Erik Satie's strange little piano piece Vexations begins with a slowly moving 18-note theme. It's repeated, harmonized in the right hand by two voices moving mostly in parallel tritones. Following a second statement of the single-line theme, the tritone harmonization is inverted. And that's all there is, save for the fact that Satie asks you to repeat the composition 840 times. Does he mean 840 times in all, or 840 repetitions, meaning a grand total of 841 go-rounds?

Ever since John Cage organized the first "complete" Vexations performance in 1963 with 10 pianists working respective two-hour shifts, dozens of enterprising Vexations fêtes have transpired worldwide, including some carried out by lone pianists. Timings fall into a range of between 18 and 21 hours. Recent Vexationthons, however, have made a point of nailing Satie's ideal 24-hour mark, including Steffen Schleiermacher's extraordinary 1996 Radio Bremen recording, now available as a boxed set from MDG. Alan Marks' 1991 Vexations (Decca 425 221-2DNL, out of print) limited Satie's score to 40 repetitions. Schleiermacher's Vexations, though, represents the first "complete" version accomplished by a single performer on disc, or, to be accurate, no less than 20 discs.

In tribute to Cage's pioneering spirit, Schleiermacher devised a game plan where every interpretive component is jointly determined by tosses of the I Ching and an intricate numeric scheme. It would be counterproductive to describe the inner workings of Schleiermacher's painstaking architectural vision, which the pianist elucidates in his lengthy yet easy-to-follow booklet notes. Suffice it to say that each repetition organically unfolds out of the previous one, and the pianist's subtle variations of dynamics, phrasing, sonority, voicing, pedaling, and articulation never sound different for difference's sake. What is more, Schleiermacher achieves the almost impossible task of fashioning long, flexible lines from a basic slow tempo that's atomically maintained from beginning to end. Even the minute changes in acoustic (also determined by the I Ching) are chiefly noticeable after the fact and never draw attention to themselves. These were obtained by miking the piano from different perspectives on a multi-channel console and mixing them down in post-production. Jump ahead to the central repetitions on Disc 10, for instance, and you'll notice a hollower, less defined sonority than the whiskery close-up mix used for the opening and closing hours. Such effects, however, are best absorbed in context, just as you watch a sunrise in real time rather than rapidly cross cutting from night to day, and vice-versa. Not since Glenn Gould's best efforts have I heard a piano recording that makes such intelligent and tasteful use of technology toward purely musical ends.

A bonus disc contains archival recordings featuring a multitude of pianists and composers playing Vexations (mostly once through!). Among the older generation are Robert Casadesus, Jacques Fevrier, Jeanne-Marie Darré, Raymond Trouard, and a poorly recorded but fascinating Alfred Cortot rendition full of added octaves and spooky bass-register tremolos. Meredith Monk plays the piece fast and freely while Aaron Copland pounds it out (rather insensitively, to my ears). Aldo Ciccolini takes it much slower than he did on his EMI recordings, while Frederic Rzewski uses Satie's original as the basis for a brilliant set of improvised variations. MDG's 450-page booklet may seem overkill for such a specialized project, yet Vexations junkies will welcome Schleiermacher's aforementioned essay, numerous commentaries about the work, and an impressively compiled Vexations "annals", listing dates, locations, personnel, and timings when available. Given its full price tag and lavish packaging, MDG's Vexations box constitutes a hefty investment of money and shelf space. That MDG has committed to this release in today's uncertain, vulnerable classical music marketplace, however, is nothing less than an act of faith. [4/2/2002]

--Jed Distler