Music / Audio Books

Compiled and produced by Gert Jan Blom, creator of the acclaimed Harmonic Development: The Complete Harmonium Recordings 1948–1949, the Oriental Suite is comprised of a 256-page hardcover book bundled with four newly recorded CDs. The CDs contain both the Paris orchestrations and the American versions of the eight public demonstrations of the Sacred Gymnastics and Movements at the Théâtre des Champs Elysées in Paris between December 13 and 25, 1923. The music, composed by Mr. Gurdjieff to accompany these dances, was orchestrated by Thomas de Hartmann and performed by an orchestra of 35 musicians. In January 1924 Gurdjieff and his students gave a series of public demonstrations in New York, Boston and Chicago. At Gurdjieff's request, de Hartmann adapted the full orchestral scores for a smaller ensemble in America. Both the Paris orchestrations and the American versions have been recorded for the first time by the Metropole Orchestra and the Little Orchestra. An addenda section features music intended for Gurdjieff's unfinished ballet The Struggle of the Magicians. The book is illustrated with many new photos and unique historical documents, as well as the recollections of people who were present for the demonstrations. Also included is the extensive press coverage generated during these public appearances. Among the recollections are those of P.D. Ouspensky, Olga de Hartmann, Anna Butkovsky-Hewitt, Tcheslaw Tchekhovitch, Jessmin Howarth, Denis Saurat and J.G. Bennett.

So impressed was Margaret Flinsch when at seventeen years old she first heard a reading of Mr. Gurdjieff's book that she went to the Prieuré to see him and has been a student of the Work ever since. Completed in her 101st year, she made the recording because of her belief that "listening is the path to the subconscious mind." This set of four CDs in MP3 format contains the whole of Gurdjieff's magnum opus. The CDs can be played on a computer or other device equipped to handle the MP3 format. They cannot be played on an ordinary audio CD player.

Dr. William Welch was a longtime student of Gurdjieff and a noted Fourth Way teacher. This project, the first of its kind, was begun in 1992 and lasted three years, two years before his death. This set of four CDs in MP3 format contains the whole of Gurdjieff's magnum opus. The CDs can be played on a computer or other device equipped to handle the MP3 format. They cannot be played on an ordinary audio CD player.

The voices of seven speakers, four of whom were present at readings attended by Mr. Gurdjieff, pronounce each of the unusual words appearing in the First Series. Of the three remaining speakers, one spoke both Armenian and Persian as a child; another is fluent in English and Slovenian; and a third speaks only English. The CD-ROM plays on either a PC or MAC.

The extensive collection of music of G.I. Gurdjieff and Thomas de Hartmann was recorded from tapes of de Hartmann's playing thirty years ago and represents the definitive rendition of an extraordinary collaboration. Includes a talk by de Hartmann about Gurdjieff's view of the music.

As read by Dr. William J. Welch. MP3 Format.

The ensemble, founded and directed by Levon Eskenian, brings together Armenia's leading folk instrumentalists to perform 17 pieces of ethnographically authentic arrangements of Gurdjieff's music for Eastern instruments

The Sacred Hymns on this volume are of an obvious spiritual character. Most of these pieces in their noble but simple and unadorned way evoke, through their harmony and melody, the very beautiful Greek and Russian Orthodox chants that Gurdjieff had heard throughout his childhood. Other pieces on this volume are inspired more directly by the fundamental ideas of an old traditional science, "Knowledge," to which Gurdjieff adhered. There are 16 pieces on this volume.

Twenty-one pieces of Gurdjieff/de Hartmann music transcribed for two guitars and performed by two German guitarists, Gudrun Kainz and Gerald Klawatsch.

Noted pianist and composer Laurence Rosenthal offers his interpretation of 24 Gurdjieff/de Hartmann pieces which explore a range of feeling and levels of intent. Nearly 73 minutes of music move from grave ceremonial music to the light-hearted evocations of dances and folk songs of the many peoples Gurdjieff met in his search.

Rosenthal continues his exploration of the Gurdjieff/de Hartmann music in 25 pieces for piano.

 

Nearly all the pieces in this album are short, sometimes lasting only a minute, often with only one theme, as if trying to illuminate a certain idea or evoke a particular feeling. In certain instances the repetition of an entire piece is necessary for its essence to be fully conveyed. Each composition is, in a way, a moment musical, a kind of "travel sketch," but with an implication of deeper feeling beneath the surface, waiting to be discovered.

The intention of the composers was clearly to evoke the spirit of the Sayyids and Dervishes, rather than to transcribe their music. As in all of the Gurdjieff/de Hartmann works, one finds here their unique blend of Eastern and Western musical idioms.

In considering the complete musical works of Gurdjieff/de Hartmann, we find in this volume undoubtedly the most profound reflection of Gurdjieff the Master. Although quite varied in form and somewhat in style, these pieces all share the unmistakable mark of the depth of his inner feeling and sensitivity.

A major part of the musical oeuvre of Gurdjieff and de Hartmann—and from a certain point of view perhaps the most important—is comprised of the sacred hymns. It is in these works that one finds, remarkably, the most inward and, at the same time, the most nearly objective expression in all of this body of music.