Always inventive and innovation-seeking, Erik Satie’s earliest works show traces of Chopin as an influence but he soon came to reject virtuosity and tradition, choosing instead to remain with the quintessentially French traits of clarity, precision, elegance and economy. Satie’s hauntingly beautiful floating melodies and modal tonalities are unforgettably compelling, combining bygone classical ages with Parisian sophistication. This landmark recording uses both a new and corrected edition of Satie’s music and Cosima Wagner’s own 1881 Erard piano, Satie’s instrument maker of choice.
