Gates, Grace Wai Kwan (2019) An investigation into the performance interpretations of Erik Satie’s piano music through historical and contemporary recorded performances that span from 1955 to 2015. (PhD thesis), Kingston University, .
Abstract
This study examines the performance interpretations and performance practice of Satie’s piano music through historical to recent recordings that span over the last six decades to expose how his works inspire quasi-impromptu pianism, a key term that I coined to refer to performance decisions that are not strictly informed by performance indications or conventional musical cues, but rather by pianists’ own imagination provoked by the suggestive power risen from different compositional aspects of Satie’s music in addition to the composer’s persona. The presence of quasi-impromptu pianism in some pianists’ interpretations exposes the need to identify probable causes for the unique interpretative freedom offered by his oeuvres for piano, to which this study responds. To what extent has the reduction of performance directions in Satie’s piano music free pianists to diverse interpretations? How did Satie’s notational presentation and the inclusion of in-score texts lead pianists to new performance gestures? The absence of recorded performances by Satie of his piano music or documented discussion of the interpretations of his piano works requires questioning: did the lack of Satie’s authorial voice free pianists to take on an experimental approach in the performances of his piano music? Does Satie’s defiant persona encourage pianists to be spontaneous with their interpretations of his piano music? By conducting performance analysis of recordings between 1955 and 2015, I examine closely the contrasting interpretations by these pianists in response to Satie’s musical language and the way the music is presented on notation. Satie’s original manuscripts and edited piano scores are also scrutinized critically to show how visual presentation of Satie’s piano pieces play a crucial part in stimulating imaginative performance interpretations. I also interviewed contemporary pianists to gain the rationales for their performance decisions, illuminating the factors that lead to quasi-impromptu pianism in Satie’s piano music. These findings recontextualise the existing knowledge of piano performance practice at the turn of the 20th century and re-address the influence of notational presentation on performance interpretation.
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