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Background

Elan Sicroff received his musical training at the Juilliard School with Jeaneane Dowis, at the Oberlin Conservatory with John Perry, and with the musician-critic Jeremy Siepmann in England.

In 1972 he met J.G. Bennett, a major exponent of Gurdjieff’s teaching, at the International Academy for Continuous Education in Sherborne, Gloucestershire, England. He participated as a student on a 10-month “Basic Course” dedicated to providing tools for inner work to last a lifetime; and then stayed on as staff in the capacity of Music Director for two more years.

Through Mr. Bennett, Elan was introduced to Olga de Hartmann, widow of the composer Thomas de Hartmann, who had composed a large body of sacred music from the East with Gurdjieff between 1915 and 1929. Mme. de Hartmann invited him to perform at McGill University in Montreal in 1975, and she guided his musical interpretation until her death in 1979. During this period she facilitated a number of Elan’s recitals of her husband’s music, both the sacred music written in collaboration with Gurdjieff, and that written in the modern idiom.

From 1977-83 Elan lived at Claymont Court in West Virginia, a Fourth Way community set up by J.G. Bennett shortly before his death in 1974. Here Elan taught music and continued to promote the musical work of de Hartmann and Gurdjieff. In 1982 he made a tour of the United States and the Dominican Republic.

Elan’s performances have included two recitals at Carnegie Recital Hall, numerous appearances at New York’s Open Center, London’s Wigmore Hall, the Longy School in Boston, and at many University campuses across the country.

In 1987 Elan released a record and CD of the Gurdjieff/de Hartmann music entitled Journey to Inaccessible Places, produced by Robert Fripp. In 1995 he recorded a second CD, Sicroff Plays Gurdjieff.

Reviews

• “…Seldom have I heard a more soothing sound than that produced by the talented fingers of Sicroff…” The Anchorage Times, May 1976
• “The brilliant keyboard facility that Sicroff displayed in his interpretation of the Second Sonata and Two Nocturnes captivated the audience.” The Santa Fe New Mexican
• “…a marvelous execution of the Sonata K.V. 310 of Mozart. In a beautiful interpretation, Sicroff went to the depths of the work. In the Chopin Nocturne in E minor, Sicroff excelled, highlighting the harmonic beauty and capturing the flavor of the piece magnificently…” Ouest-France, August 1975
• “Elan Sicroff played a fascinating recital of music by Beethoven and Thomas de Hartmann…Through similar depths in Beethoven’s A flat Sonata Opus 110, Sicroff made his way like an experienced pilgrim. His tone never grated, his technique never faltered, and his concentration never lapsed.” Daniel Cariaga, Los Angeles Times, May 1981
• “Try to catch one of Elan Sicroff’s recitals, which juxtapose Gurdjieff and de Hartmann with Beethoven and Mozart to striking effect.” Rafi Zabor, The Village Voice, 1980
• “We don’t know which composers, forgotten now, a future age will rehabilitate and enjoy. For the moment, I’d like to propose Thomas de Hartmann. He was a significant composer of our time who is virtually unknown and unperformed today. Sicroff has committed himself to getting de Hartmann’s music heard, and what comes through is a strong sense of a sustained attempt at self-knowledge and liberation.
  Oak Music Report

CD reviews

Journey to Inaccessible Places:
It is so nice to be able to hear a solo piano record that is unmistakably unique. Highly recommended.
Radio Monthly 1987

Sicroff Plays Gurdjieff:
The CD is marvelous. The comments that I read prompting me to buy your CD were correct. You bring a texture, depth, and understanding to the music lacking in other performances I have heard. The liner notes were also of great interest. Your performances reward conscious, centered listening.
John E. Campion, May 8, 2007

Elan Sicroff is a superb pianist; not only a virtuoso technician but also a great creative artist who is able, through sensitivity and intuition, to impart the spirit of the great mystic seeker [Gurdjieff] in a fresh and compelling way.
Tom Schnabel, Producer, Café LA/KCRW May 8, 2007

The CD is here, the music is good.
Niket, satisfied customer.

Radio Performance
Dear Mr. Horowitz, Thanks very much for your note—I’m delighted that you alerted me to Elan Sicroff, since I also thought the broadcast was very interesting indeed.
Robert Sherman, program director WQXR

Thomas de Hartmann

Fifty years after his death, Thomas de Hartmann is still relatively unknown to the general public. However, his name is familiar to followers of Gurdjieff, and as this group grows, so does his reputation.

De Hartmann was born in the Ukraine. His early instructors were Arensky and Tanaieff, the leading composition and counterpoint teachers of the day. At the age of eighteen, he received his degree from the St. Petersburg Conservatory. During the period of 1907-1913, he became known as a composer in Russia. His ballet, The Pink Flower, was performed in the presence of the Tsar, and his music for voice, piano, and chamber music were published by Jurgenson.

In 1915, de Hartmann met Gurdjieff, an extraordinary philosopher and teacher, who had a profound influence on the rest of his life. When the Russian Revolution broke out, he fled with Gurdjieff across the Caucasus, accompanied by his wife and twelve companions. During this time, he came in contact with the music of Armenia, Turkey, and the Middle East, and began his long collaboration with Gurdjieff, arranging this traditional and sacred music for the piano.

The relationship between Gurdjieff and de Hartmann is certainly one of the most unusual in musical history. During his travels throughout Asia, Gurdjieff had heard and remembered the music of the places he visited. Professionally untrained, he nevertheless had an excellent ear, and improvised on the harmonium as well as the harmonica.

When he established his Institute for the Harmonious Development of Man in Fontainebleau, outside of Paris in the 1920’s, he set to work with Thomas de Hartmann. In front of an audience he would hum or whistle a tune and tap out a rhythm. De Hartmann would attempt to transcribe this into Western notation, adding his own harmonies. The results were astonishing: over 300 compositions were produced, covering a wide range of cultures and styles, from folk music, to Dervish, Tibetan, Greek Orthodox and more. Nothing that de Hartmann wrote before or after this period sounds like it.

De Hartmann left Gurdjieff in 1929, and moved to Garches, where he concentrated on his work as a composer. His symphonies, concerti, and chamber pieces were played in Paris and other European cities. During this period he also composed music for over 50 films, under a pseudonym. In 1950 he moved to the United States, where he lived until his death in 1956.

The Music (notes from the CD, Sicroff Plays Gurdjieff)

I first came across this music while attending a “Basic Course” run by J.G. Bennett at Sherborne, Gloucestershire, England in 1972. Bennett, one of the most important exponents of Gurdjieff”s teaching, was directing a series of 10-month courses designed to give students an intensive training in the discipline of inner work he had studied over a period of 50 years. While the main influence was from Gurdjieff, Bennett had delved into other paths, which he included in the training. Influences included the Shivapuri Baba in Nepal, who taught Right Life, and Hasan Shushud, a Sufi master from Turkey, who practiced fasting, repetition and breath control. At the same time, we were taught color meditation and color healing by a visiting Cambodian Buddhist monk, the Venerable Dharmawara Mahathera (known as “Bhante”).

I had arrived at Sherborne as a classically trained pianist, playing the music of Mozart and Beethoven. Bennett had a strong leaning towards Beethoven, who in his opinion, had “really seen something,” and he worked with me on several of the last piano sonatas. During this period, I heard the music composed by Thomas de Hartmann and Gurdjieff, primarily the music for the Sacred Dances, or Movements. It failed to make a big impression on me, as I was interested in the complexity of Western classical music, and this music seemed, if anything, a bit simplistic.

At some point I was introduced to the large body of music written not specifically for Movements. The Songs and Rhythms of Asia seemed to be the most accessible, but as I began to study them I noticed an interesting phenomenon—although they seemed to be very simple, they proved to be very elusive. I remember that the first piece that I felt comfortable with was the Song of the Fisherwomen, followed by the Kurdish Shepherd's Dance, but for the rest it was a slow process of assimilation. The music was literally in a foreign language, with its own phrasing and timing. The Sacred Hymns were on a different level than the Songs and Rhythms of Asia. At one point Bennett appeared while I was practicing Prayer and Despair and commented enigmatically that classical pianists have a problem playing this music!

Gradually I began to find a few touchstones in the various collections: one or two of the Hymns from a Great Temple began to make sense. I suddenly understood that the continuously repeated bass note in No. 10 Sayyids has something to do with being aware of one’s heartbeat, while the melody goes on in the upper register, and I later realized that this is a skill which a follower of the Fourth Way must learn to put into practice during life activity: that is, to be aware of oneself while engaged in outer activities.

From the beginning it was clear that the effect of this music depends on one’s inner state. The seeming simplicity demands a high quality of attention to producing each sound, as well as an openness to receive the effect of each sound played. Of course, the same can be said about any music, and it is not my intention to belittle other musical genres, especially since I still love the classical literature myself. But in trying to put into words the particular aim of this music, it may be necessary to say something about the puzzle which Gurdjieff left us when he used the term “objective music” (discussed in the chapter of Beelzebub’s Tales to his Grandson entitled “The Bokharian Dervish”).

The point is, that this music often deals explicitly with certain states. Prayer of Gratitude and Prayer and Despair demand something unusual from the performer: how to get in contact with the states asked for in an essential, non-sentimental way. When playing this music therefore, a very high demand is made on the player as well as on the listener.

A special note about two pieces on this album.. The Greek letters Prayer is of unknown origin, and cannot be ascribed to de Hartmann/Gurdjieff. I have included it, however, because it has been a perennial favorite among listeners of the Gurdjieff/de Hartmann music. Whoever did write it was certainly onto something!

The Mazurka from Trois Morceaux Opus 4 was written by Thomas de Hartmann, probably when he was in his late teens or early twenties, before he met Gurdjieff in St. Petersburg. It is included to give an idea of where the composer “was coming from.” Thomas de Hartmann left a large body of classical music, covering a wide variety of styles, from the salon to twelve tone fugues. This music is a true gold mine waiting to be discovered.

Stay tuned!