Gandalf

Heinz Stobl, aka Gandalf, has released a lot of albums and has been a major influence on the prog rock scene, post 1980. It is therefore natural that I sent him one of these long archive, academic like list of questions. Thankfully, Heinz took time of his busy schedule to answer it.

I bring you Gandalf. 

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Echoes From Ancient Dreams from 1995

Still inspired by impressions from my US-trips

Gates to Secret Realities from 1996

On concert tour through Brazil in 1995 I met Emily Burridge. She spontaneously joined us on stage with her cello and we made friends and decided to record an album together a few months later. Influences from the Indigenious Cultures in South America

Barakaya - Trees Water Life from 1997

My most Ethno-music influenced album, a continuation of my cooperation with Emily Burridge. Very melodious but also powerful pieces. A very interesting production with a multitude of acoustic instruments, but also electronic soundscapes. Has been a very successful album.

Into The Light from 1999

A more silent and shining album, sometimes with a real hypnotic touch.

Samsara from 1999

A cooperation with Richard Schönherz, a musician and friend fro Austria who lived in California for almost twenty years. Songs about the joy and the suffering of life and love. A slight approach to Ethno-Pop of the Nineties.

The Fountain of Secrets from 2002

The return to my first record company, Warner Music, a powerful album with great electric guitar works and a wide range of musical styles

VISIONS 2001

Without being aware that the big movie-trilogy of „the lord of the rings“ was planned to be produced, I had decided after 20 years of my musical career to write a comlpete album based on Tolkien´s epic.

Turned into a really great album capturing the magic of Middleearth.

Colors Of A New Dawn from 2004

The start of a cooperation with the Californien label Real Music.

My music entered a new phase, more based on piano and acoustic guitars.

Der Prophet from 2005

Originally created for a stage performance of the book „The Prophet“ by Khalil Gibran. The music is based on acoustic instruments, performed on piano, 12-string guitar, flutes, cello and percussion with rare electronic atmospheres.

Sacred River from 2006

One of my most harmonious and flowing albums ever, it really takes you on a journey on the flowing waters of a river, in some way a remniscence to my journeys to India in the Eighties.

Lotus Land from 2007

Very much inspiered by the sound of the electric sitar I created the concept for this album, my goal was to give the music as much space to breathe and to keep the instrumentation as minimalistic as possible. Another step further away from the days of keyboard racks and stacks of soundmodules.

Sanctuary from 2009

In 2005 I had started touring with a new concept of performing solo, the music reduced very much to its basics and discovered, that this worked pretty well. At some point my son Christian Strobl joined me on percussion and later Merike Hilmar on cello. I am enjoying to perform with this lineup very much and it influenced my way of writing music, so the music on Sanctuary is mostly written for piano, acoustic guitars, cello and percussion.

There is also a lot of Gandalf compilation albums. Which one would you recommend to those curious about your music ?

Most of the compilations that had been released over the years are not available anymore, except for „Between Earth and Sky“ by Real Music, a very good selection of my works in the Nineties.

How is the current availability of all your albums ?

These days most of the albums from the Eighties are not available anymore.

The catalog from the ninities has been re-released by BSC Music, the albums on the Real Music label are available worldwide, if not in record stores at least on download platforms.

How would you describe your musical developments from the debut album to last year's album ?

This question has already been answered if you read the discription of each album.

My musical developments went through many different stages and influences over all the years, and this is what keeps it going. Im always looking for new inspiration and, fortunately, did not run out of ideas. You never know where it is going to lead you next.

How would you describe your music and which album do you regard as your best album ?

Over the years it appeared as one of the most difficult things to describe my music.

There is such amultitude of elements that influenced and inspired my work and a variety of instruments I used.

In some way it is paintings of musical landscapes or sounds from the heart, in the USA they already called it „21st Century Classical Music“ back in the Eighties, I really don´t know.

The best expression I ever found to describe my music became the title of my new symphonic album „EARTHSONG AND STARDANCE“.

How is the creative processes from coming up with an idea to commiting it onto an album ?

This is hard to tell, you have a vision on your mind, initiated by some experience, often inspired by the beauty of nature or by encounters with other people, by travels to other places, countries, cultures etc.

In moments when I feel inspired I record improvisations on guitar, piano or other instrument and later work out the composition based on such spontaneous performances. At some point I have an idea for an album concept and select the pieces I want to use.

You have released a lot of albums and have done some gigs. What is your experiences with the music industry and the gigs promotors ?

All in all I made many positive experiences, there always was someone who supported me on my musical journey. I never paid much attention to what the music industry was expecting, just kept following my „inner magnetism“ and I am still there making exactly the music I feel to make. Nothing better could have happened to me.

You are releasing a new album in March this year. Please tell us more about what we can expect from this album.

2011 ist the year of my 30th Anniversary and so I had the idea to create a new symphonic composition that should reflect my musical experience through all those years. I started working on this prject two years ago.

It turned into a composition of about seventy minutes for orchestra, choir, guitars, piano and percussion. I did all the orchestration and stuff by myself and recorded the orchestral parts with musicians from the „Wiener Philhatmoniker“.

For the choir parts I used verses from the „Bhagavat Gita“ in original Sanskrit language. Altogether it was a really exciting experience and now that it is finshed, I think it propably is one of the best albums I have ever made. I am happy about the final result.

Besides of the new album; what is your other plans for this year and beyond ?

Parallel to the work on the new album I wrote a book anout my life-journey, based on my diaries from more than 30 years, it is going to be released at the same time as the album and has the same title „ERDENKLANG UND STERNENTANZ“ (Earthsong and Stardance“, currently only available in German).

After having been very much retired in ma studio fro the last two years I am planning to perform more often live in the near future.

Is music your main occupation in life or do you have a "normal" job too ?

I have been able to make my living from working as a musician and composer for almost 30 years now, which I consider as a great gift.

To wrap up this interview, is there anything you want to add to this interview ?

I want to thank all the people who help that this music can go on by supporting to spread it round this planet and all my fans who keep on purchasing records and attending my concerts.

Thank you to Heinz for this interview

His PA profile is here and his homepage is here