Willem Nyland - Piano Studies 337
PREORDER - shipping on or around July 11, 2025
(Note: If you order this record alongside other items, your whole package will ship together on July 11. If you want the rest of your package to ship sooner, please make two separate orders).
Sublime private-press piano improvisations channeled from another world by Willem Nyland. Remastered from the original tapes and reissued for the first time, with in-depth liner notes by Matt Marble of the American Museum of Paramusicology.
A Columbia-educated chemist by profession and a self-taught pianist by affinity, Willem Nyland (1890-1975) is known as a spiritual teacher in the tradition of Greek-Armenian mystic George Gurdjieff.
In the mid/late 1960s, a split with Gurdjieff led Nyland to start his own group in upstate New York. There, after a Friday night lecture on “The Work” and a shot of brandy, Nyland would launch into remarkable piano improvisations on a specially tuned baby grand, sometimes playing for over an hour. Each improvisation was meticulously recorded and cataloged, a major part of Nyland’s teachings. 16 of these recordings were released as standalone LPs on Nyland’s own Gauge Hill Press, with artwork by Hungarian American decorative artist Ilonka Karasz, Nyland’s wife of over 50 years.
These records, with their cascading, deeply emotional playing and beautiful cover art, have become highly coveted by collectors and “paramusicologists.” Each contains depths of spiritual information and lyrical, almost visual instrumental storytelling. Nyland deftly and subtly shifts moods and tones throughout these truly inspired extended improvisations.
Piano Studies 337 is a particularly tempestuous performance that Nyland himself recommended to Ansel Adams as a good starting place for his music. So we’ve teamed up with Psychic Sounds and Nyland’s family to bring #337 to the world. Remastered from the original tapes and pressed to high-quality vinyl at Smashed Plastic in Chicago, the record includes extensive liner notes and faithful reproduction of the original artwork. Hopefully the first of more to come!!!!
Credits for the original LP:
Technical: Recorded Friday, 21 July 1962, in New York City.
Mastered at: Dulcet Tone Corp.Long Island City,
New York 27 November 1962.
Artist: Willem A. Nyland, piano
Recording engineer: unknown
Lacquer engineer: David B. Hancock
Cover art: Ilonka Karasz
Reissue Credits:
Reissue production: Adam Calman, Cyrus Moussavi
Co-Production: Grant Corum (Psychic Sounds)
Mastering engineer: Andrew Weathers
Lacquer engineer: Adam Gonsalves
Liner Notes and Research: Matt Marble,
American Museum of Paramusicology
Photos: Nyland Group Archives
Liner Notes Design, Additional Research, Label Manager: Sam Wenc
Licensing and Additional Research: Adam Holofcener
Graphic Production and Typesetting: Dan Fried
Label Coordinator: Maria Barrios
Thank you: Mr. Nyland’s Family, William Clift, Ethel Hemsi, Jasper Parks, Jovi Vidal
PREORDER - shipping on or around July 11, 2025
(Note: If you order this record alongside other items, your whole package will ship together on July 11. If you want the rest of your package to ship sooner, please make two separate orders).
Sublime private-press piano improvisations channeled from another world by Willem Nyland. Remastered from the original tapes and reissued for the first time, with in-depth liner notes by Matt Marble of the American Museum of Paramusicology.
A Columbia-educated chemist by profession and a self-taught pianist by affinity, Willem Nyland (1890-1975) is known as a spiritual teacher in the tradition of Greek-Armenian mystic George Gurdjieff.
In the mid/late 1960s, a split with Gurdjieff led Nyland to start his own group in upstate New York. There, after a Friday night lecture on “The Work” and a shot of brandy, Nyland would launch into remarkable piano improvisations on a specially tuned baby grand, sometimes playing for over an hour. Each improvisation was meticulously recorded and cataloged, a major part of Nyland’s teachings. 16 of these recordings were released as standalone LPs on Nyland’s own Gauge Hill Press, with artwork by Hungarian American decorative artist Ilonka Karasz, Nyland’s wife of over 50 years.
These records, with their cascading, deeply emotional playing and beautiful cover art, have become highly coveted by collectors and “paramusicologists.” Each contains depths of spiritual information and lyrical, almost visual instrumental storytelling. Nyland deftly and subtly shifts moods and tones throughout these truly inspired extended improvisations.
Piano Studies 337 is a particularly tempestuous performance that Nyland himself recommended to Ansel Adams as a good starting place for his music. So we’ve teamed up with Psychic Sounds and Nyland’s family to bring #337 to the world. Remastered from the original tapes and pressed to high-quality vinyl at Smashed Plastic in Chicago, the record includes extensive liner notes and faithful reproduction of the original artwork. Hopefully the first of more to come!!!!
Credits for the original LP:
Technical: Recorded Friday, 21 July 1962, in New York City.
Mastered at: Dulcet Tone Corp.Long Island City,
New York 27 November 1962.
Artist: Willem A. Nyland, piano
Recording engineer: unknown
Lacquer engineer: David B. Hancock
Cover art: Ilonka Karasz
Reissue Credits:
Reissue production: Adam Calman, Cyrus Moussavi
Co-Production: Grant Corum (Psychic Sounds)
Mastering engineer: Andrew Weathers
Lacquer engineer: Adam Gonsalves
Liner Notes and Research: Matt Marble,
American Museum of Paramusicology
Photos: Nyland Group Archives
Liner Notes Design, Additional Research, Label Manager: Sam Wenc
Licensing and Additional Research: Adam Holofcener
Graphic Production and Typesetting: Dan Fried
Label Coordinator: Maria Barrios
Thank you: Mr. Nyland’s Family, William Clift, Ethel Hemsi, Jasper Parks, Jovi Vidal
PREORDER - shipping on or around July 11, 2025
(Note: If you order this record alongside other items, your whole package will ship together on July 11. If you want the rest of your package to ship sooner, please make two separate orders).
Sublime private-press piano improvisations channeled from another world by Willem Nyland. Remastered from the original tapes and reissued for the first time, with in-depth liner notes by Matt Marble of the American Museum of Paramusicology.
A Columbia-educated chemist by profession and a self-taught pianist by affinity, Willem Nyland (1890-1975) is known as a spiritual teacher in the tradition of Greek-Armenian mystic George Gurdjieff.
In the mid/late 1960s, a split with Gurdjieff led Nyland to start his own group in upstate New York. There, after a Friday night lecture on “The Work” and a shot of brandy, Nyland would launch into remarkable piano improvisations on a specially tuned baby grand, sometimes playing for over an hour. Each improvisation was meticulously recorded and cataloged, a major part of Nyland’s teachings. 16 of these recordings were released as standalone LPs on Nyland’s own Gauge Hill Press, with artwork by Hungarian American decorative artist Ilonka Karasz, Nyland’s wife of over 50 years.
These records, with their cascading, deeply emotional playing and beautiful cover art, have become highly coveted by collectors and “paramusicologists.” Each contains depths of spiritual information and lyrical, almost visual instrumental storytelling. Nyland deftly and subtly shifts moods and tones throughout these truly inspired extended improvisations.
Piano Studies 337 is a particularly tempestuous performance that Nyland himself recommended to Ansel Adams as a good starting place for his music. So we’ve teamed up with Psychic Sounds and Nyland’s family to bring #337 to the world. Remastered from the original tapes and pressed to high-quality vinyl at Smashed Plastic in Chicago, the record includes extensive liner notes and faithful reproduction of the original artwork. Hopefully the first of more to come!!!!
Credits for the original LP:
Technical: Recorded Friday, 21 July 1962, in New York City.
Mastered at: Dulcet Tone Corp.Long Island City,
New York 27 November 1962.
Artist: Willem A. Nyland, piano
Recording engineer: unknown
Lacquer engineer: David B. Hancock
Cover art: Ilonka Karasz
Reissue Credits:
Reissue production: Adam Calman, Cyrus Moussavi
Co-Production: Grant Corum (Psychic Sounds)
Mastering engineer: Andrew Weathers
Lacquer engineer: Adam Gonsalves
Liner Notes and Research: Matt Marble,
American Museum of Paramusicology
Photos: Nyland Group Archives
Liner Notes Design, Additional Research, Label Manager: Sam Wenc
Licensing and Additional Research: Adam Holofcener
Graphic Production and Typesetting: Dan Fried
Label Coordinator: Maria Barrios
Thank you: Mr. Nyland’s Family, William Clift, Ethel Hemsi, Jasper Parks, Jovi Vidal