Volker Bertelmann, winner of the Best Original Score award for ‘The West’ in the press room during the 95th Annual Academy Awards on March 12, 2023 in Hollywood, California.
Photo: Getty Images, Rodin Eckenroth. All rights reserved.
Volker Bertelmann has had an eventful year. The German composer, who is also known by his stage name Hauschka, composed the soundtrack for three films in 2022 – including “Nothing New in the West”. Edward Berger’s war drama is based on the 1929 work of the same name and is about the experiences of 17-year-old Paul Bäumer on the western front during the First World War. The almost two-and-a-half-hour drama is the most successful German entry at the Oscars to date and was awarded a total of four prizes this year – including for “Best Film Music”. And it was precisely this award that Volker Bertelmann received.
In a detailed video interview, Bertelmann tells ROLLING STONE what it means for him to return from Hollywood to Düsseldorf with this golden statue in his pocket, why he is particularly moved by “authentic music” and why he would still like to study mathematics. We talked to the 57-year-old for half an hour via zoom and not only talked about his solo work as Hauschka, but also about what still appeals to him about composing film music and what the next goal is in his bucket list stands. Spoiler alert: It’s not another Oscar.
Volker Bertelmann in a video interview with ROLLING STONE:
Volker Bertelmann is one of the greatest German composers and pianists of our time. As Hauschka, he gained notoriety above all for his pieces of music, which were created with the help of a prepared piano. The prepared piano is a musical technique that was first used by John Cage and is based on the fact that certain parts of the string courses of a piano are weighed down with objects such as paper or erasers, thereby creating percussive sounds. Bertelmann has released a total of 16 studio albums as Hauschka and has also worked as a film composer since 2012. For his compositions in the film “Lion – The Long Way Home” he was nominated for an Oscar in the category “Best Film Music” in 2017.
On May 12, 2023, the German Film Prize (the so-called Lola) will also be awarded, for which Volker Bertelmann is also nominated for “Best Film Music” for “Nothing New in the West”. The war drama was nominated for a Lola in twelve out of a total of 19 categories. The award of the German movie Awardit will be broadcast live on May 12 at 7 p.m. on ZDF Mediathek and on linear television at 11:30 p.m.