150 years after his birth, Erik Satie is still one of the great enigmas of classical music – a composer who said of himself ‘I am not fond of jokes… I never make jokes’ but is nevertheless regarded as one of the great jokers of Western music;
In this anniversary year, Noriko Ogawa launches a complete set of Satie’s music for solo piano – a body of works which includes the sets of Gnossiennes and Gymnopédies, which through their use in countless movie sound tracks have reached and affected audiences across the planet.
Noriko Ogawa, whose acclaimed recordings include music by Mozart and Rachmaninov as well as complete recordings of the piano music by her compatriot Toru Takemitsu and by Debussy (a friend and rival of Satie’s) performs all of this on an instrument from Satie’s own time – an exquisite Erard grand piano built in 1890, the very year that Satie composed his Gnossienne.
We have an opportunity to listen to the following:
Satie:
Gnossienne No. 1
Gnossienne No. 2
Gnossienne No. 3
Gnossienne No. 4
Gnossienne No. 5
Gnossienne No. 6
Gnossienne No. 7
Chapitres tournés en tous sens
Avant Dernières Pensées (Idylle, Aubade, Méditation)
Croquis et Agaceries d’un Gros Bonhomme en bois
Sonatine Bureaucratique
Poudre d’or
Embryons desséchés
Descriptions automatiques
Heures séculaires et instantanées
Prélude en tapisserie
Les trois valses distinguées du précieux dégouté
Je te veux
Trois Gymnopédies
Perfromed by Noriko Ogawa (piano)
Here, for your enjoyment, is Noriko Ogawa, speaking and playing the music of Clause Debussy:
