Gymnopedie 2 - Erik Satie (Classical Piano)

This video is the second of the three Gymnopédies with a slide show which I have called "Wild Lupins". I took these photos near Lake Tekapo on the South Island of New Zealand. Unfortunately, I am not playing the piano in this video, the pianist is Aldo Ciccolini. The Gymnopédies, published in Paris starting in 1888, are three piano compositions written by French composer and pianist Erik Satie. The Gymnopédies are the first compositions with which Erik Satie tried to cut himself loose from the conventional 19th century "salon music" environment of his father and stepmother. Satie apparently used the word "gymnopédiste" (gymnopaedist), before having written a note of his later so famous gymnopédies. The anecdote of Satie introducing himself as a "gymnopaedist" in December 1887 runs as follows: the first time Satie visited the Chat Noir cabaret, he was introduced to its director, Rodolphe Salis, famous for serving sharp comments. Being coerced to mention his profession, Satie, lacking any recognisable professional occupation, presented himself as a "gymnopaedist", supposedly in an attempt to outwit the director. The composition of the three Gymnopédies started only two months later, and was completed in April 1888. In August 1888, the "First Gymnopédie" was published, accompanied by the verse of Contamine quoted above. However, it remains uncertain whether the poem was composed before the music, or whether Contamine intended the verse as a tribute to his friend, who had now ...
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