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MojoThe sounds that Volker Bertelmann creates with(in) a piano is astonishing. [Oct 2008, p.112]
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Ultimately, Ferndorf is an achingly beautiful love letter to Bertelmann’s childhood, full of natural imagery and deceptively simple compositions unleashing floodgates of emotion.
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Ferndorf's appeal is closest to the work of Bertelmann's FatCat labelmate Max Richter: Richter and Hauschka both have a remarkable talent for honing in on the sweet spot where classical, avant-garde, electronic and pop music meet.
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Ferndorf as a record isn't something to get you hearing music in a new way or an open up a new world, but it does succeed very nicely for what it is.
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He's here to entertain, and to interpret the memories of his childhood. As such, the music is a gentle stroll, like an idyll walk through the Rothaargebirge, the deep green mountain range adjacent to his hometown for which the Ferndorf is named.
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Despite the album peaking early, though, there's more than enough evidence here to suggest that Hauschka, thrillingly, is just getting into his stride.
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Ferndorf gains little from its back story but loses nothing without it; to a greater degree than most records of its ilk, it is resolutely what it is.
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It takes the music of Hauschka perhaps into more populist directions, but the experiment and joy still survive.
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It’s his intensity of focus coupled with an impressive range of motion that gives this album its real strength and maturity.
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From this you'll gather that Ferndorf charms and frustrates in equal measure.
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Q MagazineToo aimless for the initiated, the likes of 'Barfuss Durch Gras,' a cacophony of clocks unwinding will have dinner party dilettantes spitting their soup. [Oct 2008, p.142]