When is a composer and pianist not a musician?  Give up?  When he is a “phonometrician” or a “gymnopedist”.  Ask Erik Satie and he would tell you that his slow somewhat clumsy pieces are not so much compositions as measures of sound.  Born on May 17, 1866, Erik Satie was one of the more colorful members of the early 20th century Parisian avant- garde.  Satie passed away on July 1, 1925.   Before he did, however, it is said that his work led to artistic movements including minimalism, Surrealism, repetitive music and the Theatre of the Absurd.

You may listen to Gymnopedies & Gnossiennes here: