From pseudo-religious profundity to cabaret-style silliness

Satie s'amuses: A full day of concerts with Erik Satie as the central composer, it is a unique experience. There was certainly no lack of variety and contrast.

It began with Sacré Satie, a title that sounds just as ambivalent as the music that was heard. Did Satie compose sacred or cursed music with his bizarre work Uspud? From the commentary in the programme booklet we learn that he wrote the work in a period in which he followed a kind of religious vocation and even founded his own fraternity, of which he nevertheless remained the sole member… The character Uspud around whom the work of 1892 revolves is on the one hand ecstatically religious but on the other hand possessed by demons, which gives the work an apocalyptic character. The piece is divided into three acts and has a very fragmentary character. They seem like strange fantasies that dominate Satie's mind and to which he gives expression in sounds. There are no real melodic lines, the music sounds very fragmentary, without real coherence or evolution. If it demands a considerable portion of concentration from the listener, then for Jan Michiels it is nothing less than a feat of witchcraft to perform this work as a listenable piece of piano music. He does so in his own controlled and calm style and in this way (aided by the skilfully arranged lighting) keeps the listener spellbound. Here too a word of praise for Lise Bruyneel, who provides a simple, flowing background, never intrusive, on which pieces of text regularly appear, clarifying what preoccupies Satie.

The combination with Via Crucis by Franz Liszt, written some fifteen years earlier, worked wonderfully, not only because of the religious connotation but also because of the – for Liszt almost atypical – sober style and ascetic tone. The indication on video of each station of the cross also helped in understanding the music in this case.

Salon Satie

The first afternoon concert was – for me at least – the highlight of the day. We have previously heard Inge Spinette and Lore Binon working together at song recitals, and they have released several well-received CDs together. Lore Binon, incidentally, received the Gouden Label of Klassiek Centraal in 2018 for the recording of Poètes Maudits. The programme chosen here was simply a sweet treat for anyone who loves the French mélodie of around the turn of the century. Songs about fragile love, dreamy sadness and melancholic flânerie, with just a brief glimpse of joie de vivre: Lore Binon and Inge Spinette find exactly the right tone. With the delicate threads of her soft timbre, Lore Binon takes you along into magical poetry. Delicately and dizzyingly refined, she sings the subtle melodies, supple and sensual without losing any expressiveness. On the contrary, her voice seems to gain expressive power with the years, her presence in conviction. With her encore Mon homme by Mistinguette the atmosphere was doubly confirmed! Inge Spinette is thoroughly familiar with the voice. She is a particularly sensitive pianist, attentive to the text, and accompanies the singer with velvet fingers and unwavering attention. Her few solo pieces by Satie – seamlessly woven into the recital – provided the playful touch. A plus was that here too the texts were projected in an unobtrusive way.

Satire Satie

The last concert revolved around more humorous pieces by Satie, flanked by chamber music by Poulenc and Stravinsky. For the performance the musicians of I Solisti filled the stage. Besides the obligatory woodwind and brass players and the percussionist, there was also a wink to the dada aspects that emerged at the beginning of the twentieth century, with typewriters, rattles and wet mops. The whole became a whirling kind of instrumental cabaret, in which the central piece Parade by Erik Satie was played in a skilful arrangement by Tim Mulleman, who transformed the various styles and ragtimes into an atmospheric whole. Here too Lise Bruyneel provided at one moment a carnivalesque background as decor, and at another let clownish figures inspired by chinoiseries from the early twentieth century drift over the musicians. Throughout the day she revealed herself as a visual artist with a precise sense of, and above all respect for, what is happening in the music. A unique balance, the like of which I have not yet experienced at concerts.

Festival 20·21 can look back with satisfaction and contentment on the theme day of this edition, a production to which artistic director Pieter Bergé above all devoted his efforts. The Festival runs in Leuven until 29 October 2023.