“The hallucinations began around 4 a.m.—nine hours and not even halfway through Erik Satie’s ‘Vexations,’ the devilishly beguiling piece that, depending on whom you ask, is either a step toward Zen enlightenment or the longest joke in music history,” writes Joshua Barone in Friday’s (9/29) New York Times. “I was at the Guggenheim Museum for a marathon performance of ‘Vexations.’ ” The concert “began at 7 p.m. on Tuesday and ended around 1:30 p.m. the following day. I felt, by turns, agitated, frozen and delirious. But I also left with the clearest mind and best hearing I’ve ever known. … 7 P.M. The avant-garde composer Christian Wolff played the first shift of ‘Vexations,’ which is both simple and bafflingly difficult. Written in 1893, the score is just four lines of music, but Satie’s directions suggest it should be played slowly—and repeated 840 times. … Mr. Wolff was among the small group of musicians who played in a notable marathon of ‘Vexations’ organized by John Cage in 1963. … 2 P.M. Walking through Central Park [after the marathon], my senses were sharper than ever. Leaves sounded like percussion in the wind, and Bethesda Fountain sounded like a jet.”
Posted October 2, 2017
