“Hamburger Concerto” – the title is of course reminiscent of Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos. But why “Hamburg” of all places?
Is it because the “St. Anton Chorale” quoted in the title track was made famous primarily by Hamburg boy Johannes Brahms? Nope – indeed, the “Hamburger Concerto” owes its tongue-in-cheek title to the popular fast-food bun, the hamburger. However, not everyone in Europe was familiar with this delicacy back in 1974. The inspiring bun was actually eaten in New York by Focus guitarist Jan Akkerman during the 1973 US tour. The neon lettering on the cover – in front of a marble wall – alludes to a burger joint.
Focus were the leading Dutch progressive rock band. They had their biggest year in 1973: two singles and three albums by them were in the American charts at the same time, and the British Melody Maker declared Jan Akkerman the best guitarist in the world. But the real eye-catcher in the band was his colleague Thijs van Leer, the jack-of-all-trades. He not only shone on various keyboards, but also played the flute with virtuosity and could even whistle and yodel artfully (“Hocus Pocus”). He also uses around a dozen instruments on the album Hamburger Concerto, from the recorder to the synthesizer.
The title track, a 20-minute longtrack that takes up the entire B-side of the LP, seems fairly consistent. A consistently leisurely tempo, a partly “symphonic” polyphony, a large number of pretty, often pseudo-classical motifs, some accomplished improvisations. One wouldn’t necessarily think of dividing this piece into six parts, as the subtitles suggest. (Incidentally, they are all inspired by the preparation of a hamburger: “rare”, “medium” etc.)
Nominally, Akkerman and van Leer alternated as composers for the six parts. The highlight of the “Concerto” is definitely part 4 (“Medium II”, starting at 9:30) with the big guitar solo over just the kind of heavy rhythm Akkerman liked, and over atmospheric organ chords. The guitarist doesn’t deliver super-fast, escalating solo fireworks here, but a small stroke of genius of emotion and intensification. As he then plays the guitar in a more technical and jazzy manner, the dynamics even slow down.
In “his” part 1 (“Starter”), Van Leer adapts the well-known St. Anton chorale, previously arranged by Haydn and Brahms, as an introduction – Akkerman’s floating guitar notes sound almost like a trumpet here. In part 3 (“Medium I” starting at 5:23), van Leer simply strings together three short improvisations: first as a singer (clownish, even with a yodel phrase), then on the organ and finally on the flute. In part 5 (“Well Done”, starting at 17:43), the multi-instrumentalist even includes the Dutch Christmas carol “O Kerstnacht” – he sings it with himself in the choir. There are also some particularly strong motivic details in this section, for example the heavy organ riff with piano on top (starting at 16:50) or the guitar theme reminiscent of Mike Oldfield (starting at 17:40). Hamburger gourmet Jan Akkerman is once again responsible for the bombastic final section (“One For The Road”, starting at 19:00).