Tweet
The Birmingham News, AL
Sept 29 2012
Music of the cosmos: Film composer Laurence Rosenthal to play piano
music by Russian mystic Gurdjieff
By Michael Huebner -- The Birmingham News
If you have never heard of George Ivanovich Gurdjieff, you're not
alone. The mustachioed Russian-Armenian mystic, cosmologist and
composer has influenced artists, writers and thinkers from Frank Lloyd
Wright to Timothy Leary to Keith Jarrett, yet his sphere of followers
has always remained select.
The Red Mountain Study Group hasn't forgotten Gurdjieff's philosophy,
in which he contended that most people live in a state of hypnotic
waking sleep. Books such as `Meetings with Remarkable Men,' `The
Reality of Being,' and P.D. Ouspensky's `In Search of the Miraculous'
have been the group's focus since it formed in 1959.
But for many of Gurdjieff's followers, music is an integral part of
the teachings. So it is no surprise that RMSG is bringing pianist
Laurence Rosenthal, one of the most ardent proponents of Gurdjieff's
music, to Birmingham for a concert Sunday at the Birmingham Museum of
Art.
To film and theater buffs, Rosenthal is known as a composer. Credits
include movies such as `Inherit the Wind,' `A Raisin in the Sun, ' and
`The Miracle Worker.' He is a seven-time Emmy nominee and twice was
nominated for Academy Awards. To many Gurdjieff devotees, he is the
foremost expert on Gurdjieff's music.
Although Gurdjieff wasn't a trained musician, he produced upwards of
300 compositions, all transcribed by the Russian composer Thomas de
Hartmann.
`They were de Hartmann's arrangements,' said Rosenthal last week.
`Gurdjieff sang in a choir and played guitar and harmonium, but he was
an amateur. At the same time he had an extraordinary musical
imagination, sensitivity and creativity.'
But because of his technical shortfalls, Gurdjieff was unable to fully
express himself, so de Hartmann took over.
`It was a unique collaboration,' Rosenthal said. `Gurdjieff would
dictate to de Hartmann by singing or humming, whistling or playing.
Even though the music came from Gurdjieff, without de Hartmann we
wouldn't have anything."
So what does this `cosmic' music sound like? A brief informal survey
of YouTube may leave you scratching your head. Some Arabic modes, a
little Mussorgsky and some Russian chant may enter the mix.
`There were various influences,' said Rosenthal. `Gurdjieff was
brought up in a melting pot. His mother was Armenian. At the same
time, he sang in the church choir, suffused with the music of the
Russian Orthodox liturgy. He traveled in central Asia and Turkey, and
absorbed near Eastern melodic style. De Hartmann skillfully found a
way to incorporate it.'
By the time he met Gurdjieff in 1916, de Hartmann was already a
prominent composer. His ballet, `La Fleurette Rouge,' was premiered in
1906 at the Russian imperial courts in St. Petersburg and Moscow, with
Vaslav Nijinsky, Anna Pavlova and Michel Fokine dancing the principal
roles. He remained a student of Gurdjieff in Paris from 1917 to 1929.
Yet the musical soup that came from his collaboration with Gurdjieff
is hard to define.
`De Hartmann was so faithful to Gurdjieff's idiom that it's hard to
tell where one begins and the other ends,' said Rosenthal, who adapted
some of this music in the score for the 1979 Peter Brooks movie,
`Meetings With Remarkable Men.'
Rosenthal's program today will be divided into three categories -
folkloristic songs and dances from Armenians, Kurds and Turks, Dervish
songs and dances, and sacred hymns.
As for what of Gurdjieff's cosmology can be heard in this music
remains unclear, even for Rosenthal.
`There are cases in which he tried to represent an idea,' he said.
`For example, Gurdjieff taught that the universe operates on the basis
of three cosmic laws, so in a few pieces he tried to show Holy
Affirming, Holy Denying and Holy Reconciling. More often's it's
subtler, more interior. People are struck by what they consider the
simplicity of the music, even its banality. Some of it sounds like
it's from a Turkish bazaar. But once you past the surface it reveals
something deeper. You begin to sense his individuality.'
http://www.al.com/entertainment/index.ssf/2012/09/music_of_the_cosmos_film_compo.html
Sept 29 2012
Music of the cosmos: Film composer Laurence Rosenthal to play piano
music by Russian mystic Gurdjieff
By Michael Huebner -- The Birmingham News
If you have never heard of George Ivanovich Gurdjieff, you're not
alone. The mustachioed Russian-Armenian mystic, cosmologist and
composer has influenced artists, writers and thinkers from Frank Lloyd
Wright to Timothy Leary to Keith Jarrett, yet his sphere of followers
has always remained select.
The Red Mountain Study Group hasn't forgotten Gurdjieff's philosophy,
in which he contended that most people live in a state of hypnotic
waking sleep. Books such as `Meetings with Remarkable Men,' `The
Reality of Being,' and P.D. Ouspensky's `In Search of the Miraculous'
have been the group's focus since it formed in 1959.
But for many of Gurdjieff's followers, music is an integral part of
the teachings. So it is no surprise that RMSG is bringing pianist
Laurence Rosenthal, one of the most ardent proponents of Gurdjieff's
music, to Birmingham for a concert Sunday at the Birmingham Museum of
Art.
To film and theater buffs, Rosenthal is known as a composer. Credits
include movies such as `Inherit the Wind,' `A Raisin in the Sun, ' and
`The Miracle Worker.' He is a seven-time Emmy nominee and twice was
nominated for Academy Awards. To many Gurdjieff devotees, he is the
foremost expert on Gurdjieff's music.
Although Gurdjieff wasn't a trained musician, he produced upwards of
300 compositions, all transcribed by the Russian composer Thomas de
Hartmann.
`They were de Hartmann's arrangements,' said Rosenthal last week.
`Gurdjieff sang in a choir and played guitar and harmonium, but he was
an amateur. At the same time he had an extraordinary musical
imagination, sensitivity and creativity.'
But because of his technical shortfalls, Gurdjieff was unable to fully
express himself, so de Hartmann took over.
`It was a unique collaboration,' Rosenthal said. `Gurdjieff would
dictate to de Hartmann by singing or humming, whistling or playing.
Even though the music came from Gurdjieff, without de Hartmann we
wouldn't have anything."
So what does this `cosmic' music sound like? A brief informal survey
of YouTube may leave you scratching your head. Some Arabic modes, a
little Mussorgsky and some Russian chant may enter the mix.
`There were various influences,' said Rosenthal. `Gurdjieff was
brought up in a melting pot. His mother was Armenian. At the same
time, he sang in the church choir, suffused with the music of the
Russian Orthodox liturgy. He traveled in central Asia and Turkey, and
absorbed near Eastern melodic style. De Hartmann skillfully found a
way to incorporate it.'
By the time he met Gurdjieff in 1916, de Hartmann was already a
prominent composer. His ballet, `La Fleurette Rouge,' was premiered in
1906 at the Russian imperial courts in St. Petersburg and Moscow, with
Vaslav Nijinsky, Anna Pavlova and Michel Fokine dancing the principal
roles. He remained a student of Gurdjieff in Paris from 1917 to 1929.
Yet the musical soup that came from his collaboration with Gurdjieff
is hard to define.
`De Hartmann was so faithful to Gurdjieff's idiom that it's hard to
tell where one begins and the other ends,' said Rosenthal, who adapted
some of this music in the score for the 1979 Peter Brooks movie,
`Meetings With Remarkable Men.'
Rosenthal's program today will be divided into three categories -
folkloristic songs and dances from Armenians, Kurds and Turks, Dervish
songs and dances, and sacred hymns.
As for what of Gurdjieff's cosmology can be heard in this music
remains unclear, even for Rosenthal.
`There are cases in which he tried to represent an idea,' he said.
`For example, Gurdjieff taught that the universe operates on the basis
of three cosmic laws, so in a few pieces he tried to show Holy
Affirming, Holy Denying and Holy Reconciling. More often's it's
subtler, more interior. People are struck by what they consider the
simplicity of the music, even its banality. Some of it sounds like
it's from a Turkish bazaar. But once you past the surface it reveals
something deeper. You begin to sense his individuality.'
http://www.al.com/entertainment/index.ssf/2012/09/music_of_the_cosmos_film_compo.html