Erik SATIE (1866-1925)
An Erik Satie Entertainment
Meriel Dickinson (mezzo-soprano)
Peter Dickinson (piano)
rec. 6 October 1975, All Saints Church, Petersham, UK (Unicorn Album), and other venues/dates
HERITAGE HTGCD171 [68:09]
Erik Satie should be well known for one or two works. Gymnopédie No 1 has a tonne of recordings (198 are currently listed in the Arkiv catalogue alone), and the three Gymnopédies appear well over 300 times in the Naxos Music Library. Occasionally, a Gnossienne or two are heard on the radio. Beyond that, this enigmatic composer is still relatively little known. But Satie’s opus list reveals his interest in a wide range of musical genres, stretching from the large-scale, but delicate, Socrate to several songs each under a minute. There were also ballets, incidental music, a small number of purely orchestral compositions, many longer songs and a vast array of piano music.
This disc is precisely what its title says, with a variety of piano pieces, songs and even readings. But it is more than An Entertainment; it serves as an excellent introduction to the composer’s achievement. Not all of Satie’s music is whimsical or humorous. His perhaps unfortunate habit of attaching absurd titles to serious music hides the essentially significant nature of many of his compositions. His “deceptively simple” musical style also often obscures considerable depth and subtlety which slowly reveals itself to the listener. And he was the ultimate anti-Wagner composer. Gone were the five-hour operas; in were the tiny miniatures, often epigrammatic in scale. Finally, it must be remembered that he had a great influence on Claude Debussy and French composers between the two World Wars, including Les Six.
The siblings Meriel and Peter Dickinson have presented a wide range of Satie’s music in this album. This extends from that pot boiler Gymnopédie No 1, through some cabaret songs and piano pieces such as Je te veux, Le Piccadilly and the lovely song Tendrement, to the intimate beauty and perfection of the Trois mélodies dating from 1887. It is important to recall that Satie’s songs range from the café or music hall style to splendid and often moving examples of French mélodies. All are represented here. They are too little known, even to lovers of French chanson. Of considerable interest are the readings taken from Satie’s diaries and writings. These are full of eccentric charm and wit.
For the record, this is a substantially augmented reissue of the 1975 Unicorn album (RHS 338). It is based on the Dickinson’s highly regarded live concert performances given with great success during the 1970s. It is fair to say that Satie was a bit of a closed score back then. So, these Entertainments must take credit for making him a household name – even if a little limited in popular repertoire.
Incidentally, it is known that John Cage devised a recital of Satie at which he played Vexations some 840 times. Despite its musical worth, it is heard only once here. On the original vinyl LP, it was the last track. By a sleight of hand, the record producer allowed the last chord to be on a “locking groove”, thus technically allowing it to repeat for ever – in homage to Cage.
The rewritten liner notes are excellent. They give all the information that one could wish for. Alas, the song texts are given only in French. Meriel Dickinson’s charming mezzo-soprano is consistently good, with clear diction. This is coupled with her brother Peter’s precise and responsive piano playing, all invested with the appropriate amount of humour and seriousness.
It is up to the listener to decide if Erik Satie was a genius, a charlatan, had his tongue firmly in his cheek, or was just plain bonkers. Listening to this fantastic CD will tend to suggest the composer was a bit of each!
John France
Contents
Le Piccadilly: Marche (1904) [1:54]
Trois mélodies (1887) [6:11]
Gnossienne No 2 (1893) [2:11]
Hymne: Salut Drapeau! (1891) [4:31]
Pièces froides No 2 (1897) [1:09]
Tendrement (1902) [4:25]
Poudre d’or (1900-01) [4:11]
From Geneviève de Brabant (1899-1900) [3:27]
Gymnopédie No 1 (1888) [3:13]
Vexations (1893) [3:29]
Trois mélodies (1916) [4:36]
Chanson (1887) [1:05]
Chanson médiévale (1906) [1:48]
Reading: Satie’s Self Portrait [2:36]
Le Piège de Méduse (1913) [3:22]
Quatre petites mélodies (1920) [2:52]
Reading: A Musician’s Day [2:25]
Trois poèmes d’amour (1914) [2:30]
Reading: Satie’s Fakes [1:55]
Ludions (1923) [3:59]
Reading: In Praise of Critics [1:50]
La Diva de l’Empire [1:59]
Je te veux (1897) [2:45]
