Erik Satie et les Nouveaux Jeunes
I guest most people listening to ambient and ‘post-classical’ music also have a special place in their heart for the music of Erik Satie. Or at least they should have.
The eccentric genius composer, or “phonometrician” as he called himself, “the laziest student in the (Paris)Conservatoire” (where he was labelled untalented by his teachers) has left the world some of the most impressive (and introspective) compositions – of which the Gymnopédies and the Gnossiennes are the most famous.
With his ideas about Musique d’ameublement (‘Furniture music’), Satie was one of the real predecessors of ‘ambient’ music.
So any double CD set offering reworkings of his music by some of the best artists in the contemporary experimental ambient/electronic genre immediately has my full interest!