Satie: Socrate & Liszt: Via crucis

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The way John Cage arranged Erik Satie's Socrate for two pianos is simple and quite ingenious. He dovetails Satie's original piano accompaniment between both instruments and generally replicates... — Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010 More…

Catalogue No: BMC100
Label: BMC
Length: 60 minutes

Satie: Socrate

Work length27:03

$1.65

$2.10

Edit Klukon (soloist), Dezső Ránki (soloist)

I. Portrait of Socrates (The Symposium)

Track length5:44

$0.55

$0.70

II. On the Banks of the Ilissus (Phaedrus)

Track length6:45

$0.55

$0.70

III. The Death of Socrates (Phaedon)

Track length14:34

$0.55

$0.70

Liszt: Via Crucis (The 14 Stations of the Cross), S53

Work length33:55

$8.25

$10.50

Edit Klukon (soloist), Dezső Ránki (soloist)

Vexilla Regis (Abroad the Royal Banners)

Track length3:42

$0.55

$0.70

I. Jesus Is Condemned to Death

Track length1:21

$0.55

$0.70

II. Jesus Bears His Cross

Track length1:53

$0.55

$0.70

III. Jesus Falls the First Time

Track length1:18

$0.55

$0.70

IV. Jesus Meets His Holy Mother

Track length1:43

$0.55

$0.70

V. Simon of Cyrene Helps Jesus Carry the Cross

Track length2:28

$0.55

$0.70

VI. Saint Veronica

Track length1:55

$0.55

$0.70

VII. Jesus Falls the Second Time

Track length1:19

$0.55

$0.70

VIII. The Women of Jerusalem

Track length1:50

$0.55

$0.70

IX. Jesus Falls the Third Time

Track length1:17

$0.55

$0.70

X. Jesus Is Stripped of His Garments

Track length1:30

$0.55

$0.70

XI. Jesus Is Nailed to the Cross

Track length0:59

$0.55

$0.70

XII. Jesus Dies on the Cross

Track length5:17

$0.55

$0.70

XIII. Jesus Is Taken Down From the Cross

Track length3:08

$0.55

$0.70

XIV. Jesus Is Laid in the Sepulchre

Track length4:15

$0.55

$0.70

Reviews
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Reviews

2010

The way John Cage arranged Erik Satie's Socrate for two pianos is simple and quite ingenious. He dovetails Satie's original piano accompaniment between both instruments and generally replicates the vocal line in unison octaves deployed in different registers. As a result, together with the loss of text, we get no sense of the original's dry, declamatory drama. But we do get Satie's ambling gait, pretty harmonies and, especially in the final pages, stark simplicity.
Without choral forces and the organ's sustaining power, Liszt's Via Crucis (based on the 14 Stations of the Cross) emerges as a rather severe exercise where bare-bone single lines shuttle between bleak block chords and tremolos. Sometimes it sounds static, yet certain moments prove quite effective, such as Station 11's pounded-out opening chords that mirror Christ being nailed to the Cross. The Ránki/Klukon duo make the best case for these arrangements and play with sustained, long-lined concentration and intelligent dynamic scaling that is far more difficult to achieve than it appears to the casual ear. In any event, if you're interested in these works without singers, this excellently engineered release recommends itself.

July 2006

Two great choral works reduced to two pianos still make an impact. The Ránki/Klukon duo make the best case for these arrangements and play with sustained, long-lined concentration and intelligent dynamic scaling that is far more difficult to achieve than it appears to the casual ear.

Satie: Socrate & Liszt: Via crucis

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