Behind the Hills By Bernward Koch

 

Behind the Hills

By

Bernward Koch

Written by

Steve Sheppard

 

I have long been a fan of German born composer Bernward Koch, there is something so very calming and enjoyable about listening to his albums, and over the years I have amassed quite a few, my first being back in 2005 called Walking Through Clouds, that for me would set the tone for the next 21 years of piano magic from the composer, for me personally making Bernward a go to creator of new age piano relaxing music, however we are gracefully back to celebrate another milestone in his illustrious career, by taking an in-depth look at his latest album Behind The Hills.

The opening piece called On and On is a fine example of the entire voyage with a Bernward Koch album, the track itself has such a steady progression and with its multi-instrumental feel, it’s like you actually slow down, the outside world becomes quiet and one can feel totally immersed in the composition with utter ease.

Piano at Night has that gentle refrain that can be found constantly throughout the composers albums over the years, but for me there is also a powerful uplift that could go unnoticed, one that plays harmoniously with the melody in an almost soundtrack like narrative, and would be one of my favourite pieces from the release.

On this next piece I am gifted a song that reminds me of Alice’s journey through the garden of living flowers, this utter gem is entitled Sleeping Flowers. The serenity of this track is amazing in all its somnambulant tenderness. One can feel time passing through the artists gentle piano performance one that reminded me greatly of Mike Roland back in the 80’s and 90’s.

The title track comes up next and of course is called Behind the Hills. This is another moving offering and a fine example of a truly great title header, a sense of discovery and a little mystery are manifested by the piano and flute combination, in classic Bernward Koch style. This is soon followed by the anthem like tones of Beautiful View, light percussive elements and a soothing symphonic vibration can be found here, this is a truly beautiful and lush landscape of music that needs to be appreciated, note the soaring flute here as well. 

We now find our way to the middle point of the release and a brilliant offering called An Old Castle. Note the atmospheric start here; this is utterly transcendent and quite haunting in its collective energy, again this would be another personal favourite of mine, almost Tim Burton in context, with the flute and piano gracefully dancing with each other in a mystical movement perhaps.

This for me is one of Bernward’s deeper releases; however we gain a little respite with the piece called In the Forest, a steady onward progression with elements of the classical and that breath-taking flute can be found here. The construct here ushers forth a return to nature and a deeper sense of being surrounded by the landscape. It functions almost like stepping farther into the album's imaginary world ahead.

Inner Treasure is an interesting offering, the beginning has an almost processional feel to its overall narrative, and then from its hymn like structure manifests into a more tender composition, again little classical styled motifs similar to a pavane can be found here on a charming tale told so beautifully by the artist.

The mood deepens once again with the next track entitled Timeless Memory. As one would indeed expect a reflective offering that creates a safe sanctuary with which to listen from is found. Could this be the most contemplative offering from the album, maybe so? There is also an intriguing Baroque energy here that could hint at a historical narrative, and an element of ambience one now finds in the long form academia pieces these days.

The delicacy of this next offering is palpable and enticing and almost pristine in its performance and called The Linden Tree, which has strong cultural associations with home, village life and memory perhaps, there is indeed a wistful tone here that drifts past like an errant cloud of an early autumn afternoon in October that is a delightful and textured pleasure.

Nordic Hills is our penultimate offering and what a delicious sample it is to enjoy. This is a proud offering with cinematic gestures. The landscape becomes larger and more majestic. More layers and momentum give this track a broader, almost movie styled feel. The natural fluency here mixed with the pristine quality of performance brings forth another marvellous composition for us to all enjoy and bathe within.

The concluding tale is called Windy Weather. This is a timely piece as we are soon to be entering autumn, but the unusual usage of drums on this offering gave the overall narrative more depth, and for some reason reminded me a lot in melodic structure to the works of artists like Kerani. Regardless this was a beautiful way with which to end the album.

Behind the Hills by Bernward Koch is in my view one of his finest works that I have had the pleasure to listen to for ages from the artist, in fact I would go as far to say the entire experience was warm, pastoral, contemplative, cinematic and simply delightful, it is as if Koch is taking us all on a voyage throughout the entire album rather than a manifestation of a tracks by track narrative, which in my view should create a massive chart hit for the album and possibly award worthy to.