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| Messages 1 - 17 of total 17 in this topic |
Gary
Social climber
Desolation Basin, Calif.
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Topic Author's Original Post - Sep 18, 2014 - 07:14pm PT
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Erik Satie, the Velvet Gentleman the neighborhood kids called him.
At the conservatory his piano teacher advised him to concentrate on composition, his composition teacher told him to concentrate on piano.
He made his living playing in a honky-tonk in Paris. He lived in one room in a working class suburb, and each day walked across Paris to his job at the nightclub.
He purchased a dozen velvet suits, which he wore one by one until worn out and then discarded. He got through six of them.
Late in life he got a diploma in counterpoint.
He was eccentric, his music was eccentric. He wrote some pieces with neither time signatures nor bar lines. His directions were satirical, poking fun at the romantics of the day: Quite lost; Open your mind; So as to get a hollow.
An example:
[Click to View YouTube Video]
He termed his work "furniture music". I'm not so good, but it gives me a sublime feeling to play the Gymnopedie No. 1. His work requires delicacy, which climbers can relate to, methinks. Like moving over choss...
[Click to View YouTube Video]
He loved Suzanne Valadon. Satie died of cirrhosis of the liver. His best interpreters are Daniel Varsano, Phillip Entremont and Jean-Yves Thibaudet.
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ms55401
Trad climber
minneapolis, mn
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Sep 18, 2014 - 08:17pm PT
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awesome! I didn't hear Satie until about a year and a half ago, and was astonished that he could have been that obscure.
this guy didn't get his due.
He has some "night songs" -- I think they have a specific name in German or some euro-language -- that are quite spare. Great use of space.
Great stuff
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kunlun_shan
Mountain climber
SF, CA
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Sep 18, 2014 - 08:35pm PT
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Thanks, Gary! I recognize Gymnopedie No. 1, from the French movie "Diva" (1981), but I didn't know the name of the original composer until now.
The film also has some of this Satie piece, which I love.
[Click to View YouTube Video]
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G_Gnome
Trad climber
Cali
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Sep 18, 2014 - 08:56pm PT
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Been listening to Satie since about 1972. Love his work, especially in the right circumstances.
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Sep 18, 2014 - 10:47pm PT
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I love to have a glass of absinthe and listen to him.
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survival
Big Wall climber
Terrapin Station
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Sep 19, 2014 - 09:04am PT
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Wow. This is awesome!
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Ward Trotter
Trad climber
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Sep 19, 2014 - 09:42am PT
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Several years ago I was walking my dog on a cold night shortly before Christmas. I was listening to classical music station through headphones. Just as I came upon a house that had been recognized as being one of the more lavishly famous decorated Christmas displays in the area---Gymnopedies began to play. I was instantly transported to another level, as lights and animated figures began to swirl in several multicolored phases in sync with the tempo and the flow of that wonderful composition.
It was pure magic.
One of the highest aesthetic experiences of my life.
A gift.
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Sep 19, 2014 - 09:44am PT
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Ward, if you drink absinthe and listen to Erik Satie you don't have to go
for a frikken' walk for that to happen. Jess sayin'...
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survival
Big Wall climber
Terrapin Station
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Sep 19, 2014 - 09:52am PT
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Beautiful post Ward.
Amazing how art can bring together people of different political thought.
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Ward Trotter
Trad climber
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Sep 19, 2014 - 09:57am PT
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Ward, if you drink absinthe and listen to Erik Satie you don't have to go
Man I'm glad I did, the whole thing was meant to be---the decorated house was no ordinary Christmas display -- it had received recognition with a national award as being one of the best.
Just as I came upon it --- the Satie piece began to play. You can't rehearse that kind of serendipity.
Amazing how art can bring together people of different political thought.
Very true .
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kunlun_shan
Mountain climber
SF, CA
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Sep 19, 2014 - 12:37pm PT
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Tami, I do believe you about movements the human body can find in response to Satie's music. Very powerful stuff!
To work around country restrictions for Youtube and other sites, try a browser proxy such as Hola, described below. It worked well for me during the last Olympics to watch CBC coverage, when nothing was available in the US without subscription.
http://www.gizmag.com/bypass-country-restrictions-video-sites/31308/
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Fat Dad
Trad climber
Los Angeles, CA
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Sep 19, 2014 - 01:02pm PT
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Interesting thread. Though I play a little piano, I did not know Gymnopedie No. 1 by name. I've heard it many times but always assumed it was Schumann or someone like that. Always reminded me of the Kinderszenen. I'll have to track that down and learn it.
For those that have never heard of it, there is a TON of sheet music in the public domain that you can download for free from the IMSLP/Petrucci Music Library: imslp.org
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JEleazarian
Trad climber
Fresno CA
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Sep 19, 2014 - 01:38pm PT
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When I was an undergrad at Berkeley, we put together a performance of "Vexations." This required several pianists because although the theme itself was relatively simple, Satie directed that it be repeated about 840 times.
Fun all around!
John
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survival
Big Wall climber
Terrapin Station
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Sep 19, 2014 - 02:28pm PT
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That film is just so damn good. I'll be watching it a few more times this weekend!!
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Gary
Social climber
Desolation Basin, Calif.
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Topic Author's Reply - Sep 19, 2014 - 03:44pm PT
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I'm looking forward to watching the film.
JohnE, you guys did the whole thing?!
Just got back from Old Town Music in Pasadena. It's one of the last of its kind, a great place. Anyway I picked up the music to Bureaucratic Sonatina. It is riddled with commentary.
There he goes...
He walks merrily to his office...
Full of himself...
Contentedly he wags his head...
He loves a pretty, most elegant lady...
He also loves his penholder, his green, lustrous cuffs and his chinese cap...
He takes long strides...
he hurries to the stairs and mounts them on his back...
What a wind!
Sitting in his armchair he's happy and he shows it...
He dreams of promotion...
perhaps he will have a raise without promotion...
He hopes to move to a better neighborhood soon...
He has an apartment in view...
If only the raise or promotion comes off...
More dreams of promotion...
He hums an old Peruvian air which he collected from a deaf-mute in lower Brittany...
A piano nearby plays Clementi...
How sad it is...
He dares to waltz! (He, not the piano)...
That's all very sad...
The piano begins to play again...
Our friend benevolently examines himself...
The cold Peruvian air goes to his head again...
The piano continues...
Alas he must leave his office...
his dear office...
Courage: let's go, he says... [Click to View YouTube Video]
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