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CD
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AP 116CD
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"Pianist, conductor, arranger and composer Bruno Fontaine is the perfect example of a 21st century artist. This collection features a broad selection of Satie's piano works. The Gymnopédies represent an important precursor to modern ambient music. Satie's Nocturnes were his final works for solo piano and are considered among his most significant achievements in the genre. The Gnossiennes are a highly experimental form invented by the composer. Also included are the Avant-dernières pensées, the Pièces froides and Petits Chorals."
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CD/SACD
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PRD 250299CD
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"On this SACD from Praga, pianist Christoph Deluze is featured in a selection of the eclectic solo piano music of Erik Satie. The pairing is the composer's ballet Parade in a recording from 1959 featuring Manuel Rosenthal. The work, premièred in May of 1917, brought together the painter Picasso, the dancer/choreographer Massine and composer Satie. It provoked a scandal comparable to that caused by The Rite of Spring four years earlier." Stereo/multichannel hybrid SACD that can be played on any CD player.
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CD
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SR 294CD
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Erik Satie's 1893 Vexations; performed by pianist Stephane Ginsburgh. This piece is musique d'ameublement -- literally, "furniture music," the phrase coined by Satie in 1917, where he identifies sound as drapes, tiling, wallpaper -- items belonging to the environment and changing it simply by being in it, by actually becoming elements of the space. This recording is the second installment in a series of furniture music (after Marcel Duchamp's Musical Erratum), and is unique in that it calls for 840 repetitions of a single motif. John Cale recalls a particularly grueling 1963 performance under the direction of John Cage: "Between 9 and 10 September 1963, I was one of a relay team of pianists, under the direction of John Cage, who played Vexations by Eric Satie at Pocket Theatre, 100 Third Avenue near 13th Street, in 18 hours and 40 minutes. The 180 notes of this 80-second work were played 840 times. The whole thing was John Cage's idea. The admission was $5, but members of the audience got a refund of five cents per 20 minutes, and those who stayed to the bitter end got a 20 cent bonus." Had Satie envisioned playing the piece? Who knows. Neither do we know if Duchamp's Erratum musical was meant to be executed. What can be said, however, is that when played in its entirety, Vexations inevitably becomes a performance for both players and listeners. An experience in repetition -- repetition without the slightest variation, except for the unavoidable tempo shifts that occur over such a lengthy performance, alterations in how the piano keys are hit, in other words, everything that falls within the realm of the mechanically involuntary. What would you say about a ritornello that lasts between 18 and 24 hours? Includes a 16-page booklet containing the essay "Cage's Place In The Reception Of Satie" by Matthew Shlomowitz.
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2CD
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HMC 902017
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Performed by: Alexandre Tharaud (piano), Juliett e Noureddine (vocals), Jean Delescluse (tenor), Eric Le Sage (piano), Isabelle Faust (violin), David Guerrier (trumpet). "With this recording, Alexandre Tharaud aims to serve justice to Erik Satie -- the real Erik Satie. Chock full of surprises and humor, Tharaud strives to reveal the coherence between Satie's life and music. The first CD is devoted to piano solo works. The second offers a selection of duos, many of which are world premiere recordings. Featuring well-known artists such as chanson singer Juliette, violinist Isabelle Faust, pianist Eric le Sage, trumpet player David Guerrier and tenor Jean Delescluse, this album will also include a private Internet access code to listen to bonus tracks and discover more about Satie's life and work." "My aim in these two discs has been to offer the richest possible panorama of Satie's piano and chamber music, ranging over his whole lifetime... Immersed in the world of Satie, we were touched, often deeply moved by the trust he shows in his interpreters." -- Alexandre Tharaud
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