Three ballets by Hans van Manen reflect his choreographic preoccupation with relationships between the sexes. Piano Variations II, to Prokofiev’s Sarcasms Op. 17, shows a couple locked in a cycle of acceptance and rejection. In Piano Variation III, to Satie’s Trois Gnossiennes, a man and a woman succumb to a growing attraction. Piano Variation IV, to Etudes by Debussy, shows a man resisting twelve women, before yielding. This studio recording includes an interview with van Manen.
Pablo Picasso at Pompeii – Parade & Pulcinella
Celebrating the centenary of Picasso’s visit to Italy, the Teatro Grande di Pompeii hosts two ballets with sets and costumes designed by this legendary Spanish artist. 100 Years ago, Picasso made a journey to Naples in order to work on Parade, an avant-garde ballet for the famous Ballets Russes with a libretto by Jean Cocteau, music by Erik Satie and a choreography by Léonide Massine. Three years later, Picasso and the Ballets Russes joined forces again for Stravinsky’s “Pulcinella” at the Opéra de Paris. Performance only: Length 63′ // Narrated Performance Version: Length 67′
Satiesfictions – Saunters with Eric Satie
Always armed with a melon, umbrella and wisecracks, he is not only on the outside the strangest fellow in French music history: Erik Satie was a composer, designer, church founder, PR pioneer and master of aperçus. In playful episodes the documentary “Satiesfictions” by Youlian Tabakov and Anne-Kathrin Peitz illuminates the phenomenon that is Satie: His countless ads evolve into real commercials and his drawings into cartoons. Interwoven with accounts by Satie associates and music experts, the film offers a unique insight into Satie’s cosmos of word and sound, featuring divas, dogs, and children, pianists playing on pianos stacked atop each other or performers turning into “musical furniture”.
Hélène Grimaud – Memory Recital
Hélène Grimaud presents the first part of a special two-part recital from the beautiful natural surroundings of south west Bavaria, a place which the pianist sees as one of her spiritual homes. “Memory” features music from her Deutsche Grammophon album of the same name: Grimaud brings her trademark sensitivity and poetic touch to a personal selection of reflective and atmospheric works by Satie, Debussy, Chopin and Valentin Silvestrov, the Ukrainian composer whose music has fascinated her for decades.