The performers, Fabio Mittino and Bert Lams, chose to record this album using archtop guitars, which were pioneered around 1890 by luthier Orville Gibson by adapting violin construction techniques.
Compositional Technique
Gurdjieff introduced Eastern music to de Hartmann, who found it challenging to transcribe the complex melodies into European notation, especially as Gurdjieff would often vary them.
Album & Artwork
This album, "A Life in Music," features 25 compositions by Thomas de Hartmann, arranged for guitar and presented chronologically to show his artistic evolution.
Composition History
From 1916 to 1929, Thomas de Hartmann served as composer-in-residence and accompanist for Georges Ivanovitch Gurdjieff, a spiritual teacher, and was deeply influenced by his teachings.
Composer's Artistic Vision
De Hartmann believed that in all arts, especially music, any means arising from an inner necessity is right, and this correspondence is the essence of beauty.
Composer Biography
Thomas de Hartmann, born in Ukraine in 1884 to a Russian aristocratic family, studied composition with Anton Arensky at age 11.
Composition History
De Hartmann's first opera, "La Fleurette Rouge," was performed for Tsar Nikolay II, who was so impressed he granted de Hartmann permission to study abroad with Felix Mottl, a pupil of Wagner.
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