Koch, Bernward

Artist: Bernward Koch
P: 1989
A tender collection of melodies that wash over you like a gentle rain. These exquisite piano and keyboard recordings are enhanced by poignant flute and soft rhythmic percussion. "Flowing" sparkles along with a truly joyful romanticism. "Contrastingly greatly, Berward offers a light romantic and very pretty music with an ever present piano lead. The feel is very cinematic, gentle and rarely imposing."
AUDION 10/90
"Flowing is a deeply felt album of melodic heart music full of bright attractive compositions. Grand piano with a very romantic touch, using synthesizers to give depth and coloring to his simple but effective melodies."
HEARTBEATS 1/92

Artist: Bernward Koch
P: 2009
"Gentle Spirit" is the perfect title for this latest release from German composer/pianist Bernward Koch. Silken melodies float on soft languid tones, soothing the mind and easing away the cares of the day. A few of the fifteen tracks have strong but quiet rhythms, while others are more ethereal. Koch appears on piano, keyboards, guitar, bass, glockenspiel, and programming. He is joined by his wife, Christiane Boehm, on flute, and his brother, Christoph, on percussion, making this is an elegant family project. There are places on this record that remind me strongly of label-mate Kevin Kern - never a bad thing, by any means! I just hope that the Real Music signature sound doesn't become so homogenized that one artist is indistinguishable from the others. The production quality on this album is incredible, as it always is with Real Music releases.
"Gentle Spirit" begins with "The Treasure," a breezy piece for piano, light percussion, and keyboards that sets the serene tone of the album. If it's possible, "Immortal Thoughts" is even more soothing. As the title suggests, it is reflective and dreamy, seducing the listener into a peaceful state of mind. I really like "Get Free," which picks up the rhythm a bit and offers a poignant, bittersweet melody. "Fragrant Way" also has a compelling rhythm along with a touch of exotic spice - lovely! "Under Trees" has the lazy pace of an afternoon daydream. Flute and organ add some contrasting colors that really work. "An Ancient Dance" is a surprising guitar solo that fits in better than you might expect. Elegant and graceful, it harkens back to less stressful and complicated times. "Back To Myself" is another favorite. More improvised and free, it is both mysterious and reflective with a slightly agitated edge. "A Little Ode" shimmers with grace and solitude. "Multi-Colored Windows" has a magical tranquility and a gentle sparkle. "A Shimmer of Leaves" ends the album with a message of hope and peace.

"Gentle Spirit" is a soothing balm for the mind and soul. It's a beauty!

Artist: Bernward Koch
P: 2008
Flowing piano and keyboard compositions have become the signature of Bernward Koch. Enriched with flute, guitar and percussion, Koch's gorgeous, sparkling melodies usher us into a personal journey to the heart. Bernward Koch's sparkling keyboard and piano melodies are beautifully combined with the pure clarity of chimes, flute and sopranino. Adding texture and depth are accordion, bass, guitar, percussion, drums and bongos...Like its predecessor Flowing, this album is perfect for relaxation and easy listening." Music Design

Artist: Bernward Koch
P: 1992
Discreet melodies are drifting from the CD-Player which seem familiar to you, as if you have known them for years. And yet they are so refreshingly new.
Bernward Koch is a master of melodies with few notes. "The Lagoon Of Thruth" has in store for you a breath of that so sunny feeling you always notice, when you want break out of the humdrum daily routine with the help of this music. Composer and pianist Bernward Koch devoted his second album to the Maledives Islands because his debut album.

Artist: Bernward Koch
P: 2008
Since his youth, Koch has been an avid reader of Hesse´s works and had paid his first visit to Montagnola as early as the late 1970´s. In this sense, the dedication of the album "MONTAGNOLA - Dedicated to Hermann Hesse" is to be understood as a symbolic fresh start, as a meditation and an inner retreat, true to Hesse´s motto: "Be yourself".Hermann Hesse received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1946 and is the most widely read German-speaking author of the 20th century throughout the world (more than 100 million books sold to date). After an eventful life, he died on August 9, 1962 in Montagnola, a beautiful "gem" in Ticino near Lugano.
In 1919, Hesse retreated to Montagnola to make a fresh start after a deep life crisis caused by World War I. The first half of the 43 years he spent in Ticino were a period of enormous creativity. During that time he wrote his best known works like Siddartha, Steppenwolf, Narcissus and Goldmund, and The Glass Bead Game.

Artist: Bernward Koch
P: 1997
Bernward Koch & Pablo - the double identity of an internationally renownend instrumental music champion. With his solo albums "Flowing", “Laguna de la vera”, “Still Magic”, “Journey to the Heart” and “Walking Through Clouds” the German keyboardist and composer has won himself an established position in the world of New Age. Especially in the United States, where his records reached high positions in the BILLBOARD Charts. Also in the U.S. his tracks were chosen for important charity compilations (among songs of Pat Metheny, Suzanne Vega, Enja or Sting).
The secret behind these successes is certainly Koch’s stunning ability to create beautiful, catchy melodies. That he is also a master when it comes down to rhythmical matters, can be heard on “Picante”,  the debut album of Pablo. Koch has founded this band in the Mid-Eighties and it has been his continuous side project for him ever since. The group consists of Koch, his brother Christoph on drums, his wife Christiane on flute, Michael Hunold on guitar, Markus Schroeder on bass and Philipp Schneider on percussion.
After a couple of national awards, numerous tv- and radio-gigs, and some national and international tours (one of them led them to Moscow in 1990) they have concocted a tasty and spicy menu with latin-, rock-, funk- and jazz-ingredients for their first album.

Bernward Koch has composed and produced all tracks on “Picante” - and once again demonstrates his unique melodic gift in an impressively masterly manner!

Artist: Bernward Koch
P: 2011
Sublimely tender Koch melodies dedicated to 19th century pioneer and visionary aviator Otto Lilienthal, who glided silently on the wind, the birds his inspiration for lifting his wings into the skies. Piano, keyboards, guitar, bass and light percussion. Snuggle into a cozy chair for a carefree hour of flying free.

Artist: Bernward Koch
P: 1995
Still Magic" is an album by an artist, who has experienced a most astonishing rise within the New Instrumental Music scene during last couple of years. With his 1990 album "Flowing" Bernward Koch had a very successful debut, both in Europe and the United States, where the influential radio station "The Wave" popularized the work of the then completely unknown German keyboardist via power rotation. Bernward Koch's fame began to transcend the New Instrumental Music community, when in 1991 the artist (among greats such as Pat Metheny, Suzanne Vega, Enja or Sting) contributed a track to the compilation "Wave Aid", a benefit for a charity initiated by the Liz Taylor Foundation. Bernward Koch's final breakthrough came in 1992, when his second album "Laguna de la Vera" stayed high in the Billboard New Age charts for a couple of months. Simultaneously it became one of the most highly acclaimed instrumental records of the year in various other countries. Today Bernward Koch is considering by many as one of the genre's leading new artists.
Nobody, who knows Koch's music, will be surprised by his success: the classically trained artist composes pieces of outstanding formal maturity with an astonishing musical finesse. Koch himself calls his compositions "songs without lyrics" - and ideed they are delicately crafted and clearly show their creators sense of form.
Koch's arrangements are always marked by a tasteful balance of synthetic and natural sounds. The organic pulse of a real, flesh and blood drummer is essential for Koch's music, and the exquisite flute playing of his wife Christiane Böhm has over the years become a trademark feature of his sound. On "Still Magic" the music of Bernward Koch more than ever unfolds an unobtrusive but seducitve charm - and once again many listeners on both sides of the Atlantic will soon be under its spell.

Artist: V/A
P: 1998
Nice collection of all artists that had been on the Prudence label in the year 1998.

Artist: Mergener, Blonker, B. Scholl, B. Koch u.a.
P: 1999
Nice collection of the BSC Label.