Born 1926 in Detroit, Michigan
Author/Artist: Laurence Rosenthal
ISBN: B000024ZQL
Publisher: Wergo - #6284
Performers: Linda Daniel-Spitz, Charles Ketcham, et al.
Composers: Gurdjieff/de Hartmann
Double CD
Disc: 1
1. First Series: No.1: Greek Melody
2. First Series: No.2: Greek Round Dance
3. First Series: No.3: Greek Song
4. First Series: No.4: Kurd Melody (Moderato Con Moto)
5. First Series: No.5: Oriental Song (Allegro Con Brio)
6. First Series: No.6: Persian Song (Allegretto)
7. First Series: No.7: Atarnakh, Kurd Song
8. First Series: No.8: Tibetan Melody (Giocoso)
9. First Series: No.9: (Untitled) (Marche Alerte)
10. First Series: No.10: (Untitled) (Lento, Quasi Recitativo)
11. First Series: No.11: (Untitled) (Andante Con Moto)
12. First Series: No.12: (Untitled)
13. First Series: No.13: Duduki (Andantino)
14. First Series: No.14: Untitled
15. First Series: No.15: Armenian Melody (Allegretto Grazioso)
16. First Series: No.16: Song Of the Molokans (Con Moto)
17. First Series: No.17: Kurd Shepard Melody (Alla Breve, Lento E Liberamente)
18. Second Series: No.18: Song Of The Aisors (Andante Con Moto)
19. Second Series: No.19: Kurd Sheperd's Dance (Allegro Ma Non Troppo)
20. Second Series: No.20: Song Of The Fisherwomen (Andantino)
21. Second Series: No.21: Allegretto (Allegretto Commodo)
22. Second Series: No.22: (Untitled)
23. Second Series: No.23: Mamasha
24. Second Series: No.24: Persian Dance
25. Second Series: No.25: Song Of Ancient Rome
26. Second Series: No.26: (Untitled)
Disc: 2
1. Second Series: No.27: Armenian Song (Andantino)
2. Second Series: No.28: (Untitled) (Poco Marciale)
3. Second Series: No.29: Ancient Greek Melody (Poco Marciale. Con Anima)
4. Second Series: No.30: Long Ago In Mikhailov (Andantino)
5. Second Series: No.31: Oriental Melody (Allegro Assai)
6. Second Series: No.32: Assyrian Women Mourners (Andante Funebre)
7. Third Series: No.33: Kurd Melody From Isfahan
8. Third Series: No.34: Hindu Melody (Allegro Ma Non Troppo)
9. Third Series: No.35: (Untitled)
10. Third Series: No.36: Armenian Song
11. Third Series: No.37: Greek Melody
12. Third Series: No.38: Afghan Melody
13. Third Series: No.39: (Untitled) (Moderato)
14. Third Series: No.40: (Untitled)
15. Third Series: No.41: Kurd Melody (Allegretto)
16. Third Series: No.42: Ancient Greek Melody
17. Third Series: No.43: Ancient Greek Dance
18. Third Series: No.44: Greek Song
19. Third Series: No.45: Arabian Dance
20. Third Series: No.46: Greek Melody (Marciale)
21. Third Series: No.47: (Untitled)
22. Third Series: No.48: Tibetan 'Masques', No.1 (Moderato Pesante)
23. Third Series: No.49: Tibetan 'Masques', No.2 (Vivace Con Brio)
Amazon.com
Skeptics might regard George Ivanovich Gurdjieff as a dilettante: interested in spirituality and the arts but only as they regarded his own following. But the piano works he composed with Thomas de Hartmann in the mid-1920s reveal tremendous depth. Born in the Caucasus and travelling into Asia throughout his life, Gurdjieff absorbed enough Asian musical and dance traditions to give these 49 piano miniatures--the sibling of another two-CD set, Music of the Sayyids and Dervishes--convincing depth. De Hartmann, who departed from Gurdjieff's circle in 1929--two years after these works were formulated--likely added the low-end harmonics and carefully dusky textures. But Gurdjieff is likely responsible for the rhythmic moodiness of these pieces. Given that they were pedagogic, in a very loose sense, they seem elementary at times. But they're always colored by a fine concatenation of modernist elements and seemingly indigenous Asian and Mediterranean elements.
--Andrew Bartlett --
