Satie - Debussy

Candide CE 31024 - LP, released 197?

Claude Debussy: Chansons de Bilitis (1897)

for speaking voice, two flutes, two harps and celesta

Erik Satie: Socrate (1918)

Part I - Portrait of Socrate

Part II - The Banks of Ilissus

Part III - The Death of Socrate

Marie-Therese Escribano - speaker, Socrate

Michele Bedard - Phedre

Emiko Iijyama - Alcibiade

Gerlinde Lorenz - Phedon

Ensemble "Die Reihe"

Friedrich Cerha - conductor

Two extremely beautiful works, inspired by Ancient Greece, each one amazing in its unique way. Debussy dives deep into mythology, showcasing a playful and serene musicality, complete with Egyptian courtisanes dancing and an invocation of Pan, god of the winds. Some of the melodies also occur in Debussy's "Six Epigrammes Antiques". The poems were written by Pierre Louys.
Satie's symphonic drama, "Socrate", radiates a quietness and plainness that seem to have more in common with Zen than with anything of western tradition. John Cage wrote an adaptation for two pianos in the 50s, and in 1969 he even composed his own "cover version" of it, "Cheap Imitation".

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