"pascal Roge" Satie Gymnopedies

Erik Satie as a source of inspiration for John Cage - Pianist Bertrand Chamayou with his album Letter(s) to Erik Satie.

Perhaps because their piano music was so different, Satie and Debussy were close friends from the time of the Gymnopédies onwards and whereas Satie’s titles here look back to ancient Greek civilisation, Debussy derived the individual preludes in his first collection from more contemporary literature, art or nature. But, like Satie, he wanted to make them look different in publication and placed their titles at the end, although he must have realised that once played, their titles would never be forgotten.

A versatile musician and music producer. Alessandro's preference for board instruments was clear when as a child he began to play as a self-taught pianist. He also started composing at a very early age. At 14 y.o. he wrote a cycle of Mazurkas inspired by Chopin.

Érik Satie is a Janusian, paradoxical figure. On the one hand, his music is a dazzling look at a bygone era, nostalgic for an oft fantasized time, with its almost childlike sincerity and curiosity. On the other, it offers a piercing glance, radically turned towards the future, disrupting conformity with its clear, stripped-down lines.

Ron Adelaar is a Dutch-based pianist and composer of neoclassical, meditative piano compositions. Besides that he is A&R manager at Andante Piano, sublabel of Disruptive Records run by his son Ivo Adelaar. Ron had an early introduction to piano music, as he started his career at the age of 13 by playing the organ and piano at several churches in his hometown Amersfoort (The Netherlands), all together with his father Ton Adelaar who played the flute.

Bruno Fontaine’s boldness should be applauded. There is no shortage of identikit Satie piano recitals that present an anaemic, straight-laced portrait of this most idiosyncratic of composers. At first sight, Fontaine’s new disc is no different. He obeys the legal requirement for Satie piano recitals to include the Gymnopédies and throws in the Gnossiennes as additional indemnity.

A versatile musician and music producer.

Born in 1994 in Datong China, Ke studied at the Royal Academy of Music in London with Christopher Elton, Michael Dussek and Andrew West, graduating with a Masters with distinction (DipRAM) in 2017. She is currently pursuing her Doctoral study at Guildhall School of Music and Drama with Professor Joan Havill, Dr Alexander Soares and Rolf Hind.

For the fourth instalment in her acclaimed Satie cycle, Noriko Ogawa has gathered music written for the stage – from the pantomime Jack in the Box (1899) to the ballet Relâche (1924) – one of Satie’s last works. Several of the pieces exist in different scorings, but the piano versions heard here are all Satie’s own.

Fragments is a project that moves between planes. Between classical and electronic music, between streaming-at-home and art-installation, between old and new.