Satie: Parade, Relâche

Parade and Relâche, two ballets composed by the fanciful Erik Satie, attracted a considerable attention in the Parisian artistic world when premiered, respectively in 1917 and 1924. The first one was a collective effort gathering the main artists of their time (Cocteau, Massine, Picasso) that caused a scandal when premiered, the latter a surrealistic happening… well, that was a scandal too! This album conducted by Michel Plasson includes other orchestral pieces such as La belle excentrique, a kind of ballet composed for the “eccentric beauty” Caryathis, or arrangements made by Debussy and Poulenc of his famous Gnossiennes and Gymnopédies.