Satie Vexations 2 : 2nd performance in Prague (updated)

 

 

time-lapse video of the complete Vexations in Prague

 

 live at the Studio Ruby  in Prague the 7th and 8th April of 2011 . Lasting 14 hours without any pause or break .

 

 

I must confess that this 2nd performance was the most "experimental"one, as nothing went "as i planned it".

 

First of all, for those who knows me personnally, i am not too much of a night bird, so every marathon always starts at the morning, specially when i have to perform for more than 12 hours.

 

 

 

First of all, the Vexations was part of a 3 benefits concerts in Prague.

 

n°1 was a 1 hour electroacoustic improvisation concert at the 4K Club the 4th april

 

a short part of my electroacoustic improvisation



 

 

n°2 was my very first piano marathon ever, 5h30 long ! the 5th june at the Hlahol 's Hall

 

the complete program was :

Mozart:

 Fantaisie in c minor KV 475
Liszt:

 Funerailles
Scriabin;

 Sonata 9
Satie :
3 Gnossiènnes
3 Sonneries Rose + Croix
le Fils de l'Etoile
Prélude de la Porte Celeste du Ciel

Boguslaw Schaeffer:

 Non-Stop

Paul Wehage:

 Carrillon-Prélude
Carl Vine :

Threnody
Carlo Peron Cano :

Lost instants 

Simple presences I
Sabura Takata:

 Préludes ( selection )

Patrick Dorobisz:

 Mood 2

Liszt :
Zwei Orchestersätze aus dem Oratorium Christus S498b
No 1: Hirtengesang an der Krippe
No 2: Die heiligen drei Könige – Marsch
In festo transfigurationis Domini nostri Jesu Christi S188
Ave Maria IV S545

Heinz Chur:

 Sonata n°1 and 2

Jeroen Van Veen :

 Preludes Book 1 ( selection )

Ramon Lazkano:

 Gentle Sway & Seaska Kanta

Scriabin :

Vers la Flamme

Alvin Curran :

 Inner City n°1 , For Cornelius

Frederik Martin:

 Sonata 1 2nd Mov

Olivier Greif:

 Sonata n°5

Sonata n° 8

Hommage à Raymond Roussel

Therèse Brenet:

 3 Préludes ( 2008 )

Philippe Hersant:

 Ephemerides ( selection )

Elodie Lauten:

 Tango ( selection )

Tom Johnson :

Chord Catalogue

Tomasz Kamieniak :

 Buch der Illusionen ( selection )

Levaillant :

Préludes pour les petites mains

Delplace:

 Intermezzo 3

 Marche Funebre

Arnaud Desvignes:

 Soliol ( selection )

Cooman :

Préludes op 722

Augusta Read Thomas:

 Etudes 3 & 5

Pillip Glass:

5 Metamorphosis 

Trilogy Sonata

Liszt:
Via Crucis

 10 Chorales

Pärt :

 Fur Alina

Fur Anna Maria

Variationen zur Gesundung von Arinuschka

 

Success was not so good unfortunately, as the public became smaller and smaller. At this time i did not know how to organise well such a marathon and make clear programs with clear understandable parts with exact timming. It took me some marathon to be able to take care of this.

 

n°3 : the 7th of April the Vexations !

It was a national premiere, as i am the very first to have performed solo non stop this piece in Prague.

 

a 1h30 part of the Vexations in Prague
 



And i got many surprises on this. before i start, i took it as very bad surprise, but ... it worked so well that i used for all the forthcoming Vexations to come !

 

To prepare this one, once again 24 hours without food or drink !

 

As i said, it started by Night !!! at 6 pm ! But now with the years i understood that they did that for good, after 1 electroacoustic concert and +5hours marathon recital.... it was necessary to have a long break !

 

2nd bad surprise ! No food, no drink ready !!! i could not belive !

But this was perfect. As i was asking things, the Prague team just bring it at the very very right moment. Of course it was hard for them, why ? because the Prague audience was really 200% Inside the Vexations.

They were not as many as Paris or Perpignan, but on the other hand they were so much focused on the Vexations, and deep Inside it. Some were meditating

So they did "by chance" what now is my "exact request" :

at start : no food

after 4 hours, (very important : not precisely) : bring 2 little square of Milk Chocolate, and only 2 square, and always check that i am not missing chocolate, but not to have too much

 

After 7 hours (very important ; not precisely) : bring a 1/4 cup of RedBull, always check that there is still some RedBull Inside the cup, but not more, as i much drink only few

 

I also got a funny idea to help the public to be "into the music" : i did what i called a "serious version" of Duchamp cult movie : Cinetic Cinema (i simply removed the french word jokes, that are not funny anymore in the XXI century). And ... that was a Good idea !

 

This time, once again i got this stupid idea to perform the first part a little fast and to slowdown at the end.

 

But i loved it.

 

It was pitch black, so the video was perfectly visible. But 6 pm ... i was already very tired even before starting !

 

I could see the audience meditating, i could Watch the video,and .... it hypnotized me !

I still remember my hunger, my thirstiness , and also i remember that at 4 am, i was almost sleeping.

This moment was terrible... i remember myself trying to play the Vexations theme.... i played half of it .... i could not do more .... i went back ..... started it again .... at same place i could not go and went back .... i went back .... i don t know ..... 10 times ? 15 times ? more ???

The more it goes, the less i could play .... i went even down to some notes only ..... slower and slower .... i felt more and more powerless ... tired .... hypnotised ................... i could not move ..........

and ....

it happened .....

i don t know how long was the gap .... i don t even know if i stopped or not .....

and ....

1 woman skratched her back ....

and ....

 

I was back on track !!!!!!!!!

 

I think it was "the terrible" moment, as there is always a terrible moment when you perform it solo and non stop. A time of despair, sadness and you wish that you will end fast , or not even doing it. (not 100% sure, but if you look at the time lapse video, it happens on 8:01)

 

I really don t know whay would happen if nobody was in the hall !

 

After i don t remember quite well, what happened from 4 am to 8 am ... It was "normal"

 

Once again at the end, i feel this terrible sadness, but i knew that few weeks after i will do it again in Monaco, and ... a 24 hours one !!!

 

the last 10 Vexations

 

 

ps : a little edition !

 

I recently had some recollections about this very particular performance. There was actually a fact that made this performance unique in comparaison to all the other Vexations i did. A very strange storry (in my point of view) .

 

As i told you, in preparation for this Vexations , i stayed in bed for a complete day, no food, no drink.

When i understood that my performance would happen in the evening ... well i had a 2nd day in the bed ! ( if you prefer 36 hours in total ).  Since it was a "surprise" i was a little block and in the morning i could sleep no more. As a result i watched 2 movies. 1 was "Hard Candies" , and the other one was "Megane is Missing".

1st one was great, a very good story and something you would love girlies to do to those bastards !

and .... the other one was the total opposite (i coupled those movie by random choice, and did not look at the descriptions, simply the posters looks interesting Z movies).

For those who did not see Megane is Missing, well, it is a very boring movie, for 1h30 very good for sleeping as almost nothing happen. But the end ..... the end is really horrible.

SO ! (i now arrive to the interesting point) i was so much shocked by this ending, that in the middle of the Vexations i was thinking about it, about those 2 girls and all that might have happened to them, and ...... i almost had nightmares when performing ! I was really haunted by this movie !!!!

And also the place i performed was so dark ..... ( you can see that on the video) with the Duchamp green thing behind me ........ brrrrrr .................................

 

As a result : no more movies when i am preparing Vexations by "no food, no drink" !

If you also are preparing the Vexations, please keep this advice very seriously !