Erik Satie: Sports et Divertissements
Metropolis Ensemble commissioned a new arrangement for chamber orchestra of Erik Satie's Sports et Divertissements from London-based composer David Bruce. Sports et Divertissements, originally written for piano and narrator, was an early form of multi-media project in which Satie provided piano music to drawings made by Charles Martin and was composed in 1914. Satie's twenty-one brilliant musical miniatures sketch whimsical verbal and musical images of outdoor sports and amusements and are accompanied by a wry narration written by Satie, updated for this performance by acclaimed spoken word artist Mike Daisey.
David Bruce on creating a chamber orchestra arrangement:
"Satie's Sports et Divertissements presents itself in such a deliberately humble, almost self-deprecating manner that it's easy to overlook the quality of Satie's inventiveness. Indeed I think I only really appreciated the true depth and subtlety of Satie's art once I began the process or orchestration. From the instruments available, I tried to pick an orchestral palette that resonated with the subject matter of the individual pieces, (ranging as it does from circus clowns to and octopus in its cave) and in doing felt a sense of polishing up a tiny gem to reveal an extraordinary richness and strangeness. The tiniest of fragments which might whiz past in the piano piece and which might seem unremarkable, suddenly jumped into life - its true significance seeming stronger than ever.
Most notable were a wealth of connections with Satie's Parisian contemporaries - particularly Debussy and Stravinsky - connections that had only been marginally apparent to me in listening to the piano version. What we now think of as a Stravinskian motif is particularly evident in the pieces that evoke the circus or the commedia dell'arte characters. The combination of 'earthy' circus music sounds with the particular kinds of harmony and repetitive patterns Satie uses bring out the Stravinsky connection especially strongly - and makes one reconsider the extent of the influence Satie exerted on the great Russian composer."
Notes by David Bruce
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