As a fundraiser for this project we are pre-selling the first 100 CD's of this production for $50 apiece. Buyers will get a personalized CD signed and dated by the artist, a DVD with footage from a concert tour by Elan in 2007, the recording session at Mechanics Hall as well as an interview with Elan.
US citiziens can pay by check or by PayPal. If you choose to pay by check please email the project manager at tdhp@sicroff.com for details. Once we receive the funds we will email a receipt to you.
International Buyer must pay by PayPal. PayPal buyers must print out their own receipts after the transaction is completed.
The CD is scheduled for release in late November of 2009. Shipping is included in the $50. We will ship the CD as soon as it becomes available.
Thomas de Hartmann (1885-1956) has had an unusual trajectory as a composer. A near contemporary of Scriabine, Prokofiev, and Rachmaninoff, he showed early promise, graduating from the St Petersburg Conservatory when he was 18. Trois Morceaux Pour Piano (1899) and Six Pieces Op. 7 (1902) show a romanticism reminiscent of Schumann, Chopin, and Mussorgsky. The Trois Preludes Op. 11 (1904) demonstrate a modernist trend, possibly influenced by Scriabine. In 1906 his ballet The Scarlet Flower was performed in front of the Czar, with Nijinsky in the cast. From 1908-12 de Hartmann went to Germany to study conducting with Felix Mottl, pupil of Wagner. Here he joined the avant-garde and met his lifelong friend, the artist Kandinsky. In 1912 he returned to St. Petersburg, where his career continued to flourish.
Then, in 1916, he met Gurdjieff. For the next 13 years he dedicated himself wholeheartedly to his inner work and assisting Gurdjieff in his task. Together they composed music for the Sacred Dance as well as 300 compositions embracing a multitude of cultures in Asia, the Middle East, and North Africa.
De Hartmann left Gurdjieff in 1929 and spent his remaining years composing in the classical idiom, this time with an eclectic mixture of Romanticism, Modernism, and Asian influences blended to express a musical message in a wide variety of forms. He composed for solo piano, chamber music, concerti, 4 symphonies, the opera Esther, and works for voice and ballet. During the 1940’s he composed 50 film scores, under a pseudonym.
De Hartmann paid a price for his involvement with Gurdjieff.. Outwardly he lost contact with the world of classical music. When he left Gurdjieff in 1929 he again made contact with a number of great musicians—Casals, Koussevitsky, Marcel Moyse, Alexander Schneider of the Budapest String Quartet—and he was able to perform his music in Paris with the help of these friends. But his career never again “took off.” He died of a heart attack days before he was to appear in New York’s Town Hall for a solo recital of his works.
Nevertheless, it is thanks to his work with Gurdjieff that he is likely to be recognized, eventually, as one of the great composers of the 20th century. More and more musicians are recording and performing the music he composed in collaboration with Gurdjieff.
A word about the collaboration between Gurdjieff and Thomas de Hartmann…Historically there have been a number of notable collaborations between composers, from Mozart and da Ponte to Gilbert and Sullivan to the Beatles. Gurdjieff remembered tunes and rhythms from his travels, and Thomas de Hartmann was able to harmonize and put them into Western notation. What is unusual and remarkable about their work however, is that they used the energy of a group to help fuel the process. Gurdjieff would start to play, an audience of the residents of the Prieure would appear, de Hartmann would come downstairs, and the process would take place. It was often agonizing, de Hartmann having to come to a tour de force in order to translate the Eastern melody into the Western notation, but amazingly there are almost no erasures or corrections on the original manuscripts. It is as if the two collaborators were able to channel the energy of the Group to assist their work.
Elan Sicroff trained as a classical pianist at the Juilliard School and the Oberlin Conservatory. From 1973-5 he attended the International Academy for Continuous Education in Sherborne, Gloucestershire, England, as a student and later as music director. The program was run by J. G. Bennett, a leading exponent of Gurdjieff’s teaching. Mr. Bennett introduced Elan to Mme. De Hartmann, wife of the composer. From 1975 until 1979 Elan studied with her and performed de Hartmann’s works. In 1982 he made a tour of the U.S., including performances in Chicago, Los Angeles, New York and Boston. Since then he has given numerous recitals of this music at concert halls and Universities in the U.S., Canada, and Europe.
After Journeys to Inaccessible Places (1985), and Sicroff Plays Gurdjieff (2002) Elan is now embarking on a project to record a 3rd CD. The new CD will include a number of his classical works along with the sacred music from the East in collaboration with Gurdjieff.
A number of soon-to-be favorites await, including No. 39 and Greek Melody from Asian Songs and Rhythms; As If the Stormy Years Had Passed and The Resurrection of Christ, from Hymns, Prayers and Rituals; selections from The Struggle of the Magicians (from the ballet scenario which Gurdjieff worked on in the 1920’s); and various Chants and Dances of the Sayyids and Dervishes which he has not previously recorded.
In addition, Elan has recorded 3 very early works: Prelude, Nocturne, and Impromptu from the Six Pieces, Op. 7; and the 2 Nocturnes, Op. 84 (1953). Unlike other CD's with de Hartmann's music this CD will feature the early and the late de Hartmann as well as the more known 'Gurdjieff' years.
The exact title and contents of the new CD will be determined after the recording and mastering has been completed.
This project is the beginning of an attempt to honour Mme. de Hartmann's request to Elan to make her husband's music more known. The sales of the CD's alone will not entirely cover the cost of this endeauvour. We need to raise about $5000.- to ensure exellent recording and production conditions. You can help to propel this and future projects along by making a contribution in any amount via PayPal.
We are not a nonprofit organization and this contribution is not tax deductable. However it is in the spirit of the project that it is carried by many. Be part of the cause and help spreading the music of de Hartmann by making a finacial donation.
Direct questions about the project to Stefan Maier