| Review by sacd-fan December 23, 2012 (3 of 3 found this review helpful)
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After having heared the Jukkaslatar SACD by Gunnar Idenstam, I wanted to have more of his sounds and found the Latar SACD.
This project had been done by Gunnar before the Jukkaslatar recordings and with another label (Caprice instead of BIS), but it is really amazing to hear the „Gunnar organ sound“ again in a almost identical way, even if the programme of the music is very different to „Jukkaslatar“. It contains „only“ duets between Gunnar at the organ and Johan Hedin on nyckelhapa. (By the way: this should be corrected in the SACD profile above! It is written in the other way round!)
What is the „Gunnar sound“?:
Talking about organ stops, Gunnar choses warm and colorful stops for his music. He carefully selects the colors and generates a sound which is far from the "everyday organ sound". The most interesting choices are mostly the minimalistc ones.
Also the nyckelharpa is able to bring up a great variety of moods. In contrast with the warm sound of the organ it brings in a beautiful "sharpness".
You can hardly believe which possibilities lay in the combination of those two instruments, but every tune on the disc does not only have its own melody, but also a really own character - Just try the disc and you know what I mean!
And do not forget to turn up the volume when listening to "Polska efter Bellmann". The knocking neighbours are worth it :-)
The category of music should be "Folk", because "Classical" does not really match too well.
This seems to be also typical for Gunnar: He can not be categorised, which is very good!
Talking about the recording quality, I must say, that I have not yet found a disc recorded more intimate. It sounds very direct, yet spacious. Great compliments to the recording engineer!
There really is the illusion of a private concert in the living room.
Unfortunately detailled info about the organ itself are missing in the booklet.
For "newcomers" to the nyckelharpa I would have liked to see the instrument in the booklet too.
Sometimes the sound really disappears if you only listen to the conventional CD music. That is the strenght of the SACD 5.1CH recording with its greater resolution. If any of your friends have doubts about the sonic difference from CD to SACD, this is a disc to show it.
According to the www, there is a second disc called "Latar II" featuring the same musicians with a similar programme. But this is only available on conventional CD - what a shame!
If you like modern Folk arrangements, this is a perfect disc to try. Same If you are located in the traditional organ music.
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