It may seem strange at first to have oriental instruments play the music of a composer who personified the French genius,
albeit in a highly personal way, better than most others. But these instruments throw a new light on Satie's fine intuitive aproach
when he was in the process of creating his personal and utterly personal language.
His vision was dreamlike, and in a single fleeting and furtive passage, there are evocations of the Middle Ages, Ancient Greece
and the Orient.
Satie experienced the end of a century,
during which technological and scientific progress as well as social upheaval
have accelerated to a breathtaking tempo.
Like many others, he tries to turn back by immersing himself in the past and the far-away
and by creating Middle Ages, mysticism, religion and orient as his personal private psychological landscapes,
only to realise - like we ourselves at the end of the millennium - that it was merely love from afar.

Pieces in the programme:
E. Satie: Gymnopédies / Gnossiennes / Chansons Médiévales / Sonneries de la Rose + Croix / Uspud / Prince de Byzance

„In a magical way a bow was bent …
… Orient and occident shook hands.“ Klaus Winterberg, Leverkusener Anzeiger, 20.02.2003