Volker Bertelmann is a composer/pianist (born October 11, 1966 in Ferndorf,… Read Full Bio ↴Volker Bertelmann is a composer/pianist (born October 11, 1966 in Ferndorf, Kreuztal, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany), who currently resides in Düsseldorf, North Rhine-Westphalia, where he has lived since 1990 after he moved from Cologne. He started releasing music as Hauschka in 2004.

Volker studied classical piano for ten years. His work as Hauschka is based upon a playful exploration of the possibilities of the 'prepared' piano - a disruptive intervention into the preconceived idea of the piano as a pure-toned instrument: by clamping wedges of leather, felt or rubber between the strings; preparing the hammers with aluminium paper or rough films; placing crown corks on the strings, weaving guitar strings around the piano's guts, or pasting them down with gaffa tape - his resulting tracks are composed both originally and charmingly.

Rather than striving for any purist academic perfection, Volker’s playing seems as much informed by modern electronica or Indonesian gamelan as it is by any classical cannon. With the aid of his interventions, the piano becomes as much a machine for generating rhythms as it does for melody. Now and again Hauschka utilises additional, non-piano sounds such as synthesizer, drum machine, electric bass, or other acoustic instruments like vibraphone, strings or brass. His pieces may be seen as small rhythmic sound-vignettes or just quiet ballads which have their roots in east-asian harmonies, the minimalism of Reich, Glass, Nyman, etc., and also in Satie or Ravel.

The foundations of Hauschka's piano music can equally be traced back to 20th Century composers like Henry Cowell, who picked the strings of his piano as if it were a zither. Cowell in turn influenced John Cage, who redefined the rules of piano sounds and playing with his own experiments. Inserting bolts, screws, and numerous other objects in between and on top of the strings, Cage created new sounds and percussive elements to the act of playing, redefining possibilities for the instrument. The rustling, drumming, harmonic soundings of these various objects has consequently inspired a whole bunch of composers, amongst them Arvo Pärt, Steffen Schleiermacher, Frangis Ali-Sade, Edison Denissow or Philip Corner and other artists from radical '60s grouping, Fluxus. But it would be too easy to locate the playful in the serious or academic realms. What Fluxus had constantly been trying to undermine, others have been succeeding in with a whole different kind of verve: in the '50s Fritz Schulz-Reichel became a celebrity under the name of "Schräger Otto", his modified Ragtime sounds making him a huge success in the USA. Since then modified piano-hammers or strings have appeared as an effect in various pop music tracks. In the early '80s US hipsters like The Waitresses and the England's The Flying Lizards were experimenting with metallic, distorted piano sounds, not denying their avant-garde references.

Before his involvement with FatCat, Hauschka released two albums on the Karaoke Kalk label - 'Substantial' (2004) and 'The Prepared Piano' (2005); and a 7", 'What A Day' (2005) on the Ear Sugar label. Besides working as Hauschka, Volker is a member of Music A.M., a collaboration with Stefan Schneider (To Rococco Rot) and Luke Sutherland (Long Fin Killie); and of the electronic / club tracks duo Tonetraeger, his project with Torsten Mauss.

Hauschka's first release for FatCat's 130701 imprint, the beautiful 'Room To Expand' was released in February 2007. That year also saw him undertake his first live shows in the UK and USA (where he supported múm on a number of shows to great acclaim).
In September 2008, his follow up record, ‘Ferndorf’ was released. Where the previous album comprised mostly solo recordings of Hauschka’s ‘prepared’ piano (with a few electronic and instrumental overdubs), ‘Ferndorf’ is a far more expansive and fully-realised album, with many of the tracks also featuring a string duo, enabling an increased solidity.
His new EP, ‘Snowflakes and Carwrecks’, was released in January 2009 and he is currently working on new material for an album set to be released in 2010.

from http://fat-cat.co.uk/fatcat/artistInfo.php?id=112

Fragile
Hauschka Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

伊藤由奈 - Fragile
★ VAN制作
Get away 嘘でしょう no way
You are my best friend on yeah
Get away 泣いても no way
それよりも say yeah oh
Get away 痛みを no way
くれるなら hey yeah yeah oh

Get away 君から oh please
その気持ち話しほしかった
君と彼のこと知らないままの私を
どんなふうに見てたの?
ガラスの壁の向こう側で
もう会えない... もう会えない
Get away 君との no way
思い出も on yeah
Get away すべてが no way
嘘になる say yeah oh
Get away 失くすの no way
ふたりとも hey yeah yeah oh
Get away 眠って oh please
何もかも忘れられるなら
愛する想いは私も同じだから
わかり合えたのに
壊れてしまったガラスの涙
歪(ゆが)んだかけらに
ふたりが映って消えた
もうすぐ涙は乾くからきっと振り返らない
もう会えない... もう会えない

おわり
おわり

Overall Meaning

The lyrics of "Fragile" by Hauschka are not in Japanese as the heading suggests. The song was, in fact, written in English by the German pianist and composer, Volker Bertelmann, whose stage name is Hauschka. The song is an instrumental and does not have any lyrics to interpret.

Line by Line Meaning

Get away 嘘でしょう no way
Please leave, your lies are not welcome

You are my best friend on yeah
You are my closest confidant, no one else can replace you

Get away 泣いても no way
Even if you cry, I cannot let you stay

それよりも say yeah oh
Instead, let's share a genuine moment together

Get away 痛みを no way
Your pain is not something I want to take on for you

くれるなら hey yeah yeah oh
If I were capable of helping you, I would do so without hesitation

Get away 君から oh please
Please depart from me, I cannot take any more negativity

その気持ち話しほしかった
I wish you had communicated your feelings to me earlier

君と彼のこと知らないままの私を
Did you ever truly know or understand me?

どんなふうに見てたの?
How did you perceive me?

ガラスの壁の向こう側で
Separated by an insurmountable barrier