Satie: The Velvet Gentleman

John Cage, Frank Zappa, Gary Numan, Genesis - they all have one thing in common: they revered Erik Satie, the French poet of the piano, and performed his works. The perhaps best-known piano pieces of this idiosyncratic composer are the Trois Gymnopédies which have for some considerable time been accepted into the sphere of music for advertising and ubiquitous background music (something Satie would have thought of as an accolade). According to legend Satie had introduced himself to the director of the famous Paris cabaret Le Chat Noir as a ""gymnopedist"". ""What a splendid job"", answered the future employer and engaged the notoriously impecunious musician as piano accompanist. Here is a choice of piano pieces such as Gnossiennes, Ogives and Sarabandes as well as the well-known ballet music to Parade. At its premiere under Ernst Ansermet it created a colossal scandal and simultaneously gave rise to the famous association of composers known as Les Six. Arrangements of piano pieces for symphony or chamber orchestra, choir, guitar, flute and dulcimer round off this portrait of the composer, with recordings from 1937 to 1996. In this tribute to Satie, his friend and contemporary Francis Poulenc as well as Leopold Stokowski, Igor Markevich, Ronan O"'Hara and Jan Kaspersen, the Czech Chamber Philharmonic, the Philharmonia Orchestra and the Philadelphia Orchestra can be heard performing.