 Des œuvres conjuguées de Gurdjieff et d'Hartmann, j'en étais resté pour ma part aux disques déjà anciens d'Alaim Kremski (Valois) et de Keith Jarrett (ECM). Lecture toute intérieure, lancinante et méditative, parfois austère. Le pianiste néerlandais Jeroen Van Veen, champion de la musique minimaliste à laquelle il a consacré une somme remarquable (Brillant Classics), prolonge de façon logique son répertoire de prédilection en puisant dans les sources, faisant ainsi le Gurdjieff et d'Hartmann des pionniers du minimalisme non sans évoquer dans sa présentation Bartok et Martinu pour les composantes folkloriques et populaires. S'inspirant du folklore oriental dans toute sa diversité (Perse, Turquie, Grèce, Arabe, Afghanistan, Kurdistan, Tibétain), ces quelques séries de mélodies que les créateurs qualifient d'hymnes ou de rituels composées dans les années 20 constituent un corpus à la fois documentaire et imaginaire dans la lignée des œuvres similaires de Bartok. Il faut une oreille affûtée pour distinguer chaque région à travers ces rythmiques complexes et ces subtiles variations harmoniques et la succession de ces pièces brèves et concentrées entraînent assez rapidement une forme d'écoute flottante propice à la méditation. Fort de son expérience dans ce type de répertoire, l'approche de Jeroen van Veen se situe entre l'exploration jazzy qu'en faisait Jarrett (qui lui n'avait choisi qu'une sélection) et la contention janséniste de Kremski. L'ensemble des quatre volumes vaut également pour son exhaustivité. (Jérôme Angouillant) The most complete single collection of the Eastern-inflected hymns, songs and dances for piano composed jointly by a pair of mystic ‘seekers after truth’ and notable forerunners of the Minimalist school of composers. The Ukrainian composer Thomas De Hartmann (1885-1956) had undertaken a classic musical training with Anton Arensky and then Nikolai Taneyev before the death of his mother in 1912 prompted him to begin searching for a spiritual teacher. Four years later he made the encounter that would change his life, with the Armenian philosopher and mystic George Gurdjieff (1877-1949). Gurdjieff had his own musical training, as well as a sharp ear and retentive memory for the folk melodies which he heard on his long travels through central Asia and the middle East. De Hartmann and his wife joined Gurdjieff’s circle of followers, and the two men began to write music to accompany their spiritual exercises. This body of music eventually amounted to around 300 short pieces, of which the indefatigable Jeroen van Veen has recorded the entire published corpus of 170 divided into four volumes. During lockdown he found himself with the time to immerse himself in this music, which ranges across Asian, Arabic and European systems of rhythm, harmony and tuning, so that he could capture its perfumed mysticism and improvisational character. There are solemn hymns of an Orthodox nobility, atmospheric tone poems such as the ‘Night Procession’, freely pianistic transcriptions of melodies from early-Christian sects such as the Essenes, modal-pentatonic melodies to accompany a ‘Sacred Reading from the Koran’ and to aid an awakening of consciousness in an elevated state of awareness, and then pieces simply titled after their date of composition. While overall meditative in mood, there is a tremendous variety to the Gurdjieff/De Hartmann collection, and Jeroen van Veen’s new recording is an ideally comprehensive way to dive into its riches.
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