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STEREO 414 083-1 EH

LONDON

JUBILEE ERIK SATIE (1866-1925) was born a very young man into a very old world. Had he been born into this present generation, he would be considered very heavy indeed! (Perhaps he'd be packing them m at the

Garden or The Forum or even the Fillmore Ballroom and commanding enormous fees per performance.) It's a cinch that the younger generation would have dug him, for he was too much! Too much for his

generation, however, and to this day music critics and musicologists cannot make up their minds and they keep pushing Erik into a corner like some musical "nut". Hence, not much has been said, not enough

that is, for this great talent who was probably the one man who had the greatest influence on music and young musicians of his day. . . Debussy, Ravel, Stravinsky, and "Les Six" (Georges Auric, Louis Durey,

Arthur Honegger, Germaine Tailleferre, Darius Milhaud and Francis Poulenc). L 1 His free and unconventional way of life labelled him as a non-conformist for he spent his life trying to escape from what we

now call "the establishment". It wasn't something he did to rebel against society, but the honest man who believed in what he was doing. 1 I Satie was known as the "Velvet Gentleman" mainly because velvet

was his favorite. He always wore it. He even had velvet umbrellas and, at one time, over twenty of them lined his bedroom wall. He gave ridiculous titles to his works; at least, that's what most people thought,

but he was "putting down" the composers of his day who were taking themselves too seriously. I 1 Satie died in 1925, but his taste and style surprisingly relate to where music has evolved today. He expressed

the ideal that contemporary music strenuously tries to be; in other words, what the musicians of today are driving their amplifiers and breaking their eardrums to achieve, Satie discovered just about a century ago.

His music created a "Looking-Glass" into which the whole world could look and there see how absurd they looked. I 1 He wanted people to recognize in his work their own fantasies, hysteria and ridiculous

vanities and so he put nonsense labels on his pieces as an expression of truth, so that those real seekers of something better could easily discover their answers in the simplicity of his writings. Satie said of the New

Spirit he was creating; "The exercise of art demands that we live in a state of the most absolute renunciation." I I He has come crashing into popularity not only for the singularly sensitive music he composed

(i.e. Gymnopedies), but also, for his free, existential way of life, which parallels the mode and the mood of the young people everywhere today in their endless search for reality. I I This image, and one that

he was completely dedicated to, has made him the "in" composer among the underground music elite. Perhaps Satie said it better in a note he wrote about himself: "He is considered to be the strangest

musician of his time ... he classes himself among the Fantasists who are in his opinion 'highly respectable people.'" I I We must not forget that The Master of Arcueil is looked upon by very many of the

younger school as the forerunner and apostle of the revolution now taking place in music. 1 1 While putting together the music for the "VELVET GENTLEMAN," I developed a deep affinity for the composer as

a man and I see myself in his life as well as in his music. In this present album (which I consider an extension of the first) the Spirit of Erik continues to hover over me, incessantly, directing and supervising

whatever I do. So it is with great pride of accomplishment that Erik and I present to you this LP entitled "The Music of Erik Satie, THROUGH A LOOKING-GLASS" for we are sure that in it, you will see yourself.. . .

CAMARATA

The Music of Erik Satie: "THROUGH A LOOKING-GLASS" ZZ A CHRONOLOGICAL SURVEY I I 1886 to 1895 L 1 The period of mysticism and medieval influence I I 1897 to 1915 I I The

period of mystification and eccentricity 1 I 1916 to 1925 I I The period of the "musique

d'ameublement" ("furnishing music"). This period also includes the production of Satie's major works

for stage and ballet.

SIDE ONE I— 1 Band 1 L I GYMNOPEDIES (Orchestrated by Camarata) One of a trinity of piano

pieces written in 1888 during a period when Wagner was all the rage with his rich, over-luscious, over¬

complicated sonorities. This is truly one of the finest examples of originality and utter simplicity in

music. A sad, undulating melodic line, sketched over a deliciously dissonant chord line of alternate

major sevenths, creates an aura of transparency and sheer beauty which transcends beyond, into "the

music of the spheres" ZZ DEUX PRELUDES POSTHUMES (Orchestration by Poulenc) (1892) ZZ FETE

DONNEE PAR DES CHEVALIERS NORMANDS EN L'HONNEUR D'UNE JEUNE DEMOISELLE (11th

Century) ZZ PREMIER PRELUDE DU NAZAREEN ZZ Band 2 HZ] QUATRIEME (1891) CINQUIEME

(1889) SIXIEME (1897) GNOSSIENNES ZZ Band 3 ZD LE FILS DES ETOILES (1891) ZZ PRELUDE

DU PREMIER ACTE ZZ PRELUDE DE LA PORTE HEROIQUE DU CIEL (1894) The most significant com¬

positions of the mystic Rose-Croix period. Satie was a Rosicrucian in a genuinely religious state of mind,

who was under the impression that he was working under the direct guidance of some medieval cleric

whose fanatical piety he had inherited from beyond the grave. The Prelude de la Parte Heroique du

Ciel was probably the most perfect of his religious compositions, with its pure mysticisms and unusual

harmonic progressions ZZ Band 4 ZZ DEUXIEME, TROISIEME SARABANDES (1887) Satie was only

21 when he wrote the now famous Sarabandes. The unusual lush harmonies used in these pieces were

unheard of at the time, and were considered revolutionary . . . later, Debussy and Ravel were so fond

of these pieces that they would perform them at their concerts. There is no doubt that Satie's chromati¬

cism had a great deal of influence on them both during their impressionable periods.

Music arranged by: Camarata All titles courtesy: Editions Salabert

Recorded at: Kingsway Hall, London Art Direction: Vincent Biondi

Engineer: Arthur Lilley Cover Illustration: Susan Obrant

Produced by: Tony D'Amato

Reduction at: Sunset Sound, Hollywood

Engineer: William L. Robinson

Solo Credits: Clarinet: Tom Kelley

Oboe: Derek Wickens

Cor Anglais: Dick Morgan

Flute: William Bennett, Chris Taylor

Guitar: Roland Harker

Piano: Les Pearson

Trumpet: John Wilbraham

1st Horn: Alan Civel

Concert Master: Sidney Sax

SIDE TWO ZZ Band 1 ZZ "THROUGH A LOOKING GLASS" (Orchestrated and arranged by Cama¬

rata) A reflective look at Satie's music, mirroring in retrospect (via Gymnopedies, Nocturnes, le Fils) the

remarkably strong influence it has had (including modern rock music in the work of such groups as

Blood, Sweat and Tears) over a span of almost 100 years 1 I Band 2 I I PARADE "Ballet Realiste"

Jean Cocteau, scenario/Pablo Picasso, settings costumes and curtain/Leonide Massine, choreographer/

Erik Satie, music/Performed by Serge Diaghilev's Russian Ballet/Ernest Ansermet, conductor. With an

array of talent such as this, it is small wonder that this ballet burst upon Paris like a bomb, on the night

of May 18th 1917, at the Theatre du Chatelet. Revolutionary and unprecedented, it had no parallel in

the history of the stage. The public, critics and musicians alike, were duly shocked and confused at this

first manifestation of musical and visual Cubism, Symbolism, Dadaism, Surrealism, and other isms.

The music was scored to a scenario representing a booth at a circus fair, in which the principal

characters were a Chinese juggler, an American girl, a couple of acrobats and 3 showmen. The

action takes place outside the showmen's tent while the actors are going through their antics to lure

the public inside to see the real show, thus, the title Parade. A real innovation was Picasso's treat¬

ment of the showmen who were encased in wooden frames, Cubistic in style, indicating that they,

the commercial minds who run the show, are artificial, imprisoned people, while the actors, who

have to provide entertaining illusions at the "Managers'" command, are the real human beings.

1 I The work, in spite of its absurdities and derisions, indicates a renunciation of the material world

and a return to the basic elements of reality. This, in effect, relates to the generation of today,

which has renounced all traditions and tried desperately to escape from realism, via drugs, etc.,

and now, having been through this cleansing process, is slowly transcending toward truth and reality

from within. I I The Ballet opens with a Chorale which leads into the Prelude, a short fugal exposition

which suggests to us a religious service being held in a small church in the distance, off the fairgrounds.

1 I The bells of the church are heard in Satie's score as the congregation disperses. People make their

way to the fairgrounds and Satie's "Managers'" theme then appears in all its originality and inventive¬

ness. 1 1 The activity of the fairgrounds leads us directly to the Chinese Conjurer, who juggles an egg,

causes thunder and lightning and spits fire. He burns himself and stamps frantically to extinguish the

flames. L 1 The first manager then executes a silent dance without music and is followed by the "Little

American Girl". The "Little American Girl" goes through a lot of changes. First, she is the naive, demure

little one, who although not abashed at removing her clothing and doing the latest Rock and Roll

gyrations at the local Discotheque, still must work for a living as a secretary in a lawyer's office. 1 I

She soon tires of these occupations and, in turn, robs a bank, appears in a silent "flick" a la Charlie

Chaplin, works in a western saloon off the Barbary Coast, stows away on an ocean liner, is ship¬

wrecked, meets a gigolo, has a baby and goes back to Arkansas. ZZ In this episode the Camarata

Contemporary Group has taken liberties with Satie's score and added a "Stripper Section" and also

a Rock and Roll group. L 1 The acrobats now enter in a sort of music hall waltz tune with grotesque¬

like accents. L 1 This section is now treated as purely symbolic in its "mirroring" of past historical

events. Its facadical quality has the illusion of seriousness, however, and it dawns on us that the

absurdities are for real. They are ourselves ... we are truly gazing into the "Looking-Glass" as we hear

famous voices from the past and ominous sounds of the present and, with a deep sense of foreboding,

we are not sure we like what we see.

LIST OF SOUND EFFECTS

WARNING: All rights reserved. Unauthorized reproduction is prohibited by law and may result in criminal prosecution. London Records, a division of Polygram Classics, Inc., 810 Seventh Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10019. Distributed in Canada by Polygram Distribution Inc., 6000 Cote de Liesse, St. Laurent, Quebec H4T 1E3.

100 Men reciting the Lord's Prayer Z Bells of St. Peter's Z Crowds dispersing Z Fairground crowd

noises Z Lottery wheel Z Thunder Z Fire Z Crowd noises in a "Strip" club Z Crowd noises dis¬

cotheque Z Typewriter Z Revolver shots Z Machine gun Z Police siren Z Ocean waves Z Propeller

aeroplane Z Steam boat Z Birth of a baby Q Jet aeroplane Z Franklin D. Roosevelt Z Adolph

Hitler Z Atom bomb design: farmlett, barsanti & wood inc.

STEREO 414 083-1 HU

The Music of Erik Satie THROUGH A LOOKING GLASS

DEUX PRELUDES POSTHUMES (5:51) 2. GNOSSIENNES (Quatrieme, Cinquieme, Sixieme (6:20)

3. LES FILS DES ETOILES (5:35) 4. SARABANDES (Deuxiime, Troisfeme) (4:47)

(Satie) . CAMARATA . .

JUBILEE