Gandalf has been making great music for quite a number of years now and with this latest release brings his total creative output to right around 35 albums. He was born in Austria but has left an indelible mark on the international new age music community through his many releases. Most of his music has been released primarily in Europe but through his association with Real Music it has been finding its way into the U.S. as well and into the hands of reviewers such as myself who in turn share it with the readers of Ambient Visions.
The first thing that strikes me about Gandalf's newest release called Dreamweaver is its simplicity in execution. There is a tendency sometimes to reach for the sky with large orchestral effects and larger than life arrangements which to me can be effectively done but oftentimes they tend to overshadow the music itself. With Dreamweaver Gandalf has created a simple aural canvas to apply his musical paints to and allows the music to speak for itself through the instruments and artists that accompany Gandalf on this release. Besides Gandalf himself you will primarily hear Merike Hilmar on cello, Karin Leitner on flutes and Irish whistles and Christian Strobl on percussion. With Gandalf being able to play so many other instruments himself I would assume that anything else you might hear on this recording was done by Gandalf.
I for one am very happy about the approach that Gandalf took toward bringing this music to life. Each instrument is allowed to shine forth and bring a richness and depth to the music that might have been missing without taking this approach to the production. The music is quite emotional and on some of the songs transports the listeners to a serene landscape where they can simply drift with the music as the cello and the penny whistle along with the piano create a relaxing environment where the worries and stress of day to day life can be forgotten for a short while. A wonderful example of this is the song “Written In the Stars Parts 1 and 2.” Each instrument is allowed to step into the spotlight for a bit to bring its voice to the overall composition and then fade into the background as another instrument steps up to take its place. All the while the piano is holding the composition on course by supplying the foundation upon which everything rests. Gandalf was able to pull this off superbly by keeping things simple as far as the production goes and allowing each performer to be an integral part of the performance and not just an accompanying musician who didn't matter to the overall direction of the music that they were playing.
I think that “Reaching for the Sky” is my favorite song off of Gandalf's latest effort called Dreamweaver. This song is an eight minute tour-de-force that moves effortlessly back and forth between a soft thought provoking acoustic guitar and cello and the more dramatic arrangement featuring the penny whistle and the drums. It is a marvelous composition that highlights just how well this group of musicians has learned to express emotions and feelings together as if coming from a single mind through each of their individual instruments. This is one of those songs that you could play over and over again and the song would never get old or fail to deeply stir your emotions with each playing. To me this is a wonderfully positive piece of music that raises your spirits and lets you believe in a future that is beckoning us forward to a place that will be better for everyone.
The album opens and ends pretty much the same way with Gandalf's piano playing starting us off on this musical journey and then saying goodbye to us on the last track of this album as his keyboard is the last thing we hear as it drifts away into silence bringing the voyage to a peaceful close.
Dreamweaver demonstrates that Gandalf has learned a great deal about making music over his lengthy career but the most important lesson he has learned is that sometimes less is more when it comes to music. Dreamweaver is an enchanting work of art that is both intimate and inviting to the attentive listener who wants to spend some quality time exploring what lies within them instead of focusing so much on the outward world that they have to deal with day in and day out. Gandalf has let the music on Dreamweaver reveal his heart along with the truths of his life that have been discovered on his own musical journey. Gandalf is a consummate artist and has forged the perfect musical partnership with his fellow musicians on this release to present his music to the world.