Interlúdio Musical II

«Satie's Gymnopédies are gentle yet somewhat irregular pieces of music which deliberately flouted many common practices in classical and even contemporary music. Its cheekiness in avoiding musical conventions however is barely noticeable since the music is strongly guided by its poignant emotional load, and the listener comes away remembering them for their narrative beauty and elegance, rather than their unconventionality.

The pieces are written in 3/4 time and in a similar structure with a similar theme. The Gymnopédies are ethereal, atmospheric pieces regarded as precursors to modern ambient music; in fact, Brian Eno, the pioneering figure of ambient music, has cited Satie as a prime influence. Satie himself used the term "furniture music" to refer to some of his pieces, implying that they could be used as mood-setting background music. However, Satie himself only started to use the term furniture music for some of his 20th century compositions: Satie would never designate the Gymnopédies as furniture music. From the second half of the 20th century on, the Gymnopédies were often erroneously described as part of Satie's body of furniture music, probably due to John Cage's interpretation of Satie's music^[1].»