Armenia, spiritualism and up-state splits: the mystic piano music of Willem Nyland

· June 2, 2025

Far Out Magazine

New York City does not lend itself naturally to the world of mind-expanding spiritualism; you’d probably be better off searching for a vast forest or desert plain, rather than a densely populated concrete jungle full of rats and corrupt bankers. Nevertheless, the East Coast city has played host to a wealth of inventive, eclectic, and endlessly spiritual artists over the decades. One of the most enigmatic figures ever to grace the pavements of NYC was the scientist and composer Willem Nyland, who played the piano with an unparalleled level of improvisational skill and spiritualism.

Born in Holland in 1890, Nyland relocated to New York during his 30s, giving himself a front-row seat for the emergence of the roaring twenties, typified by the inventive sounds of jazz. It was, however, a meeting with the Armenian spiritual leader Georges Ivanovitch Gurdjieff that provided Nyland with his way into the musical world. Gurdjieff believed that humans are not conscious of themselves; instead, life is a ‘walking sleep’ (as he called it), which prevents people from achieving a higher state of consciousness.

Music was an essential aspect of Gurdjieff’s teachings, particularly during his later years living in post-war Paris. The spiritual leader would often entertain audiences with vast, improvised compositions on the reed organ, which allegedly set them on a path to that ever-elusive higher state of consciousness. After Gurdjieff met with Nyland in New York during the 1920s, the Dutch scientist began collaborating with the Armenian enigma, becoming a trustee of the Gurdjieff Foundation, where he remained until the early 1960s.

Following Gurdjieff’s death in 1949, resulting from a battle with cancer, Nyland continued the leader’s spiritual and musical legacy. Beginning in the late 1950s, the scientist and scholar began performing his own improvisational compositions in upstate New York, using a specially-tuned baby grand piano. Nyland would often perform captivating experimental works for hours on end, for small audiences of his students, other disciples of Gurdjieff, and spiritual followers.

These performances were meticulously recorded and perserved, with the first works, titled Piano Studies 95, published in 1957 via Nylan’ds own independent record label,Gage Hill Press. Between 1957 and 1966, Gage Hill released 16 recordings of Nyland’s performances, chronicling the profound and unparalleled experimentalism of the professor.

Complete with beautiful cover artwork and increasingly intricate compositions, these releases found a dedicated cult following, coveted both by followers of Nyland’s spiritual teachings and by followers of experimental outsider music. After all, the recordings contain a wealth of ideas and information pertaining to Nyland’s take on the spiritual world and how to achieve a higher state of consciousness. Even with that side of the proceedings removed, though, the albums capture a masterful narrative, with the pianist changing and adapting the atmosphere of the recording on a knife-edge.

Nyland eventually passed away in 1975, but his Piano Studies records continued to amass a cult audience. Although only 16 of Nyland’s extensive recordings were released during his lifetime, the records have become increasingly difficult to find. Thankfully, the dedicated following of Nyland’s work has led certain individuals to devote swathes of time and effort to resurfacing some of the composer’s finest works.

Independent label Mississippi Records, for instance, has recently worked alongside Nyland’s family estate to arrange for a high-quality re-release of Piano Studies 337, which was originally debuted in 1962. Remastered from the original recording tapes and pressed on heavyweight, high-quality vinyl, this re-release will surely expose the profound spiritualism of Willem Nyland to entirely new audiences, decades after his death.