It’s been brought to my attention by R. Bradley Wilson that pianist Igor Levit will perform Erik Satie’s “Vexations” – complete – beginning Saturday at 8 a.m. EDT. The event, intended to highlight the plight of artists worldwide during the coronavirus pandemic, will be streamed live from Berlin.
Satie, who had a bone-dry wit, instructs the performer to repeat a sing-song snatch of what could generously be described as a melody 840 times. He probably never expected anyone to take him up on it. Levit projects that his rendition will span some 20 hours.
Because of its extreme demands on performers (and listeners), “Vexations” has only very seldom been played in its entirety. Rarer still has it been undertaken by a single pianist.
The composer coined the term “furniture music” to describe this sort of exercise – music to be played in the background; to be heard, but not really listened to. The repetitive nature also serves to heighten the effect of any extramusical intrusions. Anything that occurs during the span of the performance becomes part of the experience.
Needless to say, Satie, who died in 1925, became something of a folk hero to John Cage. It was Cage who arranged for a team of pianists to present the work, probably composed in 1893-94, for the first time in public in 1963.
When Peter Evans attempted it himself a few years later, in 1970, he reached repetition 595, after 15 hours, and found he could go no further. He wrote, “I would not play this piece again. I felt each repetition slowly wearing my mind away. I had to stop. If I hadn’t stopped I’d be a very different person today… People who play it do so at their own great peril.”
Robert de Leeuw launched into his own marathon undertaking in the 1980s. In his case, he was shut down by the venue after 117 repetitions. De Leeuw did go on to record the piece – or rather the first 35 repetitions. He instructed purchasers, for the full experience, to play the record 24 times.
To learn more about Levit’s quixotic – and vexatious – enterprise, visit:
https://www.broadwayworld.com/bwwclassical/article/Pianist-Igor-Levit-To-Give-20-Hour-Livestreamed-Performance-Of-Saties-VEXATIONS-20200528#:~:text=To%20raise%20awareness%20for%20the,geographical%20borders%20and%20time%20zones.
Then enjoy a profile of Levit in the May 18th edition of The New Yorker:
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2020/05/18/igor-levit-is-like-no-other-pianist
