Guillaume Coppola

Erik Satie composed Vexations in 1893 following his breakup with the painter Suzanne Valadon, their relationship of a few months having ended with a bang. 

NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR: "To play this motif 840 times in a row, it will be good to prepare oneself beforehand, and in the greatest silence, by serious immobilities": a deliberately provocative program, perhaps in the image of the sadness and bitterness of the musician...

A notorious anti-conformist, Satie mocked a certain musical academism even in the titles of his pieces, such as his Trois morceaux en forme de poire... So why not be iconoclastic in our turn? By not repeating this motif of Vexations eight hundred and forty times, we will instead give it a role of sound punctuation, of interlude creating a link between pieces chosen precisely for their diversity, their contrasts. Oscillating between meditative music (Gnossiennes, Gymnopédies), mystical states (Prélude de la porte héroïque du ciel), humor or parody (Embryons desséchés, Sonatine bureaucratique) and music-hall (Je te veux, Jack in the box), this recital confirms that the production of this original remains unclassifiable!

An entire recital without form? or rather in the form of... Vexations.

SATIE 2025 - Centenary of death

Motif de Vexations et ses deux variations

1ère Gymnopédie
Prélude de la porte héroique du ciel

Embryons desséchés
II. d'Edriophtalma

Les trois valses distinguées du précieux dégouté

Clementi Sonatine op.36 n°1
Sonatine bureaucratique

1ère Gnosienne
5ème Gnossienne
7ème Gnossienne (extrait du Fils des étoiles)

Jack in the box
 1- Prélude
La diva de l'Empire
Rag-Time Parade

Je te veux, valse chantée - version pour piano solo de l’auteur

Certain scores can be projected simultaneously onto a screen, with Satie's poetic or humorous annotations for the performer, or burlesque narrations accompanying his music.