the real satie-day

 on the centenary of erik satie's death 

'satie teaches what, in our age, is the greatest audacity: simplicity' - jean cocteau

in many ways one of the great things about erik satie is that he comes from outside. he comes from the world of  cabaret, of jobbing musicians and songwriters, and into a (grudging) kind of classical acceptance. 

his is an era where the piano has democratised music making and music theory overlaying earlier folk forms but it is a very grudging acceptance because he is not writing (until the end) the extended pieces that are expected of classical composers. 

debussy and ravel are hastily wheeled on to attest for his bona fides (but not les six, or subsequent composers he was an influence on, because they are not well known enough, the cultural position of modern classical music having fallen in the meantime). 

'despite being a musical iconoclast, and encourager of modernism, satie was uninterested to the point of antipathy in innovations such as the telephone, the gramophone and the radio. he made no recordings, and as far as is known heard only a single radio broadcast (of milhaud's music) and made only one telephone call.' 

new fragments of satie have recently been released.

pianist alexandre tharaud plays 27 short pieces by satie discovered in archives and published for the first time, the fruit of research carried out by satie specialists sato matsui and james nye.

in addition to being the centenary of the death of erik satie it is also the birthday of rashied ali. 

today a cool morning (but that doesn't mean very much).