If the last two years have been all work (and a bit of play) for Henrik Schwarz, in 2011 we’ll enjoy the fruits of his labour. Down the line to inthemix from frosty Berlin in late December, the studio maestro has plenty to report on: his improvisational interplay with Bugge Wesseltoft, house-jamming alongside Jesse Rose as Black Rose, turning dancefloor music into classical compostions and of course that ever-elusive artist album.

The side of Henrik Schwarz we’re seeing in a matter of weeks, though, is the live dynamo. Following his galvanising debut tour here in 2009, this whirlwind visit will again see Schwarz drawing warmth and feeling from his Ableton arsenal. As he’s quick to point out, no two sets are ever the same. It’s all about the element of surprise…

Can you look forward to any downtime over this month?
My kids are running around in the background, so it could get a bit loud! There’s a lot of work on many different things at the moment, but I’m just calming down for Christmas. I was playing so much over this year that I thought maybe the last two weeks of December I’d take it easy.

Summer seemed very intensive for you throughout Europe.
Europe and also in the rest of the world. Somehow in spring I decided to be outside a lot, I played a lot of festivals this year which I absolutely enjoyed. The travelling is a bit more intense, because normally you only fly and you’re there; but with festivals you fly, then drive two hours to somewhere in the outback.

What is it about the open-air environment that was so special?
I just found in general there is so much excitement from the audience about being outside. I don’t know. There is that feeling of being somewhere with many others. It’s a very positive atmosphere.

I saw you play at one of those festivals, Melt in Germany, alongside Jesse Rose as Black Rose. Is that partnership ongoing?
Absolutely. We keep on being surprised about what happens. When we started it was more like a joke. We just did a back-to-back, me live and him DJing. And it just went so well we thought, why shouldn’t we do it again? This went on for one year, so at the beginning of 2010 we said why not make a real project out of it. So we called it Black Rose and got booked to big festivals, and we were like, ‘What’s going on?’ But it was fantastic. I’m just meeting Jesse in three hours to discuss what we are going to do next year. We want to take it one step further.

Is there an improvisational element to what you do with Jesse?
We’re trying to do both in a way. Having a very solid ground so it’s a sure-shot party thing, but having another level above it that makes it really open and very musical. We can be surprised, and the audience also.

Is the feeling of that back-and-forth quite different from when you’re alone with your laptop?
Of course, when I play solo I have all the control and play only my own stuff. I’m very…how can I say…fully concentrated. In a way, I’m passed out for one or two hours. When someone else is joining, I’m still very concentrated but it’s more like a game where you bounce back and forth. So there’s always a moment of relaxation in between. When I’m playing solo, I’m trying to surprise myself also. Maybe that’s a different kind of freedom.

How do you surprise yourself?
Well, when the audience is with me, they become the solid ground of the whole vibe. When that happens, I’m totally free in what I can do. I feel safe to do unexpected things. I might click randomly into somewhere in my live set and try to convert it into something else as it’s coming out the speakers.