this piece is super strange. the wiki article is worth a read while listening to it.
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Archived from the IMDb Discussion Forums — Classical Music
BOOMSHIT — 11 months ago(April 15, 2025 01:58 AM)
this piece is super strange. the wiki article is worth a read while listening to it.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vexations
The piece bears the inscription "In order to play the motif 840 times in succession, it would be advisable to prepare oneself beforehand, and in the deepest silence, by serious immobilities." ("Pour se jouer 840 fois de suite ce motif, il sera bon de se préparer au préalable, et dans le plus grand silence, par des immobilités sérieuses.") From the 1960s onward, this text has mostly been interpreted as an instruction that the page of music should be played 840 times,[1][2] although this may not have been Satie's intention.
he's never published or played the piece himself.
some pianists did a public performance of it in 1963 that went on for over 18 hours.
Cage set the admission price at $5 and had a time clock installed in the lobby of the theatre. Each patron checked in with the clock and when leaving the concert, checked out again and received a refund of 5¢ for each 20 minutes attended. "In this way", he told Lloyd, "People will understand that the more art you consume, the less it should cost." But Cage had underestimated the length of time the concert would take. It lasted over 18 hours.
jestergooning -
BOOMSHIT — 11 months ago(April 15, 2025 08:19 PM)
the guy who played this is a professor at the Geneva University of Music.
and we can see he has a strange taste in compositions. here are his top 4 most popular songs on spotify. the bottom 3 were composed by some gay black guy.
jestergooning -
BOOMSHIT — 1 week ago(March 26, 2026 06:17 PM)
listening to this again today
I believe Satie to be an epic troll
his instructions for this piece are as follows:
"In order to play this motif 840 times, one would have to prepare oneself in advance, and in the utmost silence, through serious immobilities."
jestergooning