Guillaume Coppola

Erik Satie

Satie in love

We know Erik Satie as a solitary figure, but like the musician who is never where you expect him to be, this album is conceived through the prism of his brief and turbulent affair with the painter Suzanne Valadon, his only known relationship, which, despite lasting barely six months, had a profound effect on him. Beyond the pieces that speak of love without being related to Suzanne—notably music hall—or contemporary to this troubled relationship, a portrait of Satie emerges, masked by a veil of modesty or provocation, between ancient and oriental inspiration (Gymnopédie, Gnossiennes), a mystical phase (Danses gothiques), humor (Valses du précieux dégoûté, Sonatine bureaucratique) and cabaret (Je te veux, la Diva de l'Empire). Rare allusions to Valadon, the miniature Bonjour Biqui and the motif of Vexations become commas between these chapters, as does Désespoir agréable, whose title alone seems to sum up Satie's life and work.