[easy listening] John & Steve Hackett

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John & Steve Hackett
Может быть, это и в классику надо было.

1999 Sketches of Satie



"It must have taken me a good ten years to find out who had written a haunting melody I kept humming to anyone who was vaguely musical and when I finally did find out, no-one, not even the French, could tell me what a ‘Gymnopédie’ was... I discovered in time that it referred to a frieze of dancers on a Grecian urn... well known to academics perhaps, but to discover it for oneself was all the more powerful.

To return to the present, John and I had long talked about a project involving Satie’s music. Would it require an orchestra or could we use the full tonal range of our own two favoured instruments to create a sound canvas worthy of the keyboard-based writing? Either way it would be a return to our musical roots when we first became aware of ‘Atmospheric’ music, brave enough to remain rhythmically static yet all the more poignant precisely because of that ‘held-back’ quality. There always was a love of music in the family home but not specifically the ‘Classical’ tradition - I’d say we found our way to this music ourselves without being pushed. For us, Satie was definitely a man ahead of his time. Unlikely modulations abound and the Minimalists were to take from him as would Jazz, and where would ‘Ambient’ music be without his example?

However, transposing from piano comes with its own problems... we felt the original keys were perfect for flute but lay outside the range of guitar... detuning my strings to encompass piano range, I moved my 6th string as much as a whole octave lower than usual to give the often complicated harmonies the fullness of support they needed.

By way of special thanks, the project would not have been possible without Sally Goodworth’s original tempo map combined with Roger King’s unbelievable patience and concentration during the recording process. I felt like we virtually ‘lived’ in headphones to the extent that they seemed grafted on like an extra limb (it’s possible the Dadaists may have approved the ‘look’ - much like snorkelling cyclists!)... as unreal as it seemed after hundreds of hours when we occasionally had to come up for air. I swear I couldn’t walk a straight line for two months...

Finally, all jokes aside, I can’t fully describe my delight and joy that the sessions went so well and that the album, long overdue, is now complete. I may be sticking my neck out here but I don’t believe John has ever sounded in finer form, he was obviously born to play Satie - as I am sure you’ll agree!I hope that you’ll be equally captivated, as we were in those early years, by the beauty of one of France’s most original composers." (Steve Hackett)

Tracklist:
1. Gnossienne No. 3
2. Gnossienne No. 2
3. Gnossienne No. 1
4. Gymnopédie No. 3
5. Gymnopédie No. 2
6. Gymnopédie No. 1
7. Pièces Froides No. 1 Airs À Faire Fuir I
8. Pièces Froides No. 1 Airs À Faire Fuir II
9. Pièces Froides No. 2 Danse de Travers II
10. Avant Dernières Pensées Idylle À Debussy
11. Avant Dernières Pensées Aubade À Paul Dukas
12. Avant Dernières Pensées Méditation À Albert Roussel
13. Gnossienne No. 4
14. Gnossienne No. 5
15. Gnossienne No. 6
16. Nocturnes No. 1
17. Nocturnes, No. 2
18. Nocturnes, No. 3
19. Nocturnes No. 4
20. Nocturnes No. 5

John Hackett, flute
Steve Hackett, guitar

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