Pianoforte - Tumblr Posts
"la pianiste"
from the artbook "Hotel Miramare" available here:
https://www.libreriadifrusaglia.it/prodotto/virginia-mori-hotel-miramare/
Satie è quel che ci vuole in questi pomeriggi freddi e bui.
Satie - Six Gnossiennes
Anyone familiar with Satie knows that he was an eccentric individual. His entire character and music aesthetics seemed to be in line with Ezra Pound’s mantra for the period we would later call Modernism, “Make it New”. Among his several piano works, he took liberty with giving new names to types of works. Instead of using the conventional “prelude” or “fantasy” or even an abstract word like “piece”, he titled his works with things like “Ogive” [from gothic architecture], “Choses” [meaning “things”], “Gymnopedies” and “Vexations” neither of which have an explanation, and so on. The Gnossiennes also have no clear etymology, I would say the best guess is that he is somehow making a reference to Gnosticism, an early Christian cult that believed humans could only find the truth of divine light by looking within. Satie was also eccentric with religious views, and he was involved in Gnostic sects in Paris at the time. Musically, the pieces are harmonically bizarre for the 1890s. The first moves like a dance, the main melody is riddled with half-steps that give the work a mysterious quality. Listening to it makes me think of being in the woods at night where the moon is so full that you can see clearly. The second feels more rhapsodic, its melody going up and down scales that sound like Greek or Medieval modes. It makes me think of an empty street at night, maybe there are lights on in restaurants. Or maybe I’m in an apartment with a book, next to an open window, outside is dark. The third is a bit unsettling the way its melody moves in harsh angles. It almost sounds Mediterranean, or perhaps like Hungarian or Romani folk scales. The Gnossinnes 4-6 were actually found amongst many loose composition sketches among a variety of oddities in Sate’s apartment after his death. They weren’t titled, so it’s probable that Satie didn’t intend them to be Gnossinnes, since they don’t follow the same base “dance” rhythm that the others have. The fourth opens like a Chopin nocturne with a slow arpeggio in the bass, however the accompanying right hand sounds like it is playing in another key. Together they make a very murky and eerie sound, I can’t help but think of a cloudy day in the middle of October. The fifth is the most cheery of all of them, and the free flow of the right hand is so ornamented, it’s like music for a day at the beach. The last piece is a bit of an oddball, the rhythm is constant and the harmonies are so unpredictable, that following along it’s easy to feel dizzy. Like you’re exploring a large old mansion full of secret passageways. It’s probably wrong of me to give these atmospheric and abstract works so many extra musical ideas, but I cannot help it. They masterfully evoke a sense of curiosity to whoever listens to them.
❤️
Ph: Alfio Samà
«A volte le persone vanno via all'improvviso, senza dir nulla, senza un perché, e lasciano un doloroso buio nell’anima, un buio profondo come un abisso. Da quell’abisso emergono le vuote carcasse dei sogni che non sono più, e guardandoci con i loro occhi spenti quelle carcasse sembrano voler dire: "te l’avevo detto…"
Dopo resta solo la scialba e incolore vita di tutti i giorni.» - Alfio Samà
.... 💗..... 🎼🎶🎵
Photo Alfio Samà: From the clouds at dawn