Mixed Media

CD of the Month

Satie Planès

Here's a meeting of two. Like Erik Satie, Alain Planès has been composing since childhood, so to speak, and he paints in his very own way, as the booklet cover demonstrates. The fact that he seeks to conjure the sonic aura of genius on an original Pleyel piano, of all things, would certainly have pleased the "Maître d'Arcueil" who is quite interested in spiritualism. Just like the title of the CD which makes the performer of his music seem like an alter ego.

Quite selflessly, Planès attempts to do justice to Satie by tracing a range of works: from the early Valse-ballet through the Pièces froides and the evocative Embryons desséchés to the Avant-dernières pensées which Satie dedicated to his composing friends Debussy, Dukas, and Roussel in 1912. Among the many piano samples, the Trois Gymnopédies and the Trois Gnossiennes stand out as a matter of course: minimalist masterpieces that, despite their apparent simplicity, always possess something unfathomable, even ambiguously human. No wonder choreographers have repeatedly sought to unravel their meaning. Not least Hans van Manen, whose interpretation of Trois Gnossiennes the Stuttgarter Ballett is bringing back to the stage this month: as a preparatory homage to Satie, whose 100th death anniversary we will commemorate on 1 July.

Hartmut Regitz

Erik Satie: Trois Gymnopédies, Gnossiennes, and others, piano: Alain Planès and others;
www.harmoniamundi.com