Furniture Music
Furniture Music is the quintessential background music. Tailored around Satie’s Musiques d’Ameublement (translated Furniture Music), this music is meant to be enjoyed subliminally, heard, but not listened to, as Satie puts it — while drinking a cocktail and having a conversation
Music
Erik Satie — Musiques d’Ameublement (Furniture Music)
Debussy (orch. Mouton) — Children’s Corner
Debussy
Doctor Gradus ad Parnassum
Satie
Carrelage Phonique [Phonic Tiling]
Tapisserie en fer forgé [Tapestry in forged iron]
Debussy
Jumbo’s Lullaby
Serenade for the Doll
Satie
Chez un Bistrot
Un Salon
Debussy
The Snow is dancing
The little Shepherd
Satie
Tenture de Cabinet Préfectoral [Wall-lining in a chief-officer’s office]
Performance Story
This music becomes sonic wallpaper, and the musicians are (like Debussy’s title says) in the children’s corner , just playing — pay them no mind! This is music that will colour the atmosphere, while the audience members are free to have a drink, talk with each other and move freely around the space.
Satie created this pieces of furniture music open to be repeated as often as one would like to. And so, they become the background to which people have their conversations, only sometimes noticing that maybe the soundscape has changed — a pause in the conversation allows for a glance to the musicians, a moment to drink in the sounds, and ready to forget again. This extremely versatile programme is perfect for those who want to sit a bit and listen (no lonely people in this party), and to those that are carried by the music’s groove into exciting discussions.
The programme above adds up to about 1h of music, on which we continuously expand always adapting to the event and venue in question.
Performance History
Portuguese Embassy, London. May 2019
Invited by London Craft Week for the exhibition Vista Alegre and Pulo do Lobo.