings and
foster a more intimate interaction. On Two Stones,
for instance, a dainty piano arpeggio bobs atop aquatic
electronics as a low cello wheezes in the background,
suggestive of a gloominess dwelling behind the blossuming
melodies.
On a whole, The Prepared Piano is a less homogenous
work than its predecessor. Electronics, guitar and piano,
although still blurring together in a most hypnotic
fashion, are nevertheless afforded more of their own
space in which to roam and make their presence felt.
In Ginko Tree, electronics take the stage in
sweeping cascades that fall over intricate piano scales
while on Firn the tensely metallic bass and
rolling rhythm verges on the mesmeric. The album saunters
in many directions, but underlying each approach is
a concern for stasis; sound clipped to tiny chains of
isolated atomic process. Individual pieces build, but
don’t so much continue on or develop from one
another. As the album nears its last breath, sounds
remain much the same as at the outset, yet the music
is ripe with events and reflection.
Max Schaefer
3.2/5 |
