And yet the last thing Gurdjieff wanted was to put listeners in a trance. The worldview of this enigmatic seeker, who died in Paris in 1949 — The New York Times said he was 83, but he may have been over a decade younger — was that too many people went about their lives like automatons. They needed to bring their emotional, physical and mental intelligences into balance, and wake up.

This month, a group of Armenian musicians will present concerts in Chicago (Sept. 25), New York (Sept. 27) and Pasadena, Calif. (Sept. 29), that cast Gurdjieff’s music in a bold new light. By playing his works on the traditional instruments of their regions of origin, juxtaposed with piano versions, the Gurdjieff Ensemble offers listeners a chance to hear the music in a way that is ethnically specific, and in jolting bright color.