Notes
The idea for an Erik Satie (1866–1925) “project”–arranging, recording, publishing–came to me on a random summer day in 2022. I had already arranged “Gnossienne No. 1,” and I was thinking about Satie’s legacy on the guitar. He never wrote for the guitar, which always struck me as a bit of a shame. As it is, it’s difficult to find any guitar pieces from French composers (almost any non-Spanish composer, really) of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. True, we have Napoléon Coste (1805–1883), but his sound is firmly tied to the Romantic period. The aesthetic of composers like Debussy, Ravel, and their contemporaries–forgoing traditional harmonic tendencies and experimenting with structure and expectation–is a sound the classical guitar did not connect with during this period. It’s a shame as the instrument certainly would have fit within the artistic scene of this period, a time of progress, cafes, coffee, absinthe, literature…
…I digress.
Summer, 2022. I was thinking of the ubiquity of arrangements of “Gymnopedie No. 1,” a fantastic piece that translates quite well to the guitar from piano. I was also aware of Scott Morris’ great album. At the time, I had scores for two early Satie waltzes sitting on my desk; they had been there for years, a source of guilt as I had printed them out as “future projects” that never really had a future…then, it all became clear. This could be that future project. Rather than just arrange these waltzes for my own use, I could use them (as well as “Gnossienne No. 1”) as a springboard for a new recording. Nothing big, just a short EP. It took only a few steps in logic to think about arranging a few more of the Gnossiennes, those waltzes, maybe a stray assorted piece. Three Gnossiennes, two waltzes, one other work…
…hence, Satie 3, 2, 1.
Credits
Thank you: Rachel. Rizzy. Mom and Dad. Berg. Yates. Tim Fischer. Oli Whitworth. Sean de Burca. Manley Mallard.
Mixed and mastered by Oli Whitworth (www.oliwhitworth.com)
Artwork by Sean de Burca (www.sdeburca.com/design-portfolio)
© 2023 Andy Jurik. All rights reserved.
Scores
Scores for all the pieces on this record are available via Guitar Chamber Music Press. Many thanks to Manley Mallard for having faith in these arrangements.