Satie: Slow Music 2LP

The name Satie is synonymous with the piano, and Brilliant Classics’ regular artist, Jeroen van Veen, assembles some of his most popular pieces in this 2LP collection. On this recording, Van Veen stretches time limits to their maximum and then even further, from slower to slowest, giving each note and chord the chance to be fully appreciated. In doing so, less actually becomes more. Erik Satie’s music needs little introduction. An eccentric figure of the early-20thcentury Parisian avant-garde, the composer is best remembered for his ballet Parade and the three Gymnopédies, and he enjoyed heading his works with ironic titles and according them unusual performance directions. Vexations, or ‘torments’, was not published during his lifetime, and lets the pianist play the same melody 840 times; veritable furniture music that reflects his disgust with all that was pretentious in music-making. His Pièces froides borrows tunes from others and places them in a new, slightly ironic setting. Again, the instructions for the pianist are highly unusual: ‘Give it a good look,’ the composer says, and ‘go on’. Indeed, the title of his most enduring works that open this recording, the three Gymnopédies, and the Gnossiennes, have no meaning at all! These timeless works are the perfect soundtrack to calm you down, relax and reflect; in the words of the performer, they should allow you to ‘let go of everything and just enjoy the music for the time it lasts’. Satie’s Slow Music continues Brilliant Classics’ new line of vinyl releases encapsulating the best of modern classical music. Jeroen van Veen is a flawless interpreter; himself a successful minimalist composer and experienced recording artist, he has played the works of Satie for years.  

The LP issue of the 2 CD’s of Satie’s ‘Slow Music’ played by Jeroen van Veen. Erik Satie’s music remains as eccentric as it was when composed in the early 20th century. Bizar, anti-romantic and ironic it stands in sharp contrast with the grandiloquent outpourings of the Late Romantics or the hyper sensitive drawings of the Impressionists. In his performance of “slow” piano music pianist Jeroen van Veen stretches the concept of slowness to its extreme, creating a hallucinatory effect, a kind of Minimal Music avant la lettre. Satie’s music appeals to audiences well beyond the traditional classical boundaries, and the issue on vinyl is an attractive bonus Side A for any Satie fan.

Other information:

180 grams audiophile Vinyl, 33 ⅓ rpm.

Notes on the composer.

Notes on the artist.