Chants, Hymns and Dances

A fascinating new project by German cellist Anja Lechner and Greek pianist Vassilis Tsabropoulos, “Chants, Hymns and Dances”, could be subtitled “Music from the Crossroads of the World”. It is a project that blurs the dividing lines between East and West, between composition and arrangement and improvisation, and between contemporary and traditional music. At the centre of the repertoire are compositions by Tsabropoulos, which take as their inspirational starting point ancient Byzantine hymns, and music by the Armenian-born philosopher-composer Georges Ivanovitch Gurdjieff (c.1877-1949) which draws upon melodies and rhythms, both sacred and secular, of the Caucasus, the Middle East and Central Asia.