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Erik Satie (1866 - 1925)
Two Gymnopedies
(orch. Debussy)
I. Lent et Douloureux
II. Lent et Grave
Erik Satie was a whimsical
rebel in his music, much admired by some musicians, but dismissed
as irrelevant by others. His music is static rather than developing
- these Gymnopédies are like paintings on a Greek vase,
a movement frozen in time. His titles and instructions to
performers are often ironically unhelpful - for example "Limp
Preludes (for a Dog)" which he directs to be played "very
nine in the morning". And at his most extreme he is intentionally
purposeless, such as in his piece Vexations which is an 80-second
piece he directs to be repeated 840 times. His influence on
both his contemporaries (Debussy, Ravel, Poulenc) and later
20th century composers (John Cage and others) has been considerable.
These two short pieces were
written for piano and later orchestrated for a small orchestra
by Debussy. They are very similar, though Debussy does his
best to hide the fact. |
