Gurdjieff / de Hartmann Concert

Tonight – a wet and misty evening – we went to hear a concert, “In Search of the Sacred” by the Ensemble Resonance.  The venue was a hall by Mary’s Well in Ein Kerem.  The audience was made up mostly of people who follow the mystical teachings of the Georgian philosopher G.I. Gurdjieff – it was the Gurdjieff groups in Israel that had brought the ensemble.  On an oboe and strings, they played for us Bach, Eric Satie and a piece “The Way to Jerusalem” by a modern composer Philippe Hersant.  In the second part they played the lovely, gentle music of Gurdjieff and de Hartmann, which I had heard before only on piano – I used to have an LP of this music by the jazz pianist Keith Jarrett.  It’s years since I was able to play it.  The music sounds quite different on these instruments.

We emerged from the concert into a fine drizzle, and dipped into a quiet cafe for late night hot chocolate and apple pie.