Gurdjieff / De Hartmann: Complete Music for the Piano

Featuring

Jeroen van Veen
Georges Gurdjieff

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Composer's Artistic Vision

Georges Ivanovitch Gurdjieff, a spiritual teacher, believed that the music of different cultures preserved and revealed essential characteristics and deeper meanings rooted in their traditions.

Composer Biography

Georges Ivanovitch Gurdjieff, born of Greek-Armenian parentage, was fascinated by the musical abilities of ashokhs (traveling bards) and was a devoted chorister in the Kars military cathedral choir.

Composer Biography

Thomas de Hartmann, a Russian-German aristocrat, began improvising music at age four and studied harmony and composition with Russian composer Anton Arensky for ten years.

Compositional Technique

The music of Gurdjieff and de Hartmann often features a drone of the tonic or an added fifth, and complex rhythmic interactions between melody and accompaniment.

Performer Biography

Jeroen van Veen, the pianist on this album, was awarded the NPO Radio 4 2016 Award for his efforts in promoting classical music, particularly through his 'lay-down' concerts.

Composition History

Gurdjieff and de Hartmann began composing the piano music on this album after Gurdjieff's serious car accident in mid-1924, which led him to temporarily disband his Institute and stop work on Movements.

Recording & Production

This album is a 6-album set containing all 170 published piano compositions by Gurdjieff and de Hartmann, recorded by Jeroen van Veen during the Covid-19 lockdown.