Post-classical, Neoklassik, Indie Classical, Minimal Music, Ambient, Piano Solo, Piano Trio / Classical Music Recording: Erik Satie, Charles Koechlin, Mel Bonis, Gabriel Pierné, Cécile Chaminade, Reynaldo Hahn, Gabriel Fauré, Charles Gounod, Jules Massenet, Félix Le Couppey, Enrique Granados, Edvard Grieg, Béla Bartók, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart | Music Reviews of Nils Frahm, Akira Kosemura, Henning Schmiedt, Fabrizio Paterlini, George Winston & Ryuichi Sakamoto | Paul Auster, Haruki Murakami & Jean-Philippe Toussaint Studies | Poetry Translations: Paul Éluard, Anna de Noailles, Rupert Brooke
Rentaro Taki’s “Urami” (Regret / Beauerswert), composed in 1903, stands as one of the most haunting and historically significant pieces in the Japanese piano repertoire. It is widely considered the first piano composition written by a Japanese person, marking a pivotal moment where Western classical forms began to merge with a distinctly Japanese emotional sensibility.
Context and Composition
The piece was composed during a period of immense personal tragedy. Taki, a prodigy who had been sent to study at the Leipzig Conservatory in Germany, was forced to return to Japan after only a few months due to a severe case of pulmonary tuberculosis. Written shortly before his death at the age of 23, the title “Urami” carries a weight that is often mistranslated. While it means “regret,” it also encompasses a sense of unfulfilled resentment or lingering sorrow toward a fate that cut his promising life and career short.
Musical Characteristics
Musically, “Urami” is a brief but intense work in D minor. It reflects Taki’s mastery of the Romantic style he encountered in Europe, echoing the melancholic influences of composers like Chopin or Mendelssohn.
The piece is defined by:
The Rhythmic Motif: The composition is built upon a persistent, driving rhythmic figure that mimics a heartbeat or the relentless passage of time.
Melodic Tension: The melody is somber and agitated, moving through chromatic shifts that heighten the sense of emotional distress.
Structural Simplicity: Despite its short duration, the piece manages to create a dense, suffocating atmosphere that resolves—or rather, ceases—with a sense of grim finality.
Legacy
“Urami” serves as a bridge between eras. It represents the “Meiji” spirit of rapid modernization and the adoption of Western art, yet it remains deeply rooted in the personal suffering of a man who knew he was writing
Track List:
01 Menuet in B minor
02 Regret – 憾
Genres: Romantic, Japanese Music, Piano Solo
Similar Composers: Kosaku, Yamada
Cover Art:: “Easter Lilies” (1909) by Seiki Kuroda
Originally titled Serenade No. 13 for strings in G major, K. 525, this piece is arguably the most recognizable work in the history of Western classical music. Completed in Vienna in 1787—the same year Mozart was working on his dark opera Don Giovanni—it stands as a pinnacle of the Galant style, emphasizing elegance, charm, and uncomplicated pleasure.
The German title, Eine kleine Nachtmusik, was never meant to be a formal name; Mozart simply scribbled it in his personal catalogue to mean “a little night-music” or a “little serenade.” Serenades were common social music of the 18th century, typically commissioned for outdoor parties, weddings, or garden gatherings. This explains its bright, energetic character and its orchestration: it was written for a chamber ensemble of two violins, viola, and cello (with an optional double bass), though it is frequently performed by full string orchestras today.
Structurally, the work follows a standard four-movement symphonic pattern. It opens with the famous Allegro, defined by its “Mannheim Rocket” opening—a rapidly ascending G-major scale that immediately commands attention. This is followed by a lyrical Romanze that provides a moment of gentle reflection, a stately Menuetto that evokes the ballroom, and a spirited Rondo finale that brings the piece to a virtuosic, high-energy close.
Despite its global fame, the piece remains shrouded in a bit of mystery. There is no record of who commissioned it or where it was first performed. Furthermore, Mozart’s own records indicate it originally had five movements, but one of the minuets was lost or removed, leaving us with the compact, four-movement masterpiece we know today. Its enduring popularity lies in its perfect balance; it is sophisticated enough for the concert hall but remains essentially “pop” music in its catchy, indelible hooks.
Liste des titres/Track List:
01 Eine Kleine Nachtmusik: 1. Allegro
02 Eine Kleine Nachtmusik: 2. Romanze, Andante
03 Eine Kleine Nachtmusik: 3. Menuetto, Allegretto
04 Eine Kleine Nachtmusik: 4. Rondo
Genres: Vienna Classicisme, Sonatina, Salon Music, Piano Solo
Similar Composers: Joseph Haydn, Ludwig van Beethoven, Muzio Clementi, Johann Christian Bach, Luigi Boccherini, Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach
Cover Art: » Nuit étoilée sur le Rhône « (1888) de Vincent van Gogh
L’histoire d’Erik Satie est celle d’un homme qui a passé sa vie à marcher à contre-courant, avec un parapluie sous le bras et une ironie féroce en guise de boussole. Né à Honfleur en 1866, ce Normand au tempérament insaisissable commence par être le canard boiteux du Conservatoire de Paris, où ses professeurs le jugent aussi paresseux qu’insignifiant. Plutôt que de se plier au moule académique, il s’installe à Montmartre, devient pianiste de cabaret au Chat Noir et commence à composer des pièces d’une simplicité désarmante, comme ses célèbres Gymnopédies.
Alors que le monde musical de la fin du XIXe siècle se perd dans les envolées grandioses de Wagner, Satie choisit le dépouillement. Il retire les barres de mesure de ses partitions et les parsème d’indications farfelues, demandant à l’interprète de jouer « comme un rossignol qui aurait mal aux dents » ou de « s’ouvrir la tête ». Ce n’est pas seulement de l’humour, c’est un manifeste contre le sérieux pompeux de l’époque.
Sa vie personnelle est tout aussi excentrique. Après une unique liaison passionnée et tumultueuse avec la peintre Suzanne Valadon, Satie s’enferme dans une solitude ascétique. Il déménage à Arcueil, dans une petite chambre où personne ne sera jamais admis de son vivant. C’est là qu’il peaufine son personnage de « Monsieur le Pauvre », vêtu invariablement d’un costume de velours gris dont il possède sept exemplaires identiques, ce qui lui vaudra le surnom de « Velvet Gentleman ».
Malgré son isolement volontaire, il devient le mentor de la jeune garde, influençant profondément Debussy et Ravel, puis devenant la figure de proue du Groupe des Six et l’allié des Dadaïstes. Il invente la « musique d’ameublement », une musique conçue pour ne pas être écoutée, préfigurant avec des décennies d’avance le concept de musique ambiante.
Lorsqu’il s’éteint en 1925, ses amis pénètrent enfin dans son logement d’Arcueil. Ils y découvrent un chaos poétique : deux pianos empilés l’un sur l’autre, des collections de parapluies neufs, des lettres jamais postées et des partitions cachées derrière des journaux. Satie laissait derrière lui l’image d’un précurseur génial qui, sous couvert de plaisanteries, avait jeté les bases de la musique moderne en apprenant au monde que le silence et la simplicité pouvaient être les plus grandes des audaces.
Overview – English
The story of Erik Satie is one of the most eccentric chapters in the history of music—a narrative of a man who spent his life walking out of step with his era, often carrying an umbrella and a sharp, ironic wit. Born in Honfleur in 1866, Satie was never the model student. At the Paris Conservatoire, his teachers labeled him the “laziest student in the school,” failing to see that his simplicity was not a lack of talent, but a deliberate rebellion against the grand, heavy-handed romanticism of the 19th century.
Satie eventually found his home in the smoky cabarets of Montmartre. Working as a pianist at Le Chat Noir, he began writing pieces like the Gymnopédies. These works were revolutionary because they were “static”—they didn’t strive for a massive climax; they simply existed in a state of melancholic beauty. While his contemporaries like Wagner were building musical cathedrals, Satie was painting with white space.
His personal life was defined by a series of bizarre, self-imposed rituals. After a single, brief, and fiery romance with the painter Suzanne Valadon, he retreated into a legendary sort of solitude. He moved to a small room in Arcueil, a suburb of Paris, where he lived for 27 years. No one was ever allowed inside. He became known as the “Velvet Gentleman” because he bought seven identical light-grey velvet suits, wearing them one after the other until they wore out.
Satie’s humor was his armor. He gave his pieces titles like Dried Embryos or Three Pieces in the Shape of a Pear (written after critics told him his music had no form). He filled his scores with strange instructions, telling performers to play “on the tip of the tongue” or “with a lot of hidden emotion.” Yet, beneath the jokes, he was a visionary. He collaborated with Picasso and Cocteau, and he essentially invented “Furniture Music”—background music designed to be ignored, which we now recognize as the ancestor of ambient and lo-fi music.
When Satie died in 1925, his friends finally entered his room in Arcueil. They found a scene of magnificent chaos: two grand pianos stacked on top of each other (one used as a storage bin), dozens of identical umbrellas, and a collection of velvet suits. Tucked behind the pianos were unpublished masterpieces that the world hadn’t yet heard. He died as he lived: a man who proved that being “strange” was often just the price of being decades ahead of everyone else.
Liste des titres/Track List:
01 Embryos desséchés: 1. d’Holothurie
02 Embryos desséchés: 2. d’Edriophthalma
03 Embryos desséchés: 3. de Podophthalma
04 Croquis et agaceries d’un gros bonhomme en bois: 1. Tyrolienne turque
05 Croquis et agaceries d’un gros bonhomme en bois: 2. Danse maigre
06 Croquis et agaceries d’un gros bonhomme en bois: 3. Españaña
07 Vieux sequins et vieilles cuirasses: 1. Chez le marchand d’or
08 Vieux sequins et vieilles cuirasses: 2. Dante cuirassée
09 Vieux sequins et vieilles cuirasses: 3. La défaite des cimbres
10 Menus propos enfantins: 1. Le chant guerrier du Roi des Haricots
11 Menus propos enfantins: 2. Ce que du la petite princesse des tulipes
12 Menus propos enfantins: 3. Valse du chocolat aux Amandes
13 Enfantillages pittoresques: 1. Petit prélude à la journée
14 Enfantillages pittoresques: 2. Berceuse
15 Enfantillages pittoresques: 3. Marche du grand escalier
16 Peccadilles importunes: 1. Être jaloux de son camarade qui a une tête
17 Peccadilles importunes: 2. Lui manger sa tartine
18 Peccadilles importunes: 3. Profiter de ce qu’il a des cors aux pieds pour lui prendre son cerceau
19 Le piège de Méduse: 1. Quadrille
20 Le piège de Méduse: 2. Valse
21 Le piège de Méduse: 3. Pas vite
22 Le piège de Méduse: 4. Mazurka
23 Le piège de Méduse: 5. Un peu vif
24 Le piège de Méduse: 6. Polka
25 Le piège de Méduse: 7. Quadrille
26 Heures séculaires et instantanées: 1. Obstacles venimeux
27 Heures séculaires et instantanées: 2. Crépuscule matinal (de midi)
28 Heures séculaires et instantanées: 3. Affolements granitiques
29 Les trois valses distinguées du précieux dégoûté: 1. Sa taille
30 Les trois valses distinguées du précieux dégoûté: 2. Son binocle
31 Les trois valses distinguées du précieux dégoûté: 3. Ses jambes
32 Avant-dernières pensées: 1. Idylle
33 Avant-dernières pensées: 2. Aubade
34 Avant-dernières pensées: 3. Méditation
35 Sonatina bureaucratique: 1. Allegro
36 Sonatina bureaucratique: 2. Andante
37 Sonatina bureaucratique: 3. Vivace
Genres: Impressionist Music, Modernist Music, Piano Solo, Salon Music
Similar Composers: Claude Debussy, Maurice Ravel, Francis Poulenc, Federico Mompou
Cover Art: « Paysage, La Seine à la Grande-Jatte » (1884) de Georges Seurat