Erik Satie Three Piece Suite by Ian Penman
| Erik Satie Three Piece Suite by Ian Penman | |
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| Category: Biography | |
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Reviewer: Heather Magee
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| Summary: A suitably esoteric collection of notes about a man known by a friend as Esoterik Satie. A collection carefully curated to give the impression of careless composition. | |
| Buy? yes | Borrow? yes |
| Pages: 224 | Date: April 2025 |
| Publisher: Fitzcarraldo Editions | |
| External links: Author's website | |
| ISBN: 978-1804271537 | |
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This unconventional biography somewhat mirrors Satie's effusive personality: whimsical, experimental and creative. It is divided into three sections: the first, an essay, the second, an A-Z encyclopedia on Satie and the third, a 'Satie Diary', documenting Ian Penman's thoughts surrounding Satie, his muse.
Would it be too on the nose to call Penman's knowledge of Satie encyclopedic, considering the literal encyclopedia sandwiched between the book's pages, in which the word Encyclopedia itself features in 8 different entries? Perhaps it would, and anyway, his knowledge exceeds the categorical. Penman writes about Satie as if he were his friend, painting him affectionately with light brushstrokes as he recalls amusing anecdotes and musical memories.
As someone who had never heard of Erik Satie before, I was surprised to find familiar names who called themselves Satie's friends, Picabia and Clair and Debussy among them. With a vast network of these friendships, he left an enormous impact on those around him as well as on music itself. Penman was right when he wrote that the reader has probably unwittingly listened to a Satie piece on a Spotify 'relaxing' playlist. I checked my Lo-Fi playlist which I use for concentration purposes and instantly stumbled upon Gymnopédies #1, Satie's most famous collection. In fact, Satie is known for his furniture music, a specific sound supposed to melt into the background of other tasks, rather than one which requires a seated audience (actually quite revolutionary, in the late 19th century).
His whole world is fascinating, and Penman's interjections into his own prose are amusing and clever. His musings on Satie's infamous bowler hat and the symbol of the umbrella are particularly astute. He writes, the umbrella, for Satie, goes beyond mere utile function into a kind of fetish or amulet. The opposite to his music, then.
Penman clearly has a soft spot for this paradoxically eccentric and mysterious man, and it reverberates through the book. He mentions several other albums or tracks which he either played whilst writing this book, reminded him of Satie, or inspired Satie himself. I came up with the idea to compile a playlist of those songs in the order they appear. These are songs which, when played together, incidentally make for the perfect reading soundtrack, called 'Mentioned in Satie', and it's on Spotify if anyone wants the full immersive reading experience.
Educational, interesting and unusual, this biography is a patchwork of Satie which does not follow the general rule that biographies ought to be logical, and chronological. Penman's is neither; it is meandering, misshapen and self-interrogative. In fact, it often seems that Penman is in conversation with himself. One diary entry from 24.4.24 reads simply, is his bowler hat the knot holding everything in place?. An utterly ridiculous notion - and holding what in place, exactly? I would not be surprised if Penman meant the string of this book itself, with its tangents and wild networks of knowledge, held together by some unknown force.
I would like to thank the publisher for sending a copy for review to the Bookbag. For another composer's biography, read Handel: The Man and His Music by Jonathan Keates.
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You can read more book reviews or buy Erik Satie Three Piece Suite by Ian Penman at Amazon.com.
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