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Gurdjieff/de Hartmann Piano Music

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Author Topic: Gurdjieff/de Hartmann Piano Music  (Read 217 times)
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guest128
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« on: August 24, 2015, 01:46:16 am »

Having had an enduring if intermittent interest in the Gurdjieff ideas over many years (though never part of "the Work") I've long been aware of the substantial body of piano music composed by de Hartmann associated therewith, - but never up to now (inexplicably) have I heard any of it.   

My recently acquired Wergo set of "Asian Songs and Rhythms" (I assume played by Charles Ketchum) has been quite a discovery I must say.  These are simple little vignettes (I think I could play them myself), but often with a haunting and visionary quality I find quite captivating.  It's the more contemplative pieces among them rather than the dancelike ones I feel most responsive to, but those I like I can still listen repeatedly to with no apparent diminution of the almost rapt-like state they evoke in me.

Anyone else here familiar with this music and have a similar enthusiasm for it as my own, - able perhaps to offer some discriminating judgments as to the various recordings available (this work and the rest), and in particular the remaining contents of the 8CD Wergo collection I'm likely to seek out?





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chill319
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« Reply #1 on: November 12, 2015, 02:13:52 am »

In The Three Pillars of Zen, Delancy Kapleau experiences a life altering experience while meditating to the deep breathing slow movement of Beethoven's opus 132. There's no simple cause and effect here, of course. The same movement is used as background music in scores of settings every day. That said, there's a reason she did not choose, say, Sessions' nervous, febrile Piano Sonata 2.

Depending on how you want to use the Gurdjieff/De Hartmann music, there are several types of performance available. The recordings of Anja Lechner and Vassilis Tsabropoulos are most enjoyable. Charles Ketcham and Laurence Rosenthal play the piano music beautifully. If one's in the fortunate state of having one's intellect quiet and heart open, the performance of Easter Music by Stafford Ordahl resonates in a very special way, and in the recordings by De Hartmann himself one can hear intimations of something uncommon yet deeply human from the other side of Huxley's doors of perception.

De Hartmann's own music is very different, but memorable. The pieces of the 30s and 40s are situated somewhere in the stylistic neighborhood of Shostakovich and Hindemith. The later music is headed somewhere else. For example Piano Sonata 2 comes out of the earlier style but focuses on giving the performer physical exercises to heighten attention, not unlike Gurdjieff's movements.
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