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Newsletter 3/2002

A new CD with Gurdjieff - de Hartmann piano music: 'The Voyage Within' by Ugo Bonessi

The old sailor in Joseph Conrad's novel 'The Nigger of the Narcissus', perhaps one of his most touching protagonists, asked those near to him to be buried in the sea, because 'the sea knows no tyrants'. However out of place this phrase might seem as an introduction to a review of Ugo Bonessi's first CD, dedicated to the piano music of Gurdjieff and De Hartmann, it may serve as a compass for our 'Voyage Within', as Ugo chose to qualify the music on his CD.

In one way, Joseph Conrad's phrase reminds us that since times immemorial, the waters of the sea symbolise the endless spiritual realm where the soul can reside untouched by the injustice of earthly conditions. On the other hand, the 'tyrants' can be interpreted as the fanaticism of the mind and the obsession to possess, both incompatible with the spiritual realm, as well as with the art of guiding our voyage towards it. In other words, Ugo's qualification of the music and hearing how he performs it, both convince me of the importance of leaving the known and its conditioning behind on our voyage.

Ugo's playing radiates lightness, by his delicate touch, and harmony, by the well-balanced equilibrium between left and right hand. These musical qualities allow the listener the freedom to form his or her own impression of the music on the CD, which, again, offers a well-balanced selection of both oriental songs and rhythms and the hymns.

Ugo's long involvement in this music should not go unmentioned, nor his long practice as accompanist for the Movement classes in Rome.

Most typical of his serious approach, he absorbed Gurdjieff's and De Hartmann's music for many, many years, before attempting this first CD. In my opinion, his attempt is most successful and I especially recommend his fine representations of the selections taken from the two Schott albums.

In a time where many of the 'known' names in this musical area seem to be in a hurry to release 'definitive' or 'conclusive' collections, Ugo's playing in fact reminds us that the voyage has only just started.


Wim van Dullemen

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Curriculum Vitae

Ugo Bonessi was born in Rome in 1961. He took his degree in piano with Maestro Fausto di Cesare.
He also attended the DAMS of the University of Bologna.
He has been present on the Rome music scene for many years, not only on the concert stage, where he has performed as a soloist, in duo piano performances, with orchestra, and in duos for piano and voice, but also as a musicologist, teacher, and organiser of concerts.
He has organised and performed in several festivals of Russian music, sponsored by the Soviet Embassy, as well as in festivals dedicated to Scriabin and Satie.
As a musicologist, he has contributed to the Treccani Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana, and has published numerous articles and held conferences on Western, classical, Arabic and Indian music.
He has also been active as a teacher of music in the Italian public school system and, for several years, was director of a polyphonic chorus.
A frequent traveller to India, he has studied the classical singing traditions of khyal and dhrupad.
He has also studied harmonic voice techniques with David Hykes.
He has been interested in Gurdjieff's music since 1987. He also accompanied and participated in movements classes since 1989.
In 1996, he published a memoir with Rizzoli, 'Mi abbandono al Flusso della vita', written in collaboration with Alessandro Cannavo, currently a journalist for the Corriere della Sera.




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