German piano virtuoso Martin Kohlstedt is often – unsurprisingly but predictably – mentioned in the same breath as that other contemporary neoclassical hero: Nils Frahm. He created a fine diptych in the form of  'Tag' (2012) and 'Nacht' (2014), and with 'Strom' (2017) and the superb 'Ströme' (2019) he even coupled the album titles.

In the meantime, he has also been working with such diverse artists as Sudan Archives or Christian Löffler (incidentally, also an AB guest in’23) and he created a new live soundtrack to ‘Son of the white mare’ by Hungarian director Marcell Jankovics. Focus Knack praised the perfomance with a **** review and wrote: ‘Aan zijn linkerkant twee synthesizers, aan zijn rechterkant een vleugelpiano en in het midden een analoge drummachine. Meer had de Duitser niet nodig om zijn publiek anderhalf uur lang in vervoering te brengen.’

In ’23 his newcomer ‘Feld’ will be released. Kohlstedt says of it: ‘In times of tracks, singles, playlists and TikTok, this album proves why this format is of utmost importance. ‘Feld’ captivates in its aesthetics, even more, it sets standards in how a cutting edge electronica production can come together with analog and acoustic mindsets from classical music, ambient and score design.

The countdown can commence.