The Music Professor | Satie's 'VEXATIONS' (complete): All secrets are revealed! @themusicprofessor | Uploaded 7 months ago | Updated 4 minutes ago
0:00 Hold onto you seats
0:13 Bass line
0:28 Harmony
0:43 Inversion
0:58 The 3 lines
1:58 The chords
3:02 Music without a tonal centre
3:26 The phrases
3:56 The reason this music can bear repetition
5:09 Satie’s mysterious instruction
6:24 The New York premiere
7:23 Satie’s relationship with Suzanne Valadon
8:24 Suzanne Valadon’s hat
9:23 Suzanne Valadon’s portrait of Satie
9:54 Satie admiration for Valadon
10:23 A pet goat
10:52 Cats and caviar
11:08 A corsage of carrots
11:22 Valadon leaves Satie
13:36 Satie’s calligraphy
14:52 Satie’s portrait of Valadon
15:56 More pictures by Suzanne Valadon
16:55 Valadon as model
18:20 Satie falls out with Paladin
21:25 Peladin’s novels
22:14 Writers who admired Paladin
24:20 Peladin’s cult
24:50 Satie is official composer
26:30 Peladin’s Salon
27:33 Satie’s differences with Paladin
32:20 Gregorian chant
35:19 Satie’s Open Letter
36:46 Friendship with Debussy
37:25 Satie’s influence on Debussy
39:19 A picture of Wagner
40:46 Advice to Debussy
45:45 Disagreements over Wagner
48:10 Vexations is a response to Wagner
51:16 Humour and seriousness
52:41 Satie influences Debussy’s career
54:45 Satie and the Windmill
57:42 A painting by Renoir
58:41 Bohemianism
01:00:41 The Monkish phase
01:02:00 A spoof cult
01:04:10 Which instrument?
01:06:20 Satie’s apartment as Abbey
01:15:00 Strange letters
01:22:00 Satie’s changes of style
01:22:52 The Velvet Gentleman phase
01:24:30 Comparison with David Bowie
01:27:30 Brian Eno
01:29:31 Written before Brahms
01:31:00 A challenge to German music
01:33:27 Satie’s influence
01:36:28 Satie and Stravinsky
01:38:23 New accommodation
01:39:34 Radical politics
01:41:23 Zizek
01:44:23 Furniture music
01:49:25 Communism
01:50:53 A minimalist order: a better world
01:57:21 Satie and Debussy
02:02:56 Debussy’s piano playing
02:04:20 Lunches with Debussy
02:07:47 Debussy’s eggs and cutlets
02:11:13 Satie and Debussy: very different political ideas
02:20:21 Debussy becomes prosperous
02:22:45 Photograph by Stravinsky
02:24:40 Stravinsky’s recollections of Satie
02:32:10 Bottles of water and a hammock
02:35:07 Satie describes his own music
02:38:35 The form of Vexations
02:42:04 Socrate and Princess de Polignac.
02:46:04 Stravinsky’s memories of Socrate
02:50:34 Debussy, Satie and Stravinsky
02:54:29 Satie describes his working day
03:06:04 Satie and Debussy quarrel about Parade
03:07:24 Picasso
03:09:54 Debussy’s jealousy. Jeux etc.
03:12:58 Parade
03:18:56 Satie writing about his tragic rift with Debussy
03:29:50 Satie and surrealism
03:31:00 Poulenc describes the premiere of Parade
03:42:39 Debussy dies
03:45:13 Satie writes about Debussy
03:47:43 Satie and Poulenc
03:52:12 Satie and Ravel
03:56:39 Satie admires and criticises Ravel
04:02:13 Poulenc remembers Satie
04:04:21 Satie’s influence on Cage
04:07:38 Cage discovers Vexations
04:11:35 Cage organises premiere
04:14:31 Christian Wolf remembers the premiere
04:18:32 Cage on Satie
04:21:33 Poulenc on Satie
04:23:38 100 umbrellas
04:25:27 Pumice and Paranoia
04:29:30 Poulenc remembers Socrate
04:33:50 Satie played the piano badly
04:38:24 Satie’s aphorisms
04:46:42 The new spirit
04:53:18 Satie on Animals
04:58:15 Satie on Artistic Truth
05:05:32 Satie on Stravinsky
05:07:48 Satie’s Conservatory Catechism
05:09:39 “What I am”
05:19:43 Intelligence and Musicality among Animals
05:32:08 Child Musicians
06:10:00 Musical Spirit
06:33:22 Theatricalities
06:42:58 Perfect Surroundings
06:48:48 Montmartre Musicians
06:52:13 Odd Corners of my Life
This is a complete performance of Erik Satie’s 'Vexations' (with a written commentary). Satie's famous, and mysterious notations, half joking, half serious, on a single page of manuscript have inspired the longest video yet released on this channel.
Vexations (like a Samuel Beckett play) is mysterious, absurd, baffling and unsettling in equal measure, occupying a strange twilight between comedy and tragedy: a circular, self-referential paradox.
But Satie also invented the idea of ‘furniture music’. Listeners should feel free to dip and out of this video or to have it playing in the background while they do other things.
Satie’s instruction, "At this sign customarily the theme of the Bass will be presented” is somewhat ambiguous, since the “theme in the bass” is present within each harmonised passage. For this performance, to save time (!) Matthew King departs from orthodox performance tradition and has interpreted the “theme of the Bass" as simply occurring within the 3 part texture, not on its own. This follows the recommendation of the Satie Scholar, Robert Orledge: “My advice to pianists would be to play the bass theme at the start, and then the two chordal strands as many times as they can without hallucinating or collapsing from exhaustion."
Bon Appetite!
Erik Satie: Vexations (1893)
Pianist: Matthew King.
An edited version of Igor Levit’s marathon performance in 2020: bit.ly/49suEJW
#Vexations #Satie #themusicprofessor
0:00 Hold onto you seats
0:13 Bass line
0:28 Harmony
0:43 Inversion
0:58 The 3 lines
1:58 The chords
3:02 Music without a tonal centre
3:26 The phrases
3:56 The reason this music can bear repetition
5:09 Satie’s mysterious instruction
6:24 The New York premiere
7:23 Satie’s relationship with Suzanne Valadon
8:24 Suzanne Valadon’s hat
9:23 Suzanne Valadon’s portrait of Satie
9:54 Satie admiration for Valadon
10:23 A pet goat
10:52 Cats and caviar
11:08 A corsage of carrots
11:22 Valadon leaves Satie
13:36 Satie’s calligraphy
14:52 Satie’s portrait of Valadon
15:56 More pictures by Suzanne Valadon
16:55 Valadon as model
18:20 Satie falls out with Paladin
21:25 Peladin’s novels
22:14 Writers who admired Paladin
24:20 Peladin’s cult
24:50 Satie is official composer
26:30 Peladin’s Salon
27:33 Satie’s differences with Paladin
32:20 Gregorian chant
35:19 Satie’s Open Letter
36:46 Friendship with Debussy
37:25 Satie’s influence on Debussy
39:19 A picture of Wagner
40:46 Advice to Debussy
45:45 Disagreements over Wagner
48:10 Vexations is a response to Wagner
51:16 Humour and seriousness
52:41 Satie influences Debussy’s career
54:45 Satie and the Windmill
57:42 A painting by Renoir
58:41 Bohemianism
01:00:41 The Monkish phase
01:02:00 A spoof cult
01:04:10 Which instrument?
01:06:20 Satie’s apartment as Abbey
01:15:00 Strange letters
01:22:00 Satie’s changes of style
01:22:52 The Velvet Gentleman phase
01:24:30 Comparison with David Bowie
01:27:30 Brian Eno
01:29:31 Written before Brahms
01:31:00 A challenge to German music
01:33:27 Satie’s influence
01:36:28 Satie and Stravinsky
01:38:23 New accommodation
01:39:34 Radical politics
01:41:23 Zizek
01:44:23 Furniture music
01:49:25 Communism
01:50:53 A minimalist order: a better world
01:57:21 Satie and Debussy
02:02:56 Debussy’s piano playing
02:04:20 Lunches with Debussy
02:07:47 Debussy’s eggs and cutlets
02:11:13 Satie and Debussy: very different political ideas
02:20:21 Debussy becomes prosperous
02:22:45 Photograph by Stravinsky
02:24:40 Stravinsky’s recollections of Satie
02:32:10 Bottles of water and a hammock
02:35:07 Satie describes his own music
02:38:35 The form of Vexations
02:42:04 Socrate and Princess de Polignac.
02:46:04 Stravinsky’s memories of Socrate
02:50:34 Debussy, Satie and Stravinsky
02:54:29 Satie describes his working day
03:06:04 Satie and Debussy quarrel about Parade
03:07:24 Picasso
03:09:54 Debussy’s jealousy. Jeux etc.
03:12:58 Parade
03:18:56 Satie writing about his tragic rift with Debussy
03:29:50 Satie and surrealism
03:31:00 Poulenc describes the premiere of Parade
03:42:39 Debussy dies
03:45:13 Satie writes about Debussy
03:47:43 Satie and Poulenc
03:52:12 Satie and Ravel
03:56:39 Satie admires and criticises Ravel
04:02:13 Poulenc remembers Satie
04:04:21 Satie’s influence on Cage
04:07:38 Cage discovers Vexations
04:11:35 Cage organises premiere
04:14:31 Christian Wolf remembers the premiere
04:18:32 Cage on Satie
04:21:33 Poulenc on Satie
04:23:38 100 umbrellas
04:25:27 Pumice and Paranoia
04:29:30 Poulenc remembers Socrate
04:33:50 Satie played the piano badly
04:38:24 Satie’s aphorisms
04:46:42 The new spirit
04:53:18 Satie on Animals
04:58:15 Satie on Artistic Truth
05:05:32 Satie on Stravinsky
05:07:48 Satie’s Conservatory Catechism
05:09:39 “What I am”
05:19:43 Intelligence and Musicality among Animals
05:32:08 Child Musicians
06:10:00 Musical Spirit
06:33:22 Theatricalities
06:42:58 Perfect Surroundings
06:48:48 Montmartre Musicians
06:52:13 Odd Corners of my Life
This is a complete performance of Erik Satie’s 'Vexations' (with a written commentary). Satie's famous, and mysterious notations, half joking, half serious, on a single page of manuscript have inspired the longest video yet released on this channel.
Vexations (like a Samuel Beckett play) is mysterious, absurd, baffling and unsettling in equal measure, occupying a strange twilight between comedy and tragedy: a circular, self-referential paradox.
But Satie also invented the idea of ‘furniture music’. Listeners should feel free to dip and out of this video or to have it playing in the background while they do other things.
Satie’s instruction, "At this sign customarily the theme of the Bass will be presented” is somewhat ambiguous, since the “theme in the bass” is present within each harmonised passage. For this performance, to save time (!) Matthew King departs from orthodox performance tradition and has interpreted the “theme of the Bass" as simply occurring within the 3 part texture, not on its own. This follows the recommendation of the Satie Scholar, Robert Orledge: “My advice to pianists would be to play the bass theme at the start, and then the two chordal strands as many times as they can without hallucinating or collapsing from exhaustion."
Bon Appetite!
Erik Satie: Vexations (1893)
Pianist: Matthew King.
An edited version of Igor Levit’s marathon performance in 2020: bit.ly/49suEJW
#Vexations #Satie #themusicprofessor
