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Gunnar Idenstam

MARINATED SALMON​
A Swedish speciality for Christmas, Easter and Midsummer, here with a touch of Estonia​.
INGREDIENTS
  • ​Half a salmon filet (around 2.2lbs) cut in the middle, with skin on
  • Sugar: 100 millilitres
  • Salt: 50 millilitres
  • White pepper
  • a lot of dill
  • Earl Grey tea, the wet tea leaves after a few minutes in hot water
METHOD
  1. Mix salt, sugar pepper in a bowl and massage the mix into the salmon, both sides.
  2. Add the dill and the tea between the two pieces of salmon, thick part against thin part.
  3. Put in a plastic bag and close carefully.
  4. Place in the fridge with a small weight on top to make the mix go well into the fish.
  5. Leave it there for 2 days and 2 nights.
  6. Turn the whole package 4-5 times during that time.
  7. Then take it out and remove the tea leafs and dill.
Picture
GUNNAR IDENSTAMM (Photo: AnnaReet Gillblad)
Gunnar Idenstamm writes:
I still remember the feeling when I was 12, already playing the piano, when I, in the deep midwinter of the north of Sweden, heard on the radio a song played by Swedish folk fiddlers and rock group. I loved the melody, cool and beautiful, and the energy of the fiddles and the heavy rock beat. In the middle of the song, my father, who was a strictly religious man, turned off the radio. The text was very sensual, and for him it was pornographic. So there I sat. I wanted to play that kind of music too! But I continued to play classical music, on the organ and on the piano. 

My next memory is when I heard an LP recording with Mahavishnu Orchestra, the progressive rock/jazz group of the 70s. Such magic, such an energy, so cool!!!! So, instead of diving into it, I developed a distance love relationship with these kinds of music.

My next memory is from Paris when I was 18 and I heard Pierre Cochereau, and bought an LP with his improvisations. I was totally absorbed by his virtuosic, elegant, colourful and nave shaking music with such rich harmonies, and somewhere deep inside, I knew that one day I will build bridges between Folk, Rock and French Cathedral.
And now I have the privilege to do that, in my own music for solo organ for concert halls and cathedrals, as well as in different projects with folk musicians and Sami artists. 
Gunnar Idenstam, concert organist, composer and folk musician, is known throughout the world for his virtuosic playing, stunning improvisations and untraditional and original take on organ music. Gunnar aims to expand his audience's appreciation of the organ and to transcend the limitations of genre. He comes from a background of classical music, but have always had a "distant love relationship" with the folk and symphonic rock of the 1970s.

Today he has brought these influences into the context of organ music when he builds bridges between the 20:th century´s French cathedral tradition, symphonic rock and Swedish folk music.
To develop the wide-ranging music he creates and performs today he studied at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm and then studied the virtuouso French tradition in Paris, under Marie-Claire Alain and Jacques Taddei. He acheived the highest honours in both countries.

In 1984 he was the first - and to date, the only - musician from northern Europe to win the prestigious international competition in improvisation, the "Grand Prix de Chartres".
Since 1986 he pursues an international career with recitals at prominent venues worldwide.

​In 2012 he was awarded the "Interprete of the year" prize by the Royal Academy of Music in Stockholm. The Prize was presented to him by His Majesty King Carl XVI Gustav of Sweden. In June 2013 he received the Litteris et Artibus, a royal medal for recognition of eminent skills in the artistic field. Idenstam is a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Music since May 2013.
Gunnar Idenstamm's WEBSITE
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