Headstrong and eccentric Satie consciously distanced himself from the Romantic traditions of the nineteenth century. His three miniatures for piano 'Gymnopédies' are the first testimony to his idea of a 'NewSimplicity': repetitive steady rhythms that are reminiscent of ancient cult dances have their very own meditative charm. Satie’s principle of stringing together musical units rather than forcing them to develop later provedgroundbreaking for many musical movements of the twentieth century. Satie would certainly have appreciated the balanced print image of Henle's Urtext edition as he took pleasure in the visual design of his musical scores.

Satie?s ?Ogives? und Gymnopédies? are milestones in the history of modern music. The four metrically free ?Ogives? (meaning pointed arches) reflect the influence of the French New Gothic or Neo-Gregorian movement in architecture with their clear lines and echo effects. The three ?Gymnopédies? proceed with a swaying, chordal momentum, and Satie?s radically sparse writing makes ironic reference to the dance of young warriors in ancient Sparta during gymnopaedia rituals.

The pieces are easy to play and are ideal for teaching purposes. Information on performance practice by Satie specialist Steffen Schleiermacher offer insight into Satie?s music aesthetics.

- Urtext edition based on all sources and current scholarship
- Easy to play
- Ideal for teaching purposes
- With practical suggestions for performance (Eng/Ger)
- With an informative foreword (Eng/Ger) and critical commentary (Eng)

Jens Rosteck
is a musicologist, cultural historian and author. He has written books on Kurt Weill and Lotte Lenya, Oscar Wilde, Bob Dylan, Jane and Paul Bowles, Hans Werner Henze, and a dissertation on Darius Milhaud?s Claudel operas. He resides in Southern France and was for many years an author for the music encyclopaedia MGG, writing on French music.

Steffen Schleiermacher
studied as ?Meisterschüler? at the ?Berliner Akademie der Künste? and in the class of Aloys Kontarsky at the ?Musikhochschule Köln?. He runs the concert series musica nova at the ?Gewandhaus Leipzig?, was a founder of the Ensemble Avantgarde and gives concerts and lectures as a composer, pianist and conductor throughout Europe, the USA, South America and Asia. He has been the recipient of scholarships (including the Villa Massimo Rome) and numerous recording prizes, and is ?Chevalier des Arts et Lettres?. He has made approx. 60 CD recordings including the complete piano works by Cage and numerous piano works by Satie. / Classique / Partition / Agrafé /

Instrumentation : Clavecin / Pianoforte / Piano / 36 Pièces originales pour piano de Bach à Satie / 36 Originals from Bach to Satie

Tout comme les «Gymnopédies», les «Gnossiennes» renvoient à des traditions de la Grèce antique.

Probablement stimulé par l'Exposition universelle de 1889 à Paris, Satie introduisit dans ces pièces des ornements orientaux.

Très sensible aux tendances musicales en vogue à l'époque, il relia entre eux des éléments exotiques, des influences provenant de la musique de cabaret, ainsi que, bien entendu, ses propres idées et en tira quelque chose d'absolument nouveau.

Quelques-unes des «Gnossiennes» surprennent par d'énigmatiques fragments de texte introduits entre les portées. D'après Satie, il ne faut pas les lire à haute voix, car il sont là pour créer une secrète complicité entre le compositeur et l'interprète - un défi créatif que nous transmettons, grâce à notre édition Urtext, aux exécutants d'aujourd'hui. / Classique / Partition / Broché /

Par SATIE ERIK. 3 Gymnopédies by Erik Satie, arranged by Roger Nichols for Violin and Piano, Flute and Piano or Clarinet and Piano. / Nichols / Répertoire / Violon et Piano

In 1903, Satie composed his famous cycle for piano duet with the provocative and ambiguous title '3 Morceaux en forme de Poire?. (In French, 'poire? means 'pear? but also 'dimwit?). It is a detached and ironic commentary on the constraints of musical form.Now this cycle is being published in a scholarly-critical Urtext edition for the first time. Convenient page turns, a score format, translations of the French expression and tempo markings, Satie's enigmatic introduction, performance suggestions by the Satie specialist Steffen Schleiermacher and a detailed foreword by the renowned musicologist Jens Rosteck make the study and performance of these pieces a true pleasure.- First scholarly-critical Urtext edition- Of an easy to moderate level of difficulty- Includes translations of all expression and tempo markings (Fr/Ger/Eng)- Detailed foreword (Ger/Eng) and Critical Commentary (Eng) / Piano 4 Mains

Contents: Trois Gymnopédies • Six Gnossiennes • Sonatine bureaucratique.