Satie E. - Ogives & Gymnopedies

Satie‘s “Ogives” und Gymnopédies” are milestones in the history of modern music. The four metrically free “Ogives” (meaning pointed arches) reflect the influence of the French New Gothic or Neo-Gregorian movement in architecture with their clear lines and echo effects. The three “Gymnopédies” proceed with a swaying, chordal momentum, and Satie’s radically sparse writing makes ironic reference to the dance of young warriors in ancient Sparta during gymnopaedia rituals.

The pieces are easy to play and are ideal for teaching purposes. Information on performance practice by Satie specialist Steffen Schleiermacher offer insight into Satie’s music aesthetics.


Jens Rosteck
is a musicologist, cultural historian and author. He has written books on Kurt Weill and Lotte Lenya, Oscar Wilde, Bob Dylan, Jane and Paul Bowles, Hans Werner Henze, and a dissertation on Darius Milhaud’s Claudel operas. He resides in Southern France and was for many years an author for the music encyclopaedia MGG, writing on French music.

Steffen Schleiermacher
studied as “Meisterschüler” at the “Berliner Akademie der Künste” and in the class of Aloys Kontarsky at the “Musikhochschule Köln”. He runs the concert series musica nova at the “Gewandhaus Leipzig”, was a founder of the Ensemble Avantgarde and gives concerts and lectures as a composer, pianist and conductor throughout Europe, the USA, South America and Asia. He has been the recipient of scholarships (including the Villa Massimo Rome) and numerous recording prizes, and is “Chevalier des Arts et Lettres”. He has made approx. 60 CD recordings including the complete piano works by Cage and numerous piano works by Satie.