Vol. 6: Piano Music

STEFFEN SCHLEIERMACHER

Music for the theater – Erik Satie composed for the stage and the film medium on various occasions. His Parade, a ballet in cooperation with Jean Cocteau and Pablo Picasso, is legendary and caused a veritable scandal when it was premiered in 1917 along with Stravinsky’s Petrushka. On Vol. 6 of Satie’s piano works Steffen Schleiermacher turns to Parade and other works for the theater, including the lengthy music for Uspud, billed as a “Christian ballet” but actually parodying Flaubert’s Temptation of St. Anthony in an absurd and absolutely blasphemous manner. The music for Parade turned out differently than originally planned, since Cocteau, who feared that he would not get enough attention when working with Picasso and Satie, insisted on the additional use of the click clack of typewriters, pistol shots, and sirens, with the result that the music was drowned out. Since Steffan Schleiermacher no longer needs to respect Cocteau’s wishes, he succeeds in uncovering a work with entertaining sides winning listeners’ hearts.

Price: $22.99