Erik Satie composed for the stage and the film medium on various occasions. His Parade, a ballet in cooperation with Jean Cocteau and Pablo Picasso, is legendary and caused a veritable scandal when it was premiered
in 1917 along with Stravinsky’s Petrushka.
On Vol. 6 of Satie’s piano works Steffen Schleiermacher turns to Parade and other works for the theatre, including the lengthy music for Uspud, billed as a “Christian ballet” but actually parodying Flaubert’s Temptation of St. Anthony in an absurd and absolutely blasphemous manner.
The ‘Cinq Grimaces’ also on this recording, marked the beginning of the collaboration between Satie and Cocteau. Nothing ever came of the theatre projects in which other artists participated. Only Satie’s music has survived in a piano transcription by Darius Milhaud.
For the short “Divertissement,” which actually was written for the inauguration of an organ, Schleiermacher retrieves something special from the original version - and with it a pleasant surprise is in store for you!
