by Robin Denselow
Georges Gurdjieff is
best known as a mystic and spiritual teacher, but he was also a musician who
composed by dictating to his pupil, the Russian pianist Thomas de Hartmann.
The great jazz pianist
Keith Jarrett helped revive international interest in Gurdjieff's work with his
Sacred Hymns album, in 1980, but this set presents his music in a very
different setting.
Gurdjieff was born inArmenia, and influenced by the
songs he heard on his travels through the Middle East and Central Asia. This
Ensemble, directed by Armenian musician Levon Eskenian, sets out to return
his music to its "ethnic inspirational sources".
Which means Eskenian
has chosen pieces that relate to folk songs or sacred songs that have their
roots in Armenia, or neighbouring regions, and that they are performed by
leading Armenian folk musicians. The result is a delicate, haunting and
atmospheric selection of instrumental pieces.
Played by a 14-piece
acoustic band, they range from drifting, mesmeric arrangements for the duduk
Armenian woodwind to subtle, sparse passages, or more sturdy dance pieces
played on the zither-like kanon, the oud or the santur dulcimer. An intriguing,
often gently exquisite set.
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