Chants, Hymns and Dances

Composer-mystic G. I. Gurdjieff (c.1877–1949) was introduced to a new audience via ECM when Keith Jarrett cut an album of his music in 1980. For this recording, made 23 years later, pianist Vassilis Tsabropoulos and cellist Anja Lechner reorient Gurdjieff among original pieces around Byzantine themes. The marriages of chord progressions and melodies are as powerful as they are simple, taking us back to the fundaments of harmony and spirit. It’s easy to get lost here, filling in the space with scenes of your imagining. Come as you are, and leave as you were not.