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George Ivanovitch Gurdjieff, Armenian-Greek 'spiritual' master, author of several books and writings, was born in Alexandropolis and died near Paris. He founded a movement that is currently active mainly in Europe and America, and he composed, with the help of a Russian musician, student of his, Thomas De Hartmann, a vast collection of music for piano inspired by the folklore and religious traditions of a wide geographical area ranging from Greece to Turkey, from Russia to the Arab and North-African countries, and to Central Asian countries as far as Tibet and India. What we hear are therefore 'EASTERN ECHOES' filtered through the sound of a western instrument, the piano, and by tonality, a musical language that was also born in the heart of Europe. Eastern music, unaware of harmonic structures - of vital importance in tonality - is based on rhythmic, melodic and timbre imagination. The piano, a percussive as well as expressive instrument, with great wealth of timbre and which is able to 'sing' is best suited to express its spirit and beauty. Thus, using a western instrument and musical language, Gurdjieff succeeds in what presumably was one of his main aims: bring and spread in the West the culture and knowledge of the East.
The CD contains a selection of compositions chosen in order to give an idea of the main currents investigated by Gurdjieff in the musical, ethnic, Sufi Muslim and Greek-Orthodox Christian fields. They were taken, respectively, from the collections published in the 'Gurdjieff-De Hartmann Schott Edition': Vol. I, 'Asian Songs and Rhythms' (from n.2 to n.17), Vol. II, 'Music of the Sayyids and Dervishes' (from n.18 to n.23) e Vol. III, 'Hymns, Prayers and Rituals' (nn. 1, 24, 25). The 'Prayer of gratitude' with which the work begins, is offered again (no. 26) at the end of this musical journey.
Audiophile recording made in August-September 2004 using valve microphones and pre-amplifiers, 96 kHz digital sampling rate. Like in the previous CD (CD-PPS002, J.S. Bach-Goldberg Variations), recording techniques were sought that could best reproduce the three-dimensional aspect of sound: while in the previous CD the spatiality of sound highlighted and appreciated the polyphony and structural-architectural aspect of Bach's music, in this work, for Gurdjieff's music, spatiality is an essential element to recreate especially the timbre variety and wealth of these compositions. Steinway Grand Piano - model S. 155
The Photograph on the cover, taken by Pier Paolo Strona observing the small waves generated by the movement of the anchor line of a boat in the harbour, conveys an atmosphere of contemplation and meditation in line with the sound of Gurdjieff and De Hartmann's music. The Geometries of the image are reminiscent of the dances, which Gurdjieff calls the 'Movements' a fundamental part of his teachings, where geometries, and particularly the circle figure, are essential elements.
Pier Paolo Strona is a civil engineer researcher in the field of numerical models of structures, photographer and author of books and calendars. He is a pianist, performing both in Italy and abroad, with a repertoire ranging from the most important classical composers to Ragtime, Latin American as well as Asian music.
Thanks of Pier Paolo Strona to Agostino Ronco, who first introduced him to Gurdjieff's world, and to Flora Sarzotti, master of ethnic, historic and meditative dancing, who introduced him to some of the compositions that were specifically related to the 'Movements' They contributed to developing a better awareness of the choices of interpretation with discussions, opinions, suggestions and advice.
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