Gandalf

Artist: Gandalf + Galadriel
P: 1986 / 1989
A collaboration with Gandalf and more musicians. Sentimental music with more instruments.

Here the last copy!
 

Artist: Gandalf
P: 2016
Inspired by the canary islands. Melodic sentimental tracks.

Artist: Gandalf
P: 2005
The music on "Barakaya" was originally inspired by the appearance of the comet Hale-Bopp in the spring 1997. The music is about the child within all of us, a child in its original harmonious relationship towards an environment it perceives as whole and undestroyed. It is an album that speaks to us about the will to live and the love for the beautiful planet we are living on, and it also tells us about a time of a new awakening. The word "Barakaya" has common roots in the Hebrew and the Arabian language and also in some East African dialects. It means "blessing", "luck", or "gift". With this album Gandalf, vanguarded of a new and hard to define style, has come closer than to his goal, to create something like a Global Music, trying to dissolve the borders between different musical cultures. Some of the songs have a native American influence, others seem to be based on African roots, another, played on Sitar, sounds more Indian, one is inspired by Irish Folk Music, all connected by Gandalf's very unique way of merging a multitude of acoustic and electronic sounds into colorful musical paintings.
Emily Burridge from England (Gandalf first met her while he was touring with his band in Brazil) adds a very special note to the music by her singing and chanting, inspired by the native language of the Xavante-Indians from Brazil where she has been living for several years. Also she brings in a lot of harmony and warmth with her meodious cello-playing.

Artist: Gandalf
P: 1997
The music on "Barakaya" was originally inspired by the appearance of the comet Hale-Bopp in the spring 1997. The music is about the child within all of us, a child in its original harmonious relationship towards an environment it perceives as whole and undestroyed. It is an album that speaks to us about the will to live and the love for the beautiful planet we are living on, and it also tells us about a time of a new awakening. The word "Barakaya" has common roots in the Hebrew and the Arabian language and also in some East African dialects. It means "blessing", "luck", or "gift". With this album Gandalf, vanguarded of a new and hard to define style, has come closer than to his goal, to create something like a Global Music, trying to dissolve the borders between different musical cultures. Some of the songs have a native American influence, others seem to be based on African roots, another, played on Sitar, sounds more Indian, one is inspired by Irish Folk Music, all connected by Gandalf's very unique way of merging a multitude of acoustic and electronic sounds into colorful musical paintings.
Emily Burridge from England (Gandalf first met her while he was touring with his band in Brazil) adds a very special note to the music by her singing and chanting, inspired by the native language of the Xavante-Indians from Brazil where she has been living for several years. Also she brings in a lot of harmony and warmth with her meodious cello-playing.

Here the first version, which was released on the Sattva label in 1997.

Artist: Gandalf
P: 2003/ 2009
The album "Between the Earth and Sky" is the new age music of the highest order!
With a tender vocal in "The Blessing" composition, a medieval guitar and flute in "Stardust Dreams", and aloof and sorrowful keyboards in "Dreamcatcher".
This music is imbued with nostalgia for the past and at the same time it is an utterly up-to-date music. It takes ethnic tunes in and makes an alloy of them in a single cauldron of global universal music. And in spite of all this it does not lose its individuality. Quite the contrary you reveal always new facets of Gandalf's creativity and become inspired with an enchanting flavour of his divine music. You feel that for a certain time you just start living in this music and exist in a fairy-tale reality which is created by Gandalf.
The musician uses a great many of various instruments. Here is an acoustic 12-string, classical and electric guitars, a sax and a piano, keyboards and a mellotron, as well as a balaphon and a percussion. In creating the album Gandalf was rendered assistance from White Horse (a cello and vocals), as well as from Peter Aschenbrenner (flutes, a soprano saxophone and a backup vocal). Moreover Peter Aschenbrenner has been working together with Gandalf practically from the very start of his musical career.
Where does this fairy voyage lead to? Maybe, to the woods where beautiful Galadriel, the mistress of the fairy forest, is looking forward to you? Or to distant lands where a white town is towering and at the walls of which the last battle with the omnivorous evil will take place. And for some reason you start believing that all the hardship will be overcome, and the evil will be exterminated once and for all, and the new beautiful world will appear on this long-suffering land… Gandalf's music is a going back to roots, a glance to the future where no place for cruelty and animosity.

Artist: Gandalf
P: 2004
Gandalf gives us a new gift of a magnificent record of New Instrumental Music. His fans will find here many of the ingredients that characterize this musician.
The ten pieces that integrate "Colors of a new dawn" are very melodic, with romantic airs and crystalline environments. The artist builds soundscapes of a great beauty, and some even turn out to be highly mysterious.
The result cannot be more convincing: magical atmospheres, plenty of imagination, and magnificent melodies. The music is very harmonious and tranquil, and very personal. Gandalf played all the instruments himself , supported by a vocal guest appearance of Julia Martins, also from Austria.
The music I write is like a soundtrack for my own life. It reflects my very personal experiences and feelings, my joy and my sadness. It is about the faith in the positive forces in life, about hopes and longings, about love and friendship and the search for a life in balance and celestial harmony. Life can really be a positive experience, it is just a matter of the way we are looking at it. It is not meant to be easy all the time, every crisis gives us a new chance for learning, every challenge helps us growing, if we just keep the faith and don´t give up.


Here the last copy!

Artist: Gandalf
P: 1994 / 2007
“When I first travelled to the USA in summer of 1993, I was deeply impressed by the beautiful landscapes and gorgeous nature monuments of the Southwest. After I had returned to my home, I spent the next couple of months in the studio recording new music with all those marvellous pictures on my mind, enchanted by the ‘Colours Of The Earth’!”
With all their symphonic grandness the eleven tracks on this timeless jewel of modern instrumental music shine as brilliantly in 2007 as they did back in 1994!

Artist: Gandalf
P: 1994
This is the first edition of the defunkt Sattva Label.
“When I first travelled to the USA in summer of 1993, I was deeply impressed by the beautiful landscapes and gorgeous nature monuments of the Southwest. After I had returned to my home, I spent the next couple of months in the studio recording new music with all those marvellous pictures on my mind, enchanted by the ‘Colours Of The Earth’!”
With all their symphonic grandness the eleven tracks on this timeless jewel of modern instrumental music shine as brilliantly today as they did back in 1994!

Artist: Gandalf
P: 1994 / 2007
“When I first travelled to the USA in summer of 1993, I was deeply impressed by the beautiful landscapes and gorgeous nature monuments of the Southwest. After I had returned to my home, I spent the next couple of months in the studio recording new music with all those marvellous pictures on my mind, enchanted by the ‘Colours Of The Earth’!”
With all their symphonic grandness the eleven tracks on this timeless jewel of modern instrumental music shine as brilliantly today as they did back in 1994!

Artist: Gandalf
P: 2023
On the occasion of his 70th birthday, Gandalf presents an elaborately orchestrated 70-minute opus in which he surpasses himself, his Earth Symphony. Gandalf's work has often been inspired by the music of other cultures. This time he takes us on a journey around the planet. He dedicates a musical work to each continent, incorporating characteristic stylistic elements. As a recurring leitmotif, a manifoldly arranged earth theme connects the individual pieces into a large overall work. Gandalf sees music as a universal language that connects people all over the world without the need for translation. His listeners, spread over all continents, are proof of this. The artist worked on the production for almost two years in his Mali Raj studio in Krems an der Donau. Thus the Danube, which flows through large parts of our continent, also stands in the composition as a symbol for Europe.

Artist: Gandalf
P: 2011
In the end the whole universe consists of pure energy, it vibrates. After Platon and Newton it was nature philosopher, mathematician, astronomer and theologian Johannes Kepler, who in the early 17th century discovered that the basic principles of music apply to the whole cosmic hustle and bustle – and vice versa, that the whole plan of the world is mirrored in the essence of music. He called it the “harmony of the world”. Gandalf follows these thoughts in a new orchestral composition, which he created for his 30th stage anniversary. This unique “Symphony Of The Third Millenium” marks a new peak in his rich oeuvre. The piece is a tribute to the wonderful variety and beauty of the universe, to the miracle of all life and being. For the choir passages Gandalf used a selection of verses from the Bhagavat Gita in its original language, Sanskrit, which is said to be one of the oldest languages of mankind.

Artist: Gandalf
P: 1995
Here the Sattva Label version.
Renowned Austrian new age multi-instrumentalist Gandalf has issued a variety of fine, internationally acclaimed albums on a steady basis since 1980. Taking his name from the good-hearted wizard in J.R.R. Tolkien’s trilogy “Lord Of the Rings”, Gandalf’s work reflects his love of nature and his commitment to preserving the environment. Over the years Gandalf has won several prominent friends to guest on his recordings (including Tracy Hitchings, Steve Hackett, Emily Burridge, Dhafer Youssef and Peter Aschenbrenner, while he himself has been favourably compared to such notable artists as William Ackermann, Rick Wakeman, Shadowfax, Enya and Mike Oldfield.
Gandalf is a real painter of sonic landscapes, his music is mainly inspired by the beauty of nature and by the art and myths of various cultures. He blends a variety of acoustic instruments (guitars, sitar, saz, charango, bouzuki, piano, balaphon, bells & percussion) with spherical keyboard-sounds and weaves folky tunes into powerful symphonic arrangements.
 

Artist: Gandalf
P: 1987
One of his early works with a lot of emotional melodies and deep synthesizer atmospheres.

Here the last copy.

Artist: Gandalf
P: 1988
The album is all about the journey of water from the source until it joins the ocean. The inspiration originated from a visit of the lakes and waterfalls at Plitvice-Nationalpark in Croatia. Gandalf builds the music upon hypnotic minimalistic, sometimes Far-Eastern-sounding basic structures, spanning wide symphonic melodies over the top that eventually develop into large orchestral crescendos. Powerful electric guitar- and synthesizer solos remind that Gandalf's roots are definitely based in Rock´n Roll.

Here the last copy of the original CBS Version!

Artist: Gandalf
P: 1992
Full of epic grandeur and romanticism, GANDALF's "Gallery Of Dreams" is a masterpiece. From the first few bars of music, you will be moved in ways that can only be described by simply listening. What clearly makes this a special album is the joint collaboration with Steve HACKETT. "Gallery of Dreams" contains lots of "HACKETT'isms" and works unbelievably well with the symphonic touches that typifies GANDALF's work. With accents of flutes, woodwinds and wind chimes, GANDALF creates a very medieval/Renaissance era'ish atmospheres and emotions. This album has been on my desert island list for some time now. Although almost entirely instrumental, a young Tracy Hitchings also is featured on the title track which tastefully accents the album.

Here the last copy!

Artist: Gandalf
P: 1996 / 2010
On a concert tour through Brazil in 1995 Gandalf had met the English cellist and vocalist Emily Burridge, who had been living with a tribe of Brazilian Indians several times and working with Roger Daltrey, George Michael, Chrissie Hind, Jools Holland, Zero 7, Stereophonics and Hans Zimmer. During a couple of live-shows together with Gandalfs group she proved to be the perfect creative partner for “Gates To A Secret Reality”. Her melodious cello-lines, gently woven into Gandalfs multi-coloured textures of sound and rhythms, and her vocals on three of the tracks give the music a very special note. Peter Aschenbrenner, long-time member of Gandalfs live-band on flute and saxophone, and Gandalf himself on a variety of electric and acoustic guitars, Charango, Saz, Piano, electronic keyboards and percussions also turned “Gates To A Secret Reality” into a unique listening experience in 1996. Today it is as fascinating as it was then.

Artist: Gandalf
P: 1996
On a concert tour through Brazil in 1995 Gandalf had met the English cellist and vocalist Emily Burridge, who had been living with a tribe of Brazilian Indians several times and working with Roger Daltrey, George Michael, Chrissie Hind, Jools Holland, Zero 7, Stereophonics and Hans Zimmer. During a couple of live-shows together with Gandalfs group she proved to be the perfect creative partner for “Gates To A Secret Reality”. Her melodious cello-lines, gently woven into Gandalfs multi-coloured textures of sound and rhythms, and her vocals on three of the tracks give the music a very special note. Peter Aschenbrenner, long-time member of Gandalfs live-band on flute and saxophone, and Gandalf himself on a variety of electric and acoustic guitars, Charango, Saz, Piano, electronic keyboards and percussions also turned “Gates To A Secret Reality” into a unique listening experience in 1996. Today it is as fascinating as it was then.

This is the original first version!

Artist: Gandalf
P: 1999 / 2005
This time it's the group 4XANG who sings on the opener "Titaptawa". Gandalf's old friend Peter Aschenbrenner plays flute and soprano sax on this piece. The rest of the album is filled with solo music which combines electronic music, New Age and World music. It is all very typical Gandalf with beautiful synthsounds, calm rhythms and the stereotype guitar solos. In a personal style that enters both New Instrumental Music and World Music, Gandalf takes us through a voyage to faraway lands, full of emotions and adventures. Gandalf builds melodic themes of a great beauty, and some even turn out to be highly mysterious. Several pieces are dominated by a majestic, epic character, with the orchestrations typical of Classical Music and Celtic elements.
The piece "Shining Light part 1", is a cosmic-symphonic theme of an unusual grandeur. In a few words, a pleasant, melodic and very warm album, where the keyboards and the fine arrangements have a fundamental presence.

Artist: Gandalf
P: 1999
Here the original first edition from the Sattva label.
This time it's the group 4XANG who sings on the opener "Titaptawa". Gandalf's old friend Peter Aschenbrenner plays flute and soprano sax on this piece. The rest of the album is filled with solo music which combines electronic music, New Age and World music. It is all very typical Gandalf with beautiful synthsounds, calm rhythms and the stereotype guitar solos. In a personal style that enters both New Instrumental Music and World Music, Gandalf takes us through a voyage to faraway lands, full of emotions and adventures. Gandalf builds melodic themes of a great beauty, and some even turn out to be highly mysterious. Several pieces are dominated by a majestic, epic character, with the orchestrations typical of Classical Music and Celtic elements.
The piece "Shining Light part 1", is a cosmic-symphonic theme of an unusual grandeur. In a few words, a pleasant, melodic and very warm album, where the keyboards and the fine arrangements have a fundamental presence.