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Satie is fascinating, and I don't know of any composer who had so much variety in what he attempted. The Gymnopedies and Gnossiennes are by far his best known p
by tengwar2 1y ago
Satie is fascinating, and I don't know of any composer who had so much variety in what he attempted. The Gymnopedies and Gnossiennes are by far his best known pieces, but once you get away from that it gets strange and wonderful. He threw off ideas which seem to have led to different musical movements years later. Minimalism, for instance, was a term first coined in 1968, but some people point to Satie's Vexations of 1893 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sKKxt4KacRo&list=RDsKKxt4KacRo&start_radio=1 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sKKxt4KacRo&list=RDsKKxt4Kac...) - to be played 840 times. One puzzle (at least for me) is to work out whether he had the piano or organ in mind for some pieces. While the instruments look similar, some of the held notes will fade away on the piano, losing harmonies which would otherwise be present.
- kashyapc 1y agoNot only the "Vexations" is to be played 840 times but he also instructs: "It would be advisable to prepare oneself beforehand, and in the deepest silence, by staying very still" I recently listened to a Sati recital by a Dutch pianist. The pianist told us the story, and said, "now I'm going to play this to you". Then played us a compressed recording of it that plays the whole thing in one second.