Festspillene i Bergen: Piano Marathon – Vexations by Erik Satie

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Edvard Griegs plass 1,
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Festspillene i Bergen: Piano Marathon – Vexations by Erik Satie

Description

20-hour piano odyssey. A long line of pianists takes on the challenge of playing the iconic work Vexations in a marathon concert that can last up to 24 hours. Experience one of the great conceptual works of music, and take part in the mysterious musical community of the French composer Erik Satie. The idea comes from this year's festival musician, Leif Ove Andsnes: – I am very glad that the Festival has said yes to this big project, and I am looking forward to it. Vexations was a typical Satie project, in which he created a provocation, and perhaps it is a poke at the length of works in German music, such as Wagner's operas. But Satie was also at this time preoccupied with mysticism and esoteric ideas, says Andsnes. In the mid-1890s Satie wrote one of the longest works in music history, on a single sheet of manuscript paper. Vexations, in which no specific instrument is mentioned (but which was almost certainly meant for piano), has the performer repeat a musical phrase a full 840 times. Satie advised musicians to prepare for Vexations «in the deepest silence». – The work can be seen as a precursor to minimalism and meditation music. It is beautiful music, and can become a sensuous, powerful experience. Perhaps one can enter a special kind of listening or state after all the repetitions – presumably the music is experienced quite differently when you hear it for the 20th time than the first time. For me it is the first time I get to experience the work, both as a performer and as a listener, and I am very curious about what the atmosphere will be like, says the festival musician. Vexations is both a statement and a challenge – an endurance test and an invitation to the audience to reflect on the meditative, intellectual and cognitive effects of repeating the same piece of music in both time and space. The total duration of the 840 repetitions depends on the pianists' tempo, and the process usually takes between 18 and 24 hours. In this performance a relay team of pianists, among them Leif Ove Andsnes and students from Prof. Jiri Hlinka Klaverakademi, will perform the work in stages, with the audience invited to listen for as long as they like during the day, evening and night. Photo: Thor Brødreskift Music Erik Satie (1866–1925) Vexations Supported by Stiftelsen Kristian Gerhard Jebsen