A four disc Box set collection of historic Satie recordings, ranging from the 1920's onwards. Including such rarities as Henri Sauguet's 'Socrate' for solo voice and orchestra; piano sets by William Masselos and Aldo Ciccolini that have been out of print for decades; Serge Koussevitzky's vintage recordings of the 'Gymnopédies', (arranged for orchestra by Claude Debussy), and Francis Poulenc and Georges Auric's two pianos and four hands arrangement of 'Parade', the Diaghilev-Picasso-Cocteau ballet which created a scandal in Paris and for the first time forced upon Satie the glare of publicity. Satie's best known compositions, 'Trois Gymnopédies', composed in 1888 at the age of 22, and 'Trois Gnossiennes', which was written two years later, create the impression of being either very archaic or very modern; astonishing early expressions of the composer's originality. He invented minimalism, ambient music, (which he called "furnishing music") and prepared pianos in the 1890s, exploring new musical territories that John Cage would re-visit decades later. Deeply eccentric, Satie faced much derision during his lifetime, but today his uncompromising attitudes are widely admired and he now occupies a unique place in the realm of popular culture. Artists as diverse as David Hockney, Diana Rigg, Robert Wyatt and Eno are among those who have fallen under his spell. "Of all the influential composers of our time, Satie is the only one whose works can be enjoyed and appreciated without any knowledge of the history of music... They are as simple, as straightforward, as devastating as the remarks of a child. To the uninitiated they sound trifling. To those who love them they are fresh and beautiful and firmly right. " Virgil Thomson
