Satie: Parade, Gymnopédies, Gnossiennes & Other Works for Orchestra

Featuring

Ronald Corp
New London Orchestra
Erik Satie

Did you know?

1/7

Composition History

Satie's final ballet, Relâche, premiered in 1924 after an initial 'cancellation' where the audience arrived to a dark theatre, and featured an absurd film during the interval.

Composition History

The ballet Parade, a collaboration between Satie, writer Jean Cocteau, artist Pablo Picasso, and choreographer Léonide Massine, premiered in Paris in 1917 and caused a scandal.

Compositional Technique

Satie's Gnossiennes, originally written for piano, were notated without bar lines or time signatures, reflecting his interest in religious chant and monody.

Critical Reception

Erik Satie was initially viewed as a prankster and charlatan, but the avant-garde of the 1950s and 1960s helped establish his correct historical position as a visionary.

Compositional Technique

Satie's score for the ballet Parade is described as 'cubist' and incorporates sounds like typewriters, revolvers, sirens, and clappers.

Interpretation

Ronald Corp, the conductor on this album, orchestrated the second Gymnopédie and all three Gnossiennes, using the same chamber orchestra instrumentation as Debussy.

Composition History

Claude Debussy orchestrated two of Satie's Trois Gymnopédies after hearing Satie play them in 1896, and they premiered at a Société Nationale concert in 1897.