HARTER BROCKEN

Over the years the German television series "Harter Bocken" has developed its own fan base. The plot centers around village policeman Frank Koops, investigator Mette Vogt from the neighboring community, and postman Heiner Kelzenberg who find themselves in the throes of national and international criminals in the small town of Sankt Andreasberg in the Harz mountains near the Brocken. The films manage to create a special atmosphere between provincial crime and western, thanks in part to the lead actors besides Aljoscha Stadelmann, but also to the music.

Ali N. Askin, Stefan Döring, Stephan Massimo and Johannes Kobilke each composed one score for the series. Tobias Wagner contributed to a total of five episodes. Four of these were created in collaboration with Justin Michael LaVallee, Steven Schwalbe and Marius Borjans, with varying degrees of involvement from the individual composers. "Die Erpressung" also marked his first collaboration on "Harter Bocken" with Arne Schumann and Josef Bach (Schumann&Bach took over the short). We are very pleased now to be able to present these scores on this recording. The album features the original music from the first nine episodes of the series: Episode 1 ("Harter Brocken", 2015), "Die Kronzeugin (The Crown Witness)" (2017), "Der Bankraub (The Bank Robbery)" (2017), "Der Geheimcode (The Secret Code)" (2019), "Die Fälscherin (The Counterfeiter)" (2019), "Der Waffendeal (The Arms Deal)" (2021), "Das Überlebenstraining (The Survival Training)" (2022), "Der Goldrausch (The Gold Rush)" (2023), and "Die Erpressung (The Blackmail)" (2025).

The scores retain the "eccentricity" of the films through their idiosyncratic elaboration, ranging from marching band sounds, ominous and even thrilling suspense music, a mafia theme and Tarantino-like instrumental pieces. Each score impresses with the original ideas of its composer, making it truly special. The names of the composers also served as the basis for dividing the music into six parts with multiple tracks, three parts per CD.

The album comprises a total of approximately 150 minutes of music; the CD booklet contains numerous illustrations and a brief presentation of the composers. We hope you enjoy the album.

Summary Track-Listing

CD1

Track 01 – 14. Harter Brocken – Music Composed by Ali N. Askin 19:40
Track 15 – 27. Die Erpressung (The Crown Witness) – Music Composed by Stefan Döring 28:00
Track 28 – 39. Die Fälscherin (The Counterfeiter) – Music Composed by Stephan Massimo 25:40

CD2

Track 01 – 06. Der Bankraub (The Bank Robbery) – Music Composed by Johannes Kobilke 22:40
Track 07 – 18. Der Geheimcode / Der Waffendeal / Das Überlebenstraining / Der Goldrausch 30:30
(The Secret Code / The Arms Deal / The Survival Training / The Gold Rush
Music Composed by Tobias Wagner & Teams (u.a. Steven Schwalbe, Marius Borjans, Justin M. LaVallee)
Track 19 – 27. Die Erpressung (The Blackmail) – Music Composed by Schumann & Bach together with Tobias Wagner 24:10

- youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mlTXSFsIfhY