[lit-ideas] Re: Erik Satie

  • From: "Lawrence Helm" <lawrencehelm@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: <lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Wed, 7 Apr 2010 16:50:07 -0700

Satie hated it when people preferred his earlier music to his later.  I may
not remember the quote quite right but he said something like, "I wrote the
Gymnopedies when I was 22 and the Gnossiennes when I was 23."  He said this
when he wanted critics to appreciate his later works.  I see that neither
the Thibaudet nor the Ciccolini recordings include either Parade or Socrate.
Shattuck thought that the latter must be considered his masterpiece.  
 
In regard to "music" that can "express nothing," that is perhaps what he
referred to elsewhere as "furniture music."  I wonder what he would have
thought of modern-day "elevator music."
 
What is "the Six"?
 
-----Original Message-----
From: lit-ideas-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:lit-ideas-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]
On Behalf Of Eric Yost
Sent: Wednesday, April 07, 2010 12:03 PM
To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [lit-ideas] Re: Erik Satie
 
Satie is still largely appreciated, especially by 
pianists, who find many of his pieces difficult in 
their simplicity, just as Mozart's piano works can 
be difficult ("too easy for children, too 
difficult for adults" Artur Schnabel (?) said). 
The recent recording by Jean-Yves Thibaudet is 
very fine indeed; the classic recording is by Aldo 
Ciccolini.
 
My take on Satie's oddball output is that it 
centers on his conviction that "music can express 
nothing." The Six flirted with this idea, but I 
suppose the composer most influenced by it was 
Stravinsky, who is the supreme trickster of 
modified forms and reworkings.

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