Letter(s) to Erik Satie
Works by Cage and Satie
Bertrand Chamayou (piano)
Erato 5419769644 70:43 mins
It seemed inevitable that Bertrand Chamayou would be drawn to the twin, enigmatic worlds of arguably the most significant precursors of present-day experimentalism. Yet the French pianist has only recently come round to Satie, initially merely charmed by the composer’s trademark haunting softness, and suspicious of a ‘popular infatuation with certain pieces’. Real interest was only prompted when Chamayou discovered Cage’s later artistic identification with Satie, leading to this dual celebratory recording of solo works.
Those popular certain pieces – the Trois Gymnopédies and, to a lesser extent, Gnossiennes 1-7 – are duly included. But their placement is particular, largely scattered among less familiar Satie miniatures, and framed by Cage works often composed in direct homage to Satie. The result is not so much a viewing of Satie though a Cageian lens, but a viewing of the two through the distinctive, brilliant lens of a sensitive pianist, newly converted.
The opening piece is only circumstantially attributed to Cage, but formed Chamayou’s immediate prompt. All Sides of the Small Stone, for Erik Satie and (Secretly Given to Jim Tenney as a Koan) was discovered in 2016 inside a score by James Tenney – the Cage mentoree whose ear-tickling 3 Pages in the Shape of a Pear (in celebration of Erik Satie) makes a fleeting guest appearance.
Between them, ahead of Cage’s final, elusive Dream, Chamayou also performs selections from Satie’s piano cycle Sports et Divertissements and more – each rendered with elegant nuance and occasionally forthright, dramatic splashes. These have a more natural recorded resonance while much of the Cage is lent a reverberating halo, imbuing A Room, Swinging and especially In a Landscape with an otherworldly intensity. Steph Power