Has So Much Ever Been Made Of So Little? A Look At Erik Satie’s ‘Vexations’

David Patrick Stearns: “Only a minute or two long, but repeated 840 times, Vexations is alternately called minimalist, Dada-ist, or Outsider Art when it resurfaces every few years. … [Igor] Levit’s late May performance, streamed from Berlin, is perhaps the highest-profile outing for this ghostly wisp of a piece that was posthumously discovered among the composer’s personal effects. Considering that [it] could easily have been dismissed as some discarded sketch, Vexations has achieved a degree of cultural clout that is, to say the least, highly unexpected.” – WQXR (New York City)