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I'm just wondering about how many of you play Satie pieces. It just seems that he isn't very well known (the most prominent impressionists are obviously Debussy and Ravel). Could you just tell me what kind of pieces you played of his?

I love Satie!!... probably to listen to more than play. I have played his Gymnopedies and 1 of the Gnosiennes (sp?) - probably his most well-known pieces. I would LOVE to learn 'Je Tu Veux', but have yet to learn the music. I think it's one of his more tuneful pieces, and it's very interesting to listen to.

YAY!!! A Satie-Lover! I've played one Gymnopedie and one Gnossienne, but I find that lots of his songs are somewhat off-beat. I have a bit of trouble interpreting them, kind of like the Descriptions Automatiques, and all of those crazy ones. Have you glanced at other pieces of his?

Ah, Satie is great! It's been a while since I played any but some of what I played (apologies for the lack of accent marks) were:

Gnossiennes
Gymnopedies
Sports et Divertissements
Embryons Desechees
Avant-Dernieres Pensees
Messe des Pauvres
Vexations (in rotation with other pianists)

Yes, played Je Te Veux for a singer, and one other cabaret-style song...some children's pieces...and music for the Rene Clair film, the one that Milhaud arranged for 4-hands.

Hey. get together with a friend and play Three Pieces in the Shape of a Pear. They are fabulous fun. Also the wacky Sonatine Bureaucratique, which mercilessly sends up Clementi.

It's late, can't spell this hour- going to bed.

Ah, starmender, I think I must have heard 'Sonatine Bureaucratique' on the radio, as they did not say the title of the piece but said it was by Satie. I remember thinking, I'm sure Clementi composed a piece very similar to that I agree that it really is a lot more interesting and fun than Clementi's.

RealPlayer, how did you find 'Je Tu Veux' to play? It sounds a little advanced for me, but I'd love to give it a stab one day, it sounds like a lot of fun to play, too.

I thought it was pretty easy, but we are talking about 20 years ago, so my memory of it may be incorrect. I ought to check the old music chest and see if I still have the music, then report back. Would you be doing this with a singer? Or accompanying yourself?

I've played Gymnopedie No.1, and though I think it's a good study/introduction to the French-Romantic style of piano, I found the piece itself to be pretty boring. His stuff pretty much puts me to sleep.

RealPlayer, I would probably play it for just piano; I didn't even know that there was a version for the voice too!

Fourth Season, I didn't see your post before I have listened to many of Satie's peices, but have not attempted anything but the Gnoisiennes and Gymnopedies. I know what you mean about some pieces being hard to interprate. The descriptions on how to play them make me laugh, like "arm yourself with clairvoyance", and "with the end of your thought". How is one supposed to do that??

Hi, Everyone:

I think I'm a fairly decent sight reader and quite a few years ago I got the sheet music for the Gymnopedies. The music sounds deceptively easy to play, but for me is not! Usually when I'm playing a piece of music I haven't really studied at all and I'm just sightreading it, I'm able to pay attention more to one hand than the other - but with Gymnopedies, I found I had to keep switching my concentration from my left hand to the right -back to the left and to the right- and back to the left and to the right - over and over and over. As I recall, it had to do with the jumps you make with your left and right hands.

The surprising (at least to me) end result is:

Gymnopedies is the only piece of music I have attempted to play that actually, physically, made me dizzy! (Perhaps I should say "dizzIER?!")



Jeanne W

Jeanne, I can relate to you! I found my experience when learning the 1st Gymnopedie much the same as you. It was a piece I really wanted to play, though, so I kept persiveering, where, if it had been a piece that I wasn't so bothered about, I might have given up.

The music is so unpredictable as sight reading, and you have to watch the sheet music all the time to make sure you get the right notes, but at the same time watch your left hand as it's jumping about

The Gnoissiennes are a lot more easy-going, I found; the chords are pretty constant throughout the left hand so you can concentrate on the melody, which isn't too difficult in itself.

I'd say that his directions were pretty much to be interpreted by the pianist. I remember playing Gnossienne No.1 like this:
tres luisant (lightly pedalled with stacatto)
Pas a pas (accents on the notes)
Postules en vous-meme (quiet, and like a question)
Sur la langue (pianissimo, like you're trying to remember something)
I found that the directions were probably one of the most unique and interesting parts to his music.