Vexations - Gavin Bryars

This was part of the 18hr 40 mins marathon in Tate Modern, London, UK. The piece being performed is Vexations by Erik Satie, written in 1893, discovered in 1949 by John Cage and first performed in 1963 with Andy Warhol present in the audience. Warhol's film 'Sleep' was looped and projected above the 10 pianists who took it in turn to play 15 repetitions each, as in the original performance. This clip shows Gavin Bryars' stint. The performance brought back Joshua Rifkin who played the first 15 repetitions and was one of the original performers in 1963. The subject of Warhol's film, the poet John Giorno, who was for a time Warhol's partner, opened the evening with an excellent recital of three of his poems. The pianists then started at 20:00 on 27th May 2007 and finished at 14:40 on 28th May.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• vexations
• gavin
• bryars
• andy
• warhol
• sleep
• giorno
• john
• cage
• erik
• satie
• tate
• modern
• long
• weekend

[flagey12]

love the mistake at :33

[natolinas]

i doubt that this is a good combination (this particular film and this particular piece)

[InlovewithNile]

i love the sleep video. i wish you could find all of his motion pictures somewhere.

[thebrotherspleasant]

i hit repeat on my vexation tune for the entire journey from Geneva airport to La Clusaz (1.30 min), thought it best to turn it off when i mounted the kerb coming up the mountain; zoned out like a zombie at a wake. Hooray for Satie

[Zeething]

Cool