Visionary new age music for nourishing and rejuvenating body, mind and spirit
Visionary new age music for nourishing and rejuvenating body, mind and spirit
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Walking Through Clouds by Bernward Koch CDs and digital downloads available for purchase at:
An hour of flowing melodies to bathe you in dreamy relaxation. Koch's piano compositions, enriched with flute, guitar and soft percussion, open the window to a peaceful, healing breeze.
| 1. Touched by Love 3:23 |
| 2. Childhood Hour 4:31 |
| 3. Walking through Clouds 2:40 |
| 4. Deep Green Summer 2:57 |
| 5. Flight Being 4:22 |
| 6. One Step at a Time 3:45 |
| 7. Mysterious Way 3:02 |
| 8. Bekoflow 3:28 |
| 9. Following Stars 4:38 |
| 10. Close Your Eyes 4:17 |
| 11. The Silver Veil 4:13 |
| 12. Gentle Touch 2:50 |
| 13. Simply Great 5:19 |
| 14. Evoking Wonder 4:45 |
| 15. Sunday Sky 2:40 |
| 16. Travel Lightly 3:47 |
Real Music is one of the few labels left that really delivers music designed to relax in the best of the new age tradition. This veteran German composer and keyboardist doesn't do anything too fancy here — he just creates caressing ambiences and soft and dreamy piano melodies that he enhances with the occasional bass, guitar, and glockenspiel. Christoph Koch brings a playful folk element to "Following Stars" and the graceful, symphonic "Simply Great" with a gentle acoustic guitar, and "Christiane Boehm" chimes in every so often on flute. Although there is a free-floating element to the atmospheres Koch creates, most of the 16 tracks clock in like tightly structured pop tunes, and the melodies — and their innocent charm — seem to get more captivating as they go along. In a world so cynical, it's wonderful that people can take a CD cover of clouds and butterflies not only seriously, but also as an opening to a seriously joyful musical remedy.
Bernward Koch delights all the lovers of sensitive, melodic and romantic music. His style in this album is situated on the border between New Instrumental Music and Classical. The artist creates a virtual orchestra, where both instruments of an acoustic appearance and those sounds that turn out to be unreal, magical, are fused together. The piano has quite a leading role. In all, sixteen magnificient themes.
Koch and the label are riding the cutting edge of being commercial without looking like it. An hour long set designed to abandon traditional retail and cash in on the growing suburban day spa market, this set is crafted and crafty as it runs just seconds over an hour making it perfect for background to yoga, massage, meditation, etc.
Easy flowing but never straying from composition, all are to be congratulated for breaking new ground and taking music to places where it might not have been before and giving it the kind of focus it needs to succeed in a focused environment. And it glides from the spa to the car cd deck with ease. A winner that shows what you can do when you put a piano in the right hands.
Born in Germany, Bernward Koch has been around for a while. Classically trained, his piano work is melodious but never overstated. With plenty of room to breathe, there is a fine merger of classical and ambient influences that makes Walking Through Clouds a laid back album that will appeal to many who are seeking the escape from the clutter of life.
This is Koch’s third effort with Real Music and much like its predecessors it avoids the obvious pitfalls of the commercial aspects of this genre. Restrained and calm, Bernward’s piano plays the lead throughout the album, though he is significantly complimented by the flighty flute work of Christiane Boehm. No better place than the regal and graceful opening track “Touched By Love” or “The Silver Veil” revealed later in the album.
However, Koch does not hesitate to play it solo as found on the slower paced lullaby “Childhood Hour” or even the more optimistic “Flight Being”. The latter includes some nice light unobtrusive string embellishments. Speaking of embellishments, Christoph Koch adds sprinkles of percussion and a glimmer of acoustic guitar on “Following Stars” and “Simply Great”. Okay, the very light drum machine on the latter sounds very mechanical but it still remains entrenched within the boundaries of the album; to lift you up and allow you to rest your head on a soft pillow of white fluffy clouds.
There are no standout tracks, which at times sound repetitive, which is the oxymoron of the album. It is both its weakness and strength keeping the album focused on its theme of being inconspicuous and pastoral. Koch may never be a breakout artist in this genre but that said his specialty appears to be encouragement without being overbearing. From that aspect the album is very successful.
German pianist Bernward Koch, whose latest release is Walking Through Clouds, calls his compositions "songs without lyrics" — and indeed, they are delicately crafted and clearly show their creator's sense of form.
You might have heard Bernward Koch’s music on one or more of Real Music’s relaxation-themed compilations. Fueled by reflective dreaminess and soft, emotive piano melodies, he creates tapestries of soft instrumentation and lilting melody lines. Walking through Clouds provides an hour of serene music for relaxation and quiet times. Piano is the main instrument heard on many of the pieces, in many cases accented by ethereal synthesizers. Also utilized are flutes, guitar, very subtle percussion and glockenspiel. The album very much keeps in line with the serene albums Real Music is known for releasing and will appeal to fans of artists like Gandalf and Kevin Kern.