So there we were for the launch (pun intended) of Voyager IV‘s new release ‘Rheingold’ and – no disc. Marcus Schinkel was apologetic as he set up his keyboards in advance of the band’s concert at Bonn Harmonie. Something to do with Peter Gabriel it seemed… “Is he coming to tonight’s show?” enquired the similarly perplexed man next to me. But I’m thinking that where the mercurial Mr Schinkel is involved anything and anyone is possible.
Voyager IV being one of Bonn’s premier bands, a long introduction to their music shouldn’t be necessary. The band was formed in 2017 after Johannes Kuchta joined Marcus Schinkel onstage as a guest vocalist at Bonn Harmonie. The band was completed with the addition of another dynamic duo in the shape of bassist Fritz Roppel and Dutch jazz drummer Wim De Vries. The fruits of this venture have already been delicious indeed – 2019’s interpretation of ‘Pictures at an Exhibition’ was an absolute stunner, and garnered the quartet awards including a ‘Stiftung Deutscher Rock & Poppreis 2019’ as Best Progressive Rockband Deutschland.
Expectation is high then, as the lights dim in a comfortably filled Bonn Harmonie. What follows is a veritable tour de force. Almost two hours of top-notch Prog-Rock. At almost every concert I attend there is a moment/are moments when attention wavers, and this concert certainly had all of the elements where that was likely to happen – long slow musical sections, drum solo, bass solo, experimental instruments… yet, bam! it was already 10 pm when I first looked at my watch. Voyager IV are such a marvellously talented band of musicians that every one of them creates music that keeps you spellbound.
What better way to get an evening dedicated to the mystic Rhine river than a spoken adaptation of Heinrich Heine’s iconic ‘Ode auf die Lorely’?. A poster image of a man, looking not unlike Wagner himself, clad in a spacesuit gives you a good idea of the early set for the evening. An Overture based on ‘Genesis’ and ‘The River’ (complete with a tasteful flowing water backdrop). Stepping away from Wagner but not away from the Rhine we go to ‘Follow The Stars’ adapted from Paul Linke’s ‘Fräulein Lorely’. ‘Waters & Rocks‘ based on Silcher’s ‘Lorely Song’. Like the poster – the old confronting the new. A balancing act that only gifted musicians like these can bring off. The new disc should be a winner for sure.
Pleasingly, there was also plenty of opportunity for music from the band’s ‘Pictures at an Exhibition‘ release, and hearing Kuchta’s vocals makes it no surprise that the Band went over to Real World Studio’s in Bath, home to none other than Peter Gabriel. There is so much of Gabriel’s measured, almost clinical, vocal delivery in the voice of Johannes Kuchta. His hands often curling around as if he’s creating the vocal sound like a potter at his wheel. Kuchta is quiet, measured, studious, serious and contemplative. Each word of each lyric has to ‘sit’ perfectly. Highlights from ‘Pictures’ for me were ‘My Point of View’ and ‘The Great Gates of Kiev‘ and both were delivered dramatically this evening.
There was even an added dimension to the musical drama via a thoughtful lightshow from Niklas Kaupert and some jaw-dropping screen graphics from Lieve Schaeve – I loved the dragon effects especially. Kunst!Rasen, if you’re listening, how about booking this band for the end of the next season? Those projections deserve a big, big screen! Speaking of the ‘Pictures’ release – it’s been around a while now, and I notice something that I didn’t at the beginning. There is so often a psychoanalytical side to those words that Kuchta sings: “Losing my memory, losing the pain” (My Point of View), “I hear every stone in the wall!” (The Old Castle) Tales of mentally anguished souls. All this coming from a man who is, by profession, a neurosurgeon. Do I see a connection?!
Stage right from Kuchta’s viewpoint is a man who I can’t imagine having that clinical mindset. Marcus Schinkel seems to be the antithesis of Johannes Kuchta. He’s certainly no doctor. Clad in a black frock coat, and with a bright, white stagelight shining through his curly shock of hair, he could though very well pass from the back as a reincarnation of Ludwig Van B. Relaxed, joking, spontaneous. Of course, it takes an awful lot of ability, talent and sheer hard work to appear so relaxed. You have to know how to play classical music properly before playing around with it’s structure. Or, to put it simply, you have to know each of the right notes before you start replacing them! Is it possible that Schinkel is a Man born slightly out of time I wonder? Born to be at the forefront of turning Classical into Jazz and into Rock. He should have been rubbing musical shoulders in the early seventies with Keith Emerson and Mike Oldfield, presenting a German equivalent of Deep Purple’s concert for group and orchestra with Kuchta as his Gillan.
Richie Blackmore played a pretty mean guitar at those Deep Purple shows, but did he ever put his fingers into a laser harp? Or go ‘walkabout’ onstage with a Keytar (guitar/keyboard)? He certainly didn’t re-design a typewriter for musical effect. You just have to love Marcus Schinkel’s seemingly boundless enthusiasm and musical creativity. His ability to know the musical ‘rules’ of what he’s playing and when to break them that creates an “Aha!” moment for audiences when an improvisation clicks into something familiar like Wagner’s ‘Ride of the Valkyries’ or the moment in ‘My point of View’ where Schinkel conjures up something that could have come from Abba’s ‘Mama Mia’ – Pure genius.
I’m sure that, when Mr Gabriel or whoever needs to get matters sorted regarding its release, has done so, ‘Rheingold’ will be on many a ‘Best of 2024’ shortlist – and not just in Germany. As Johannes Kuchta observed in a recent interview: “The Rhine itself isn’t confined to just one Country. The water doesn’t care or notice if it’s in Cologne, or Düsseldorf. From the Alps to the North Sea it’s the same water. People change in place and time but the River is a constant”. Similarly, great music, from any era and any style will always be great music everywhere in the World. Like the Rhine’s water, Its essence doesn’t change. Voyager IV’s greatest attribute is the band’s fusion of so many styles into their own distinctive sound. Interpreting without losing that magical essence. Let co-pilots Schinkel and Kuchta, together with their highly trained crew of de Vries and Roppel take you on a true voyage of musical discovery – where the sky is far from the limit, and grab a copy of that new ‘Rheingold’ CD when it comes out before they leave Bonn’s orbit.
