La Vie en Blanc

'La Vie en Blanc' compiles some of the most renowned music by Erik Satie, the visionary French composer who lived in Paris at the height of the Belle Époque. His Gymnopédies and Gnossiennes are in that rare class of classical music compositions instantly recognizable by anyone. The sound of the accordion, so intimately linked to Paris, together with the piano—on which Satie wrote the original music—evoke in the listener the Parisian spirit at the heart of the Chanson Française's immense repertoire. The EP's title, a play on Edith Piaf's famous song, pays tribute both to the Chanson Française and to the color white so dear to Satie, the symbol of his aesthetics. Pietro Roffi & Alessandro Stella, guided by the words of Jean Cocteau ("Satie suggests a white road where everyone freely leaves their own prints"), arranged each song by searching for its essence: from the simplicity of Three Gymnopédies to the enigmatic character of Gnossienne No. 6, from the image of Paris and Montmartre in Gnossienne No. 5 to the influence of Eastern music—which Satie had encountered at the World's Fair—of Gnossienne No. 1.