Trois Gymnopédies

1. 3’35 Gymnopedie No. 1. Lent et douloureux

2. 2’52 Gymnopedie No. 2. Lent et triste

3. 2’29 Gymnopedie No. 3. Lent et grave

4. 4’21 Poudre d’Or

5. 4’44 Je te veux

6. 1’46 Le Piccadilly

7. 2’24 Rag-Time Parade

8. 2’32 La Diva de l’Empire

Gnossiennes

9. 4’24 Gnossienne No. 1. Lent

10. 2’22 Gnossienne No. 2. Avec étonnement

11. 3’02 Gnossienne No. 3. Lent

12 3’02 Gnossienne No. 4. Lent

13. 3’30 Gnossienne No. 5. Modéré

14. 1’29 Gnossienne No. 6. Avec conviction et avec une tristesse rigoureuse

Erik Satie Greatest Hits

Marcel Wormspiano

total time: 42’31

Itwas a significant step: the decision of the French composer Erik Satie, in 1884, to write his first name henceforth with a “k”. He was born on 17 May 1866 as Eric Satie in Normandy’s Honfleur,

from where England lies almost in view. His mother, born in London, had English and Scottish blood. And in his work and in his personage, irony, understatement, and British-sounding humour are never far away. Despite an unmistakably French sound in his music, he did not regard himself as a musicien français, as his friend Debussy styled himself on his card.

After the death of his mother, Satie goes to live with his father in Paris in 1876 and already three years later he enters the Conservatoire national de musique et de déclamation. There, this headstrong student is considered to be lacking in talent and lazy to boot.

From 1884, his first compositions see the light. He is only twenty years old when he begins military service and writes his Ogives for piano, a work in which the frugal use of notes, the extremely slow tempi and the seemingly barely-connected chords already stand out: elements that would later prove to be so characteristic of the composer. Dramatic development is absent, nor are there conflicting themes asking for a resolution. Satie therewith breaks with a long musical tradition. He himself hardly ever speaks about this radical debut as composer. He takes pleasure in the creation of mystifications whereby it becomes even more puzzling how, in the midst of a cosmopolitan and energetic music scene like Paris, he could so thoroughly shield himself from the influences of the music all around him.

ERIK SATIE1866—1925

It

A deliberately contracted pneu-monia releases him from further military duty and life as a bohemian can begin. He earns his living as a pianist in the cabaret le Chat Noir and leads an irregular existence on Montmartre. His most famous pieces for piano, the Gymnopédies and the Gnossiennes, date from this period.

Th rough Claude Debussy, with whom he became friends, he meets the writer Joséphin Peladan, who arouses his interest in religion. Th is interest leads to Satie joining the Rosicrucians and later to the founding of his own Église Métropolitaine d’Art de Jésus Conducteur, the Metropolitan Church of Art of Jesus the Conductor, of which Satie himself becomes the only member. Aft er 1890 begins the religious-mystical period of the composer. Th is results in a number of works, of which the Prélude de la porte héroïque du ciel and the Messe des Pauvres. Th is Mass from 1894 is thought to have been written in reaction to the break-up of his relationship with the painter Suzanne Valadon, presumably his one and only sweetheart. It is music without a frame of reference whose secrets are not immediately, and perhaps are never revealed, practically compelling one to listen again and again.

Th e end of Satie’s spiritual period (1896) is ushered in by the acquisition of a generous number of velvet suits in which he, instead of in his monk’s habits, would from this time forth dress himself. Two years later, he moves from Montmartre to Arcueil, in the Parisian suburbs, where he would remain until his death. He is still active as cabaret pianist and the famous singer Paulette Darty takes up a number of his chansons into her repertoire. A few of them (Je te veux, Le Piccadilly, La diva de l’Empire) are to be heard on this CD.

Satie is for the most part still an autodidact when he decides in 1905 to take a counterpoint class at the Parisian Schola Cantorum with composer Albert Roussel. Because of his eccentric clothing and his frequent tongue-in-cheek score

directions, he is emphatically not seen as a worthy and honoured colleague. Th e distinction très bien on the diploma that Satie received in 1908 will surely have given him the feeling that his talents were recognised. Th is recognition comes to pass, too, in around 1910. Th rough Debussy, Satie gets to know Stravinsky, who is quite impressed by him. Ravel and the Spanish pianist Ricardo Viñes, Paris’ avant-garde advocate number one, perform his work. Even so, piano lessons still form his principal

source of income.His musical network broadens even more: he makes

contact with George Auric (1913), Darius Milhaud (1915) and with the then eighteen-year-old Francis

Poulenc (1917), who later (1920), as members of the illustrious Groupe des Six, would adopt Satie as their musical godfather. In 1915 he meets the writer Jean Cocteau who would come to be the ideologist of this group of composers. Th e invitation of Picasso to write the music for the ballet Parade (1917) – Picasso himself will design the decors and costumes – moves Satie’s career into high gear. Th e succès de

scandale of Parade (with its energetic, jazz-infl uenced music, including sirens, revolver shots

and rattling typewriters) leads to his international breakthrough. His old friend Debussy apparently has

trouble with that success. He denies the unmistakable infl uence that Satie’s work has had on his own (also, for that

matter, on that of many other composers!) and aft er thirty years the friendship comes to an end. Debussy dies in 1918; Satie and he had seen each other the year before for the last time.

In the meantime, Satie has also garnered fame as a writer of musical refl ections, sometimes under a pseudonym, as with his Mémoires d’un amnésique (Memoirs of an amnesiac). Th ese are just as unconventional as his music. In them he pays but little attention to the course of music history. It seems as though he wishes history to begin anew and thereaft er wants to rewrite it. Everyday topics and trivial incidents inspire him in this aim just as much as the great themes of religion and philosophy. Th is commingling of genres and the blurring of boundaries

between the “lower” and the “higher” (that is, Art with a capital “A”) is also typical of Dadaism, a movement in which Satie certainly had played a role, evidenced by his contacts with Tristan Tzara, the founder of Dadaism, and with, among others, Francis Picabia and Marcel Duchamp. Satie attempts to change the exalted character of the art of the romantic tradition into something more everyday. His Musique d’ameublement(Music as furniture) is meant to be present as a incidental and unstressed part of the surroundings – but as he plays such music at an art preview, those in attendance observe a polite silence, to the great irritation of the composer.

Satie regularly illustrates his compositions with drawings in a highly personal style and provides them with texts, sometimes with just a few words, other times in story form. In this way one can oft en discern a Gesamtkunstwerk, a total work of art such as Richard Wagner designed, precisely that long-winded composer of whose music Satie, with his own sense of moderate proportion, so disapproved. As actor he is to be seen in the fi lm Entr’acte from René Clair, for which he also composed the music.

On 1 July 1925, Satie dies, aft er years of over-liberal usage of, in particular, absinthe. No one, in the 27 years he lived in Arcueil, has ever visited him there. Aft er his death, a large number of unused umbrellas and a sizeable amount of unknown music are found.

Satie’s young friend Francis Poulenc (from whom Satie was later estranged) has more than once been characterised as moine et voyou, monk and rogue. Satie can also be seen as a kind of Janus-fi gure, but with one important diff erence: Poulenc begins his career as an angry young man and only later in life adds a strongly religious element to his music. Satie, instead, experiences his religious, ascetic and meditative period in his younger years, turning later into a bad boy, with his constant irony, his cryptic captions and cartoons, and his lack of respect for every conceivable sacrosanct music convention. Th is artistic attitude alone assures him his place in the history of music as innovator. Yet let us not forget that much of his music, alongside that unconventional attitude, also bears witness to a refi ned aesthetic.

he meets the writer Joséphin Peladan, who arouses his interest in religion. Th is interest leads to Satie joining the Rosicrucians and later to the founding of his own Église Métropolitaine d’Art de Jésus Conducteur, Église Métropolitaine d’Art de Jésus Conducteur, Église Métropolitaine d’Art de Jésus Conducteurthe Metropolitan Church of Art of Jesus the Conductor, of which Satie himself becomes the only member. Aft er 1890 begins the religious-mystical period of the composer. Th is results

Prélude Messe des

. Th is Mass from 1894 is thought to have been written in reaction to the break-up of his relationship with the painter Suzanne Valadon, presumably his one and only sweetheart. It is music without a frame of reference whose secrets are not immediately, and perhaps are never revealed, practically

Th e end of Satie’s spiritual period (1896) is ushered in by the acquisition of a generous number of

perform his work. Even so, piano lessons still form his principal source of income.

His musical network broadens even more: he makes contact with George Auric (1913), Darius Milhaud

(1915) and with the then eighteen-year-old Francis Poulenc (1917), who later (1920), as members of the illustrious as their musical godfather. In 1915 he meets the writer Jean Cocteau who would come to be the ideologist of this group of composers. Th e invitation of Picasso to write the music for the ballet will design the decors and costumes – moves Satie’s career into high gear. Th e

scandaleinfl uenced music, including sirens, revolver shots

and rattling typewriters) leads to his international breakthrough. His old friend Debussy apparently has

trouble with that success. He denies the unmistakable infl uence that Satie’s work has had on his own (also, for that

GYMNOPÉDIES (1888–1895)Th e three Gymnopédies are probably the most used back ground themes for documentary fi lms. Th is popularity must have been unforeseen for the young composer when he wrote the slow ¾ time pieces in 1888. Th e three Gymnopédies all exude a meditative and somewhat melancholic atmosphere. Th e origin of the title is not entirely clear, but the connotation with the Greek ‘gymnos’ (naked) seems to be undeniable. Th e number of chords used is limited and the progression is quite static, however, the intangible harmony (or lack of it) of chords provide for inevitable movement in the music.

POUDRE D’OR (1901)Th is chanson is a typical composition from the period in which Satie earned a living as a pianist in Parisian cabarets and nightclubs. Although there are no lyrics to this Waltz, it actually sounds as a song and it has clearly been modeled aft er the more famous song Je te veux, a Waltz Satie composed some years before.

JE TE VEUX (1897?)A number of Satie’s chansons, including Je te veux (I want you), was written for one the most popular singers of the day, Paulette Darty. He accompanied her as cabaret pianist and besides that, they were good friends. Later many singers added Je te veux, an elegant waltz à la Parisienne, to their repertoire, including even classical singers such as Régine Crespin and Jessye Norman.

LE PICCADILLY (1904)In the early days of the 20th century, Satie composeda number of unadulterated cabaret-style music-hallsongs with a strong humoristic and theatrical character.Le Piccadilly belongs to these. It is a march with elements of Ragtime, a form Debussy would also use in his famous Golliwog’s Cakewalk. Piccadilly suggests a British infl uence but the original title La Transatlantique seemsto contradict that.

RAG-TIME PARADE (1919)Rag-Time Parade is a piano version of a Ragtime from the ballet Parade. Th e makers of Parade were a dream team: the scenario was by Jean Cocteau, the choreography from Léonide Massine, Picasso designed the decors and costumes and Satie signed on for the music on commission from the Ballets Russes of Sergei Diaghilev.

When the music critic Jean Poueigh wrote a negative review of Parade, Satie sent him a postcard with a crystal-clear message: Monsieur et cher ami– vous êtes un cul, un cul sans musique! Signé Erik Satie (My dear sir – you are an asshole, an asshole without music! Signed Erik Satie). Poueigh took steps and dragged him to court: Satie was sentenced to eight daysin prison.

LA DIVA DE L’EMPIRE (1904) Together with Je te veux, written earlier, this chanson represents the most well-known examples of Satie’s café-concert style. Paulette Darty sang the premier of this “cakewalk” – a dance John Philip Sousa and his band had introduced to Paris in 1900. With this, Satie became one of the fi rst European composers to assimilate the American jazz style into his music. From the song text it appears that the title refers to the Empire Th eatre, a famous music hall on Leicester Square in London. Satie was delighted with the interpretation of Paulette Darty, who turned La Diva de l’Empire into a hit. Th e success of La Diva and other cabaret songs doesn’t take away the

fact that Satie was writing them purely for the money.

Th e transcription for piano solo of this song comes from the pen of Hans Ourdine.

GNOSSIENNES(1889–1897)Th e Gnossiennes (the word was invented by Satie)

were presumably inspired by what Satie read over archaeological excavations in Knossos, on Crete. Th eir obvious Orientalism arises from the Javanese music Satie heard at the Paris Exposition of 1889, which would also substantially infl uence Debussy. Here for the fi rst time Satie uses the sort of humorous performance directions that would become his hallmark. Th e six Gnossiennes all have the slow tempo which, much later, made them so popular as accompanying music to documentaries, yoga and meditation.

Th e absence of bar-lines and the oft en elusive relationships between the chosen chords, lend the Gnossiennes an otherworldly air, which for a moment makes us forget this present world.

Marcel Worms (1951) studied at the Sweelinck Conservatory in Amsterdam with Hans Dercksen. He also had lessons with the Russian

pianist Youri Egorov and with Alicia de Larrocha. Aft er graduating in 1987, he specialised in the study of chamber music with Hans Broekman and 20th century piano music with Alexandre Hrisanide.

Marcel Worms remains active as a chamber music player and soloist. In 1990 he premiered early works of Schoenberg in a recital at the Icebreaker in Amsterdam and in 1991 he performed the complete piano works of Janáček. Since 1992 he has oft en performed the program Jazz Infl uences in 20th Century Piano Music on Dutch stages. In 1994, this program was released on the BVHaast label. 

Th e Groupe des Sept, founded by Marcel Worms, has performed, among other things, the complete works of Poulenc for piano and wind instruments. Th is program was released on CD by Emergo Classics. 

In 1994, Mondrian’s memorial year, Marcel Worms performed the program Mondrian and the Music of his Time. Th e composers Willem Breuker and Th eo Loevendie each wrote a work for this project. Marcel Worms performed this program in the Netherlands and many other European countries, in Russia (at the Hermitage in St. Petersburg and the Pushkin Museum in Moscow) and in the United States (including the National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C.). On the occasion of the 100th birthday of Jean Wiéner, he performed a program, in the Netherlands and France, completely dedicated to the piano music of this French composer. BVHaast released this on CD in 1996.

In 1996, Marcel Worms initiated a unique Blues project: to date, more than 200 Dutch and foreign composers, from over 50 countries on all continents, have contributed a work for solo piano. Th is ongoing project accounts for seven CD’s already, with no end in sight. Since 1998, Marcel Worms has performed countless concerts comprising selections from his library of works dedicated to him and his project. Th e Blues have been heard in the Netherlands (for example at the Bimhuis in Amsterdam), in most European countries, in Russia, the Middle East, the Far East, the United States, Africa and South America. In 1999 his Blues project was heard at the North Sea Jazz Festival in Th e Hague. In 2001 there were performances at the Festival for New Music in Bucharest and at the Warsaw Autumn in Warsaw, and in 2002 at the EU Jazz Festival in Mexico City and the Audio Art Festival in Krakow. In 2004 this program was performed at the Festival De la Música Contemporanea

in Bolivia, at the Forum Neuer Musik in Cologne, at the Festival of Aveiro, Portugal and at the Fajr Festival in Iran. In 2005 the pianist presented his Blues project at the Festival

Tblisi Autumn in Georgia and in 2008 at the International Pianofestival of Bucaramanga in Colombia. Recently he played it in a number of African countries.

A selection of the newly composed Blues scores has been published by Donemus (Amsterdam) and by Peer Music (Hamburg, Germany).

As part of the Van Gogh exhibition in Washington D.C. and Los Angeles, Marcel Worms made the CD Pictures at a Van Gogh Exhibition, which was also performed in these cities. 

At the request of the Kunsthal in Rotterdam, he put together a program around Picasso that also appeared on CD as part of this exhibition.

A program of tangos from Latin America and Europe was heard, among other places, in China and in Argentina, and it appeared on CD for BVHaast. 

Since 2002, the pianist has been active with the piano works of Federico Mompou. In 2007 he released two CD’s with this composer’s music and organised a three-day Mompou Festival in Amsterdam. In 2009 he debuted on CD some 40 unpublished works of Mompou that had been rediscovered the year before in Barcelona.

In 2012 Marcel Worms recorded on one CD both Bach’s Goldberg Variations and Metamorphosis by Philip Glass. His latest CD’s focus on the classical music of the Carribean and on the music of the Baltic countries, including the complete works for piano by Arvo Pärt and the cycle Th e Seasons by the Latvian composer Pēteris Vasks. 

MARCEL WORMS

M

and Th eo Loevendie each wrote a work for this project. Marcel Tblisi Autumn in Georgia and in 2008 at the International

Recorded at Zeeuwse Concertzaal, Middelburg, the NetherlandsRecording: Walter Calbo & Jakko van der Heijden, Concertstudio, MiddelburgMusical Direction: Eleonore Pameijer and Jakko van der HeijdenRecording Dates: January 13 –14 and July 3, 2016 Piano: Steinway DPiano Technique: Joost van Hartevelt, De Hamernoot, MiddelburgLiner Notes: Marcel WormsTranslation: Elizabeth Gaskill, Bregje WeedaFoto Marcel Worms: Eddy WestveerDesign: Meeuw

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ERIK SATIE — Works for Piano

Marcel Worms, piano

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