Erik Satie - Embryons desséchés

This is a very special little suite written by Erik Satie just before Worldwide War I. The music is apparently parodic - we hear purposely ridiculous cadenzas at the end of No. 1 and No. 3, plus a quotation of Chopin's 'Marche funèbre' (strangely quoted as a reference to Schubert), but at the same time there are quite deep and poetical sections, ending in an unclassifiable mixture of themes and winks. Satie says he was inspired by observation of some shellfishes in St Malo's bay. Indeed the three pieces are named by ancient denomination of marine molluscs:
No. 1: d'Holoturie
No.2 : d'Edriophtalma
No. 3: de Podophtalma

For those who understand French, I strongly recommend to hear the pieces while reading the score, because of the literary comments. An utmost mixture of (quite English, in fact) humor and poetry... Enjoy Satie !