G. I. Gurdjieff

Georges Ivanovich Gurdjieff January 13 1866? – October 29 1949 Was A Greek-Armenian Mystic And Self-Professed ‘teacher Of Dancing’. He Called His Discipline "The Work" Connoting "work On Oneself" According To Gurdjieff's Principles And Instructions Or Originally The "Fourth Way". At One Point He Described His Teaching As "esoteric Christianity". At Different Times In His Life Gurdjieff Formed And Closed Various Schools Around The World Which Followed His Teachings. He Claimed That The Teachings He Brought To The West From His Own Experiences And Early Travels Expressed The Truth Found In Ancient Religions And Wisdom Teachings Relating To Self-Awareness In People's Daily Lives And Humanity's Place In The Universe. One Could Express The Essence Of His Teachings In The Title Of His Third Series Of Writings Life Is Real Only Then When 'I Am' While His Complete Series Of Books Goes Under The Name "All And Everything". Gurdjieff Was Also A Composer. The Gurdjieff Music Divides Into Three Distinct Periods. The First Period Is The Early Music Including Music From The Ballet Struggle Of The Magicians And Music For Early Movements Dating To The Years Around 1918. The Second Period Music For Which Gurdjieff Arguably Became Best Known Written In Collaboration With Russian Composer Thomas De Hartmann Is Described As The Gurdjieff-De Hartmann Music. Dating To The Mid 1920s It Offers A Rich Repertory With Roots In Caucasian And Central Asian Folk And Religious Music Russian Orthodox Liturgical Music And Other Sources. This Music Was Often First Heard And Even Composed In The Salon At The Prieure. Since The Publication Of Four Volumes Of This Piano Repertory By Schott Recently Completed There Has Been A Wealth Of New Recordings Including Orchestral Versions Of Music Prepared By Gurdjieff And De Hartmann For The Movements Demonstrations Of 1923-24. The Last Musical Period Is The Improvised Harmonium Music Which Often Followed The Dinners Gurdjieff Held In His Paris Apartment During The Occupation And Immediate Post-War Years To His Death In 1949. A Virtually Encyclopedic Recording Of Surviving Tapes Of Gurdjieff Improvising On The Harmonium Was Recently Published. In All Gurdjieff In Collaboration With De Hartmann Composed Some 200 Pieces. Recordings * G.I. Gurdjieff Sacred Hymns By Keith Jarrett ECM 1980 * Seekers Of The Truth The Complete Piano Music Of Georges I. Gurdjieff And Thomas De Hartmann Volume One By Cecil Lytle Celestial Harmonies 1992 * Reading Of A Sacred Book The Complete Piano Music Of Georges I. Gurdjieff And Thomas De Hartmann Volume Two By Cecil Lytle Celestial Harmonies 1992 * Words For A Hymn To The Sun The Complete Piano Music Of Georges I. Gurdjieff And Thomas De Hartmann Volume Three By Cecil Lytle Celestial Harmonies 1992 * Gurdjieff's Music For The Movements By Wim Van Dullemen Channel Classics 1999 * Thomas De Hartmann Music For Gurdjieff's '39 Series' By Wim Van Dullemen Channel Classics 2001 * Chants Hymns And Dances By Anja Lechner And Vassilis Tsabropoulos ECM 2004 * Melos By Anja Lechner Vassilis Tsabropoulos And U.T. Gandhi ECM 2008 read less