Erik Satie is a delightfully weird figure from this period, more surrealist than impressionist, of course, but his pieces are often wonderfully adaptable to guitar (in part because they tend to be fairly minimalist). He created a series of "Gnossiennes," somewhat eerie sounding pieces, of which I present the first and the third (there are six or seven, if memory serves). The pieces are accompanied by ludicrous musical directions, many of which are surreal or impossible: "open your head," "arm yourself with clairvoyance," and the like.

The word Gnossienne (the g and the n are pronounced, by the way, guh-nah-see-ENN)is obscure and goes in two different directions: one is toward gnosis, the Greek word for knowledge; the other is toward Knossus, the site of the Minotaur's labyrinth in mythology. A revelation, or a deadly trap? You decide.

Gnossienne No. 1

Rob Rushing