Episodes
| Series | Episode | Title | First Broadcast | Repeated | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | 01 | Gymnopediste | 20091109 | 20110606 (R3) | Irascible. Irreverent. Infuriating. He's the author of one of the most famous - and beautiful - piano pieces ever written. Yet away from the famous Gymnop退die, Erik Satie still divides opinion like no other composer. In today's episode, Donald Macleod explores Satie's early life - from his youth in the sleepy seaside town of Honfleur to the boozy dives of bohemian Montmartre...and that trio of Gymnop退dies, written at the tender age of 20. Donald Macleod explores Satie's early life and his famous set of three Gymnopedies. |
| 2009 | 02 | Monsieur Le Pauvre | 20091110 | 20110607 (R3) | In the 1890s, Satie reinvented himself as a holy man - a self-imposed outcast from the 'wicked' musical establishment. After a brief spell as the composer for a Christian cult, he set up his own church, studied mystical volumes in Paris's National Library, and penned vitriolic articles in his own magazine (average circulation: 1). Donald Macleod introduces the music of this 'mystic' period, including the infamous Vexations - a short piece which the pianist is apparently instructed to repeat 840 times - and the rare, almost Zen-like ballet Uspud. Donald Macleod explores Satie's 'mystic' period of the 1890s. |
| 2009 | 03 | Le Fantaisiste | 20091111 | 20110608 (R3) | In 1905, Satie renounced his bohemian lifestyle and decided, rather improbably...to go back to school, at the tender age of 39. After two years of hard graft, he graduated with flying colours - and with typical perversity, set about composing some of the most surreal piano works ever written... In today's episode, Donald Macleod explores his famously eccentric character, as expressed in works like Desiccated Embryos and the six 'monkey dances' from his Dadaist opera Medusa's Snare. He ends with Satie's most famous stage work - the irreverent ballet Parade. Donald Macleod explores Satie's famously eccentric character. |
| 2009 | 04 | Two Masterpieces | 20091112 | 20110609 (R3) | Donald Macleod introduces two works widely regarded as Satie's greatest, plus a rare miniature for violin and piano, The Embarkation For Cythera. The brilliant suite of vignettes Sports Et Divertissements was commissioned to accompany a volume of artworks. Originally turned down by Stravinsky, Satie almost rejected the project - as he felt the fee offered was too handsome. Socrate is generally considered the composer's masterpiece - a unique, poignant, stunningly beautiful work for voices and chamber orchestra, setting Plato's account of the death of Socrates. Donald Macleod presents two works considered Satie's greatest, plus a rare miniature. |
| 2009 | 05 LAST | Le Maitre | 20091113 | 20110610 (R3) | By the early 1920s, Satie was the toast of Paris. Having been spotted by the legendary impresario Jean Cocteau, he found himself working with the likes of Picasso and hailed by a new generation as 'the Prince Of Musicians'. The composer had also invented 'furniture music' - designed to work unnoticed as interior decoration, a little like modern muzak. Donald Macleod introduces Satie's momentous last decade, featuring two rare fanfares for trumpet and a song written in memory of the composer's greatest friend and colleague, Claude Debussy. The week ends with Satie's remarkable Entr'acte Cinematographique, the first ever film music to be written frame-by-frame, and a startling precursor of minimalism. Donald Macleod focuses on Satie's momentous last decade. |
| 2016 | 01 | Dada Futurist | 20160516 | Satie the Onion: his surreal life viewed in reverse. Donald Macleod peels off the layers, starting with his legacy and his controversial Dadaist final works including Rel che. Erik Satie's existence was a self-consciously surreal one. He reinvented himself throughout his life, rather like a proto-David Bowie, changing his clothing, his friends, his beliefs, and his music. Though he claimed not to want to, he influenced countless others, but he had a tendency to dramatically fall out with almost everyone he was close to. This week, marking the composer's 150th anniversary, Donald Macleod peels off the layers to examine Satie's life in reverse, beginning with his significant posthumous influence and working back to the early music which is still a household name. Several contemporary schools of composition draw on Satiean inspiration, not least Minimalism, celebrating Satie since John Cage's championing of his work in the 1960s. Such celebrity was denied Satie for much of his life, but when it did come in his final years, rather than rest on his laurels he courted controversy, ditching earlier friends including Les Six and embracing extreme Dadaism, epitomised in the remarkably forward-looking 'Cinema', the filmed entr'acte for the ballet Relache. Sonnerie pour r退veiller le bon gros Roi des Singes (lequel ne dort toujours que d'un oeil) Pierre Thibaud, trumpet Bernard Jeannoutot, trumpet Gymnop退die No 1 Jean-Yves Thibaudet, piano Vexations Alan Marks, piano Satie orch Milhaud: Jack in the Box Jack Lanchbery, conductor Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden Cin退ma (Entr'acte from Rel che) Sandra van Veen, Jeroen van Veen, pianos Mercure Pierre Dervaux, conductor Orchestre de Paris Ludions Eva Lind, soprano Jean Lemaire, piano Seven Monkey Dances from Le Pi耀ge de M退duse Bernard Desgraupes, director Ensemble Erwartung Producer: Dominic Jewel. Donald Macleod focuses on Erik Satie's legacy and his controversial Dadaist final works. | |
| 2016 | 02 | Original Surrealist | 20160517 | Satie the Onion: his surreal life viewed in reverse. Donald Macleod peels off the layers, examining the work which earned Satie his own riot: the absurd ballet, Parade. Erik Satie's existence was a self-consciously surreal one. He reinvented himself throughout his life, rather like a proto-David Bowie, changing his clothing, his friends, his beliefs, and his music. Though he claimed not to want to, he influenced countless others, but he had a tendency to dramatically fall out with almost everyone he was close to. This week, marking the composer's 150th anniversary, Donald Macleod peels off the layers to examine Satie's life in reverse, beginning with his significant posthumous influence and working back to the early music which is still a household name. In 1920, Satie was at the height of his popularity, having in the years since the first world war produced some of his most sincere works. This may partly be due to a subconscious liberation experienced at the death of his former friend Debussy in 1918. Prior to that, still relishing his involvement with Les Six, in 1917 he produced with Jean Cocteau and Pablo Picasso the surreal masterpiece Parade, a Diaghilev ballet from which the resulting riot nearly landed the composer in jail. La Belle excentrique Michel Plasson, conductor Orchestre du Capitole de Toulouse Nocturnes Jean-Yves Thibaudet, piano Portrait de Socrate from Socrates Darius Milhaud, conductor Suzanne Danco, soprano Orchestra Sinfonica della RAI di Rome Sonata bureaucratique Yuji Takahashi, piano Louis Auriacombe, conductor Orchestre de la Societ退 des Concerts du Conservatoire Producer: Dominic Jewel. Donald Macleod explores Satie's absurd ballet Parade, a work that caused a riot. | |
| 2016 | 03 | Silly Season | 20160518 | Satie the Onion: his surreal life viewed in reverse. Donald Macleod peels off the layers, finding Satie's playfulness in full flow with works like his 'Flabby Preludes for a Dog'. Erik Satie's existence was a self-consciously surreal one. He reinvented himself throughout his life, rather like a proto-David Bowie, changing his clothing, his friends, his beliefs, and his music. Though he claimed not to want to, he influenced countless others, but he had a tendency to dramatically fall out with almost everyone he was close to. This week, marking the composer's 150th anniversary, Donald Macleod peels off the layers to examine Satie's life in reverse, beginning with his significant posthumous influence and working back to the early music which is still a household name. Prior to the first world war Satie, as yet not subject to the scrutiny of the fame he would later enjoy, wrote many series of provocative and humorous miniatures, principally for piano. Bizarrely titled and sometimes completely inexplicable, often they had a satirical purpose or a pointed personal message, such as the rather ungentle dig at his then friend Debussy intended by the 'Flabby Preludes for a Dog'. Stravinsky: Waltz from Three Easy Pieces for Piano Duo Katia and Marielle Lab耀que, pianos Satie: Sports et Divertissements Pascal Rog退, piano Satie: Cinq Grimaces pour le songe Maurice Abravanel, conductor Utah Symphony Orchestra Satie: Choses vues | |
| 2016 | 04 | School Of Satie | 20160519 | Satie the Onion: his surreal life viewed in reverse. Donald Macleod peels off the layers, looking at Satie's mid-life-crisis, when he went back to school and wrote chorales. Erik Satie's existence was a self-consciously surreal one. He reinvented himself throughout his life, rather like a proto-David Bowie, changing his clothing, his friends, his beliefs, and his music. Though he claimed not to want to, he influenced countless others, but he had a tendency to dramatically fall out with almost everyone he was close to. This week, marking the composer's 150th anniversary, Donald Macleod peels off the layers to examine Satie's life in reverse, beginning with his significant posthumous influence and working back to the early music which is still a household name. In 1905 at the age of 40 and after several years working as a composer and professional musician, Satie suffered a crisis of confidence and decided that he needed to re-learn the rudiments of music. He studied very successfully at the Schola Cantorum under Vincent D'Indy, and passed on his newly acquired knowledge to youngsters near his home in Arcueil. This decision had been a shock to his closest friends, including his first champion, Claude Debussy. Chorales 1 & 2 Jean-Yves Thibaudet, piano En habit de cheval Michel Plasson, conductor Orchestre du Capitole de Toulouse Pieces enfantines (Nouvelles enfantines, Menus propos enfantins, Enfantillages pittoresques, Peccadilles importunes) Allons-y chochotte Gabriel Bacquier, baritone Aldo Ciccolini, piano Trois Morceaux en forme de poire Pascal Roge, Jean-Philippe Collard, pianos Tendrement Regine Crespine, soprano Philippe Entremont, piano Satie orch Debussy: Gymnop退dies Producer: Dominic Jewel. Donald Macleod on Satie's midlife crisis, when he went back to school and wrote chorales. | |
| 2016 | 05 LAST | Mystic Cabaret | 20160520 | Satie the Onion: his surreal life viewed in reverse. Donald Macleod peels off the layers, reaching the core of mystic spirituality and boozy nightlife - and timeless Gymnop退dies. Erik Satie's existence was a self-consciously surreal one. He reinvented himself throughout his life, rather like a proto-David Bowie, changing his clothing, his friends, his beliefs, and his music. Though he claimed not to want to, he influenced countless others, but he had a tendency to dramatically fall out with almost everyone he was close to. This week, marking the composer's 150th anniversary, Donald Macleod peels off the layers to examine Satie's life in reverse, beginning with his significant posthumous influence and working back to the early music which is still a household name. Reaching back to the 1880s and 90s Donald unpicks the core of Satie's inspirations: a curious mixture of highly mystical spirituality and rather earthy cabaret. Satie was happy to combine both, writing music for his own church of Jesus Christ the Conductor by day and consuming large quantities of absinthe as a pianist in the legendary Black Cat Caf退 by night. The contradictory qualities of Satie all come together in his earliest and most celebrated work: the Gymnop退dies. Je te veux Mady Mespl退, soprano Aldo Ciccolini, piano Messe Gaston Litaize, organ Choeurs Rene Duclos Jean Laforge, chorus master Pierre Dervaux, conductor Uspud Bojan Goriek, piano Le Fils des 退toiles Laura Gilbert, flute Stacey Shames, harp Gnossiennes Jacques Loussier Trio Gymnop退dies No 1, 2, 3 Jean-Yves Thibaudet, piano Producer: Dominic Jewel. Donald Macleod discusses Satie's earliest and most celebrated work, the Gymnopedies. | |
| 2021 | 01 | The Trailblazer | 20210426 | Donald Macleod explores five aspects of Satie. Today, meet the innovative and influential composer Ravel dubbed `a precursor of genius` and Cage termed simply `indispensable`. On Satie's death in July 1925, the Musical Times pronounced that he had written `little of real importance in itself`, yet grudgingly acknowledged that `his influence on modern French music was considerable`. The obit writer was probably taking his cue from Ravel, whose support for Satie, nine years his senior but still, up until that point, languishing in obscurity, had taken concrete form in January 1911, when he put on a concert in Satie's honour at a fashionable new venue in the eighth arrondissement of Paris. On that occasion, Ravel paid homage to the older composer's `inventor's mind par excellence` and praised the manner in which he had opened up paths `to new fields of experiment`. From this point on, Satie ceased to be a kind of musical satnav for other composers; now he was on the map himself. Trois Gymnop退dies (No 1, Lent et douloureux) Pascal Rog退, piano Trois Sarabandes (No 2) Francis Poulenc, piano uspud - ballet chr退tien (3rd act) Reinbert de Leeuw, piano Le pi耀ge de M退duse Tzenka Dianova, (prepared) piano Rel che - ballet instantan退iste New London Orchestra Ronald Corp, conductor Vexations (tr耀s lent) - excerpt Nicolas Horvath, piano Produced by Chris Barstow Five aspects of Satie. Today, meet the innovative, influential 'precursor of genius'. | |
| 2021 | 02 | The Humourist | 20210427 | Donald Macleod explores five aspects of Satie. Today, his sharp, quirky, magical, satirical, absurdist sense of humour, which he once credited to Cromwell and Christopher Columbus. Satie's humour permeated everything he did - his music, his performance indications, his correspondence, his dress-sense, the whole tenor of his life. When asked to write a few biographical lines about himself for his new publisher, Eduard Demets, he included the insight: `Before I compose a piece, I walk around it several times, accompanied by myself.` On publication of his Sports et divertissements (Sports and amusements) he advised the pianist to turn each page `with a tolerant thumb and a smile`. His score for Parade, a collaboration with Jean Cocteau, Leonid Massine and Pablo Picasso that became his greatest succ耀s de scandale, included parts for bouteillophone (a row of fifteen tuned bottles), revolver-shots, two sirens, a lottery wheel, `splashy puddles` and a typewriter. Music critic Jean Poueigh gave an unflattering review of the premi耀re; Satie responded by calling him `an arse`, for which he received a fine, a sentence of eight days in prison, and, so far, more than a century's worth of excellent publicity. Embryons dess退ch退s (No 1, d'Holothurie' - Allez un peu) Aldo Ciccolini, piano Parade (ballet r退aliste) Orchestre de la Soci退t退 des Concerts du Conservatoire Louis Auriacombe, conductor La Belle Excentrique - fantaisie s退rieuse Ensemble Die Reihe Friedrich Cerha, conductor Cin退ma - entr'acte symphonique de Rel che (reduction for piano duet by Darius Milhaud) Alexandre Tharaud, ɀric Lesage, piano 4 hands Produced by Chris Barstow Five aspects of Satie. Today, his sharp, quirky, magical, satirical sense of humour. | |
| 2021 | 03 | Trinities | 20210428 | Donald Macleod explores five aspects of Satie. Today, his penchant for composing in threes, which has been likened to presenting three different views of the same sculpture. Composers who write suites' tend to go for variety of tempo, texture and so on. One of Satie's innovations was the mini-suite of three similar movements, of which the composer observed: `I invent an absolutely new form. The piece I wrote seems good to me. But might that not just be luck? If I compose a second and a third piece along the same lines but with different melodic ideas, and if these pieces are still good, then the form I have invented is good in itself.` Les trois valses distingu退es du pr退cieux d退goût退 1. Sa taille - pas vite 2. Son binocle - tr耀s lent, s'il vous pl it 3. Ses jambes - d退termin退 Joanna MacGregor, piano Pi耀ces froides I. Airs | |
| 2021 | 04 | Satie Through His Writings | 20210429 | Donald Macleod explores five aspects of Satie. Today, his copious, playful and highly idiosyncratic writings, which present a kaleidoscopic panoply of absurdist wit and humour. Satie's writings: there are the texts he set to music; texts which he specifies are `not to be read aloud`; bits of copy he wrote for bizarre adverts in his local newspaper; the publications of his private church; letters to friends - and enemies - some 400 of them; and strangest of all, thousands of beautifully calligraphed `personal advertisements` - little cards, discovered amidst the chaos and squalor of his room in the humdrum Parisian suburb of Arcueil after his death, carefully stored in old cigar-boxes. Many of them depict means of transport: five-masted schooners, streamlined `Transaerial` liners, elaborate gliders `made of steel`, magnificent airships - each describing, as Satie authority Ornella Volta put it, `elements of a looking-glass world`. Premi耀re pens退e Rose+Croix Alexandre Tharaud, piano Messe des pauvres (Kyrie eleison) Choeurs Ren退 Duclos Jean Laforge, chorus master Gaston Litaize, organ Pierre Dervaux, conductor Quatre Ogives Jeroen van Veen, piano The Dreamy Fish Aldo Ciccolini, piano Avant-derni耀res pens退es 1. Idylle, for Claude Debussy 2. Aubade, for Paul Dukas 3. M退ditation, for Albert Roussel Jean-Yves Thibaudet, piano Sonatine bureaucratique 1. Allegro 2. Andante 3. Vivache Mercure - Poses plastiques' in 3 tableaux by Picasso New London Orchestra Ronald Corp, conductor Produced by Chris Barstow Five aspects of Satie. Today, his copious, playful and highly idiosyncratic writings. | |
| 2021 | 05 LAST | Satie's Serious Side | 20210430 | Donald Macleod explores five aspects of Satie. Today, it's goodbye clowning, hello classical simplicity, as Satie confesses himself to have become 'very serious; too serious even`. Perhaps it was the relentless onslaught of World War I that knocked some of the absurdity out of Satie. Whatever the reason, when, in 1916, Winnaretta Singer, heiress to the Singer sewing machine fortune, suggested to him that he should compose a work based on Plato's account of the life and death of the philosopher Socrates, after initial reservations he became increasingly enamoured of the project: `Plato is a perfect collaborator, very gentle and never troublesome. It's a dream! I'm swimming in happiness.` Sylvie' (Trois m退lodies) Mady Mespl退, soprano Aldo Ciccolini, piano Cinq Nocturnes Jean-Yves Thibaudet, piano Socrate (Pt 1, Portrait de Socrate) Barbara Hannigan, soprano Reinbert de Leeuw, piano Socrate (Pt 2, Les Bords d'Illissus) Socrate (Pt 3, Mort de Socrate) Les Anges' (Trois m退lodies) Produced by Chris Barstow Five aspects of Satie. Today, it's goodbye clowning, hello classical simplicity. |