Tag: recorded music

Eccentric French composer the subject of this evening’s presentation

April 2026

If you said ‘strange’ or ‘eccentric’ in the context of a composer, like as not you would settle on the name of Erik Satie the subject of the penultimate presentation in the 2025/26 programme. Presented by Society member Tim Rowe with able assistance from Alan Doel, we heard a range of music from this composer.

Born Eric Satie in Honfleur northern France, his mother was English and his father French. He went to the Conservatoire in Paris but left without a diploma it was said because he was the ‘laziest student’ there. The first two tracks Tim played were extracts from the Gnossiennes numbers 1 and 5. Some of this music was incorporated into one of Peter Seller’s last films Being There. These pieces are very much in the Satie style.

Similarly the most famous and recognisable of his compositions Gymnopédie No 1, a solemn, sad and thoughtful piece instantly recognised as a Satie composition. First was the original piano version but then we heard an arrangement for trumpet and orchestra which ‘worked’ and gave it a different dimension. It is probably a reflection of the sparse style the composer had adopted that a different arrangement could be a success.

Satie was never it seemed what we would today call ‘worldly wise’ and lived most of his live in poor surroundings. Friends were never invited to his home. He was however a success as a cabaret performer which should have yielded a good income but spent his money as it came into his hands.

He had a second go at a musical education by entering the Schola Cantorum as a mature student and studied under Vincent D’Indy. He was influential in the musical circle which became known as Les Six which included fellow composers such a Poulenc and Milhaud. They were a reaction to the romanticism and adopted a more sparse style of composition.

Some of his compositions were extreme, one being Vexations an endless repeated theme which can last many hours, over 9 in fact. It is controversial to this day over a century after its composition. We heard just a few moments. Other unusual pieces included Musique d’Ameublement designed not to be listened to. Was Satie the inventor of musak, the curse of so many restaurants and cafes?

We watched a brief extract from a ballet Parade which premiered in 1917 in Paris. Conceived by Jean Cocteau and sets designed by Pablo Picasso, it resulted in audience uproar and has not had many performances since.

Satie was influential and paved the way for composers we now refer to as modernist. He seem to fall out with most of his friends at some point in his life. Clearly eccentric he never listened to the radio and never used a phone. We saw a brief extract from a silent in which he appears.

Tim (pictured) expanded our knowledge of this composer playing pieces which are seldom heard today. A fine evening in the tradition of the Society to inform its members about composers, in this case certainly not forgotten, but to an extent overlooked.

Peter Curbishley

The Playlist:

1. Gnossienne No.1      Ólafur Arnalds & Nils Frahm, Piano
2. Ogive No.1, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, piano
3. Ogive No.4. Jean-Yves Thibaudet, piano
4. Gymnopedie No.1, Khatia Buniatishvili  piano
5. Gymnopedie No.3 Alison Balsam, trumpet, with instrumental ensemble
6. Le Fils d’Etoiles incidental music – Prelude – Alexei Lubimov, piano
7. Modéré (1893) – Christina Agnano, piano
8. Prière (1895) Reinbert de Leeuw, piano
9. Pièces Froides Nos. 1 – 3 – Reinbert De Leeuw, piano
10. Je Te Veux. Chanson – Patricia Petibon, soprano; Susan Manoff, piano
11. Vexations 1893 (excerpt – live recording) Alexei Lubimov, piano
12. Messe des Pauvres- (Mass for the Poor) for piano, chorus & organ (1892-1895) – Kyrie Eleison:  Choeur René Duclos conducted by Jean Laforge, with Gaston Litaize, organ
13. Désespoir Agréable – Pleasant Despair – Jean Yves Thibaudet, piano
14. Petite Sonata – Sladjana Gajić, piano
15. Parade – ballet (excerpt) – Europa Danse
16. Socrate, Symphonic Drama – Part 1 – Julia Cavallaro and Charles Blandy, piano
17. Furnishing Music (Musique d’ameublement) – Unknown ensemble
18. Nocturnes 2 and 3, from 5 Nocturnes – Pascal Rogé, piano
19. Tendrement – sung by Régine Crespin, with Philippe Entremont, piano

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Our final meeting takes place on 11 May and will focus on Iberian music and we are pleased to be welcoming back Simon Coombs to present.