The atmospheric cycle Avant-dernieres pensees (Next-to-last Thoughts) of 1915, with its underlaid words, belongs to Satie's "story pieces". The curious performance instructions in these three miniatures, all based on ostinato figures, amusingly lampoon the ideal of Romantic expressiveness.
This Urtext edition faithfully adheres to the sources and reflects the latest findings of Satie scholarship. It contains Satie's original French texts and translations in English, practical page-turns, notes on performance practice by Satie specialist Steffen Schleiermacher and an informative Foreword. The pieces are of moderate difficulty and provide an ideal varied repertoire for teaching purposes.
