🇫🇷Erik Satie ： Pages mystiques Vexations

Based on a short theme, this piece challenges our sense of time through the persistent repetition of the same musical material. The score gives instructions for repeating the theme, so the work is shaped less by following changes from one statement to the next than by listening to the layers of sound, resonance, and shifting concentration within the repetitions. Its concise writing creates a distinctive stillness that sustains tension without releasing it. In performance, it is important not to overemphasize individual notes, but to maintain a steady flow and balance. In a long performance, the pianist should preserve focused attention without becoming mechanical, while treating subtle changes of expression with care. For students, the piece offers a valuable way to hear the resonance of repeated chords and the use of the pedal, and to experience sustained time itself as music.