Vexations [Import, Original recording remastered]

Erik Satie (Artist) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 11, 2005)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Import, Original recording remastered
• Label: LTM
• ASIN: B000AM1TTE
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #324,866 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Vexations, for piano

Editorial Reviews

Written by eccentric French composer Erik Satie in 1893, the extraordinary score for Vexations is just three lines long, yet a complete performance (840 repetitions) may last for anything between 14 and 28 hours. First performed under the supervision of John Cage in 1963, this radical yet enigmatic work is now recognized as a significant milestone in avant-garde music. This meditative 70 minute recording features 40 repetitions of the motif, performed by Alan Marks on piano. The recording was produced by Thomas Wilbrant. 2005.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars how Vexations can vex u!, March 20, 2009

By 

H. van den Berg (Amsterdam, Netherlands) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Vexations (Audio CD)

There are few recordings on the market of this exceptional piano piece by Erik Satie. This version by Alan Marks does almost 70 minutes of Satie's Vexations, and is currently probably the only version on the market. Vexations is a piano piece which ought to be repeated 840 times. The piece itselfs takes about 90 to 210 seconds. The fact that it should be repeated 840 times is vexing. Play this recording repetitively and you're getting close to what Satie wanted.
Alan Marks's rendition is clear, the recording is flawless. This is one of the best recordings I know, fluent, laid-back and that is the way I appreciate it. Compare this with Aldo Cicciolini's recording (too fast) and Reinbert de Leeuw's recording (slow and concise, probably one of the best).
Alan Marks's is today the best recording that money can buy.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars GET YOUR THETA-WAVES HERE..., July 4, 2007

By 

Sébastien Melmoth (Hôtel d'Alsace, PARIS) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Vexations (Audio CD)

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Satie is sometimes credited with the invention of ambient music. It may be true; however, nearly contemporaneously, Scriabin created an ambient music of lesser repetition (cf. his Sonatas Nos. 5-10, and later piano pieces). Scriabin: Complete Piano Sonatas

In any case, this recording of Satie's Vexations is a very unusual disc which features a 70 min reading of a piece Satie designated to last almost 24 hours: a continuous performance of a few lines repeated ad infinitum to create a meditative background ambient: remarkable.

Continuous audition induces theta- brain waves which accompany a meditative or dream-like state.
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