Satie - Gymnopedies I - III

[beethovenfan]

Hi,

do you know the grade or level of Eric Saties Gymnopedies Number I to III.


By the way, how do you find them?
What's your favorite one?

beethovenfan

[bernhard]

Grade 6.

Try here:

https://www.sheetmusicarchive.net/single_listing.cfm?composer_id=56

Best wishes,
Bernhard

[beethovenfan]

Hi Bernhard,

thanks a lot,

what's your favorite one?

beethovenfan

[chickering9]

I almost invariably start and finish my practice each day with Satie, usually doing a random two out of the six pieces in the Alfred Masterworks Edition of the 3 Gymnopedies and 3 Gnossiennes.  I like all six pieces, but my favorites are really the 1st and 3rd Gnossiennes, in that order.  I love the 1st Gymnopedie and even while it's a simple piece on paper, I find it to be the hardest of the set to control in a musical way.  It looks deceptively simple, but it gives me a much harder time than LVB 27,2 Mvts. 1-3, or even Lecuona's "Malaguena".  It takes far more mental focus to time that slow languid movement and those shifts of keyboard position in the right hand in Gym. 1.  But when it works, it's absolutely gorgeous.  I sometimes think how aptly Satie named those little workout pieces.  So few notes, but each demanding perfection of execution to hear their beauty.

[xvimbi]

Chickering9 just beat me to it. Don't be fooled by difficulty ratings. The Gymnopedies are extremely difficult to play. There are very few notes, so everything has to be perfect to make a coherent performance. Despite the scarcity of notes, there are myriads of ways to shape the melody, and one can spend weeks to get the base notes just right and "gongy" or work out the tempi. I have seen pianists, who can "play" any difficult Beethoven sonata, fail miserably with the Gymnopedies, revealing a serious lack of musicality. I believe true mastery is at least to some part defined by being able to play these seemingly simple pieces in a musical way. The fewer the notes, the more difficult. Much of Mozart's music belongs to this category.

That said, these pieces are perfect for the adult beginner, because adult beginners are musically usually fairly mature, but don't have the technical prowess yet, which is not required for these pieces.

[beethovenfan]

Hi,

I think I must have a luck at the Gnossiennes, I don't know them,
but I like the Gymnopedies very much. Number 3 is my favorite one, I think.

Do you know, what kind of music Satie is?
It's not really romantic and not really impressionismus(?), don't know the english word for the period of Debussy.
Are there any other composers  who composed in that style?

beethovenfan

[bernhard]

Hi Bernhard,

thanks a lot,

what's your favorite one?

beethovenfan

I like all of them (although I am a bit tired of a number 1, since everyone plays it). Personally I like to play the three of them as a cycle.

I also like the Gnossienes a lot.

Best wishes,
Bernhard.

[beethovenfan]

Hi xyimbi,

I know what you mean.
I think, when you want to perform very well, every composition is difficult, even it's Für Elise.

But I'm no beginner, so I think I'm able to do it.

[kaisteier]

I also like the 3rd Gymnopedie best. My fav Gnossienne is the fith.

I think Satie's music is unique.