Satie's 3 Gymnopédies

Genius - or elevator music? Sara Mohr-Pietsch explores the musical landscape surrounding the famously eccentric Erik Satie's Gymnopédies.

The almost-130 year old pieces are simultaneously overplayed and mysterious, sounding both timeless and unconventionally modernist - and always bang up to date. Sara visits the quirky world of Conlon Nancarrow's player piano studies and Mozart's Musical Joke, and the Ancient Greece of Handel's Semele. En route, there's Ravel's 'rosy-fingered' dawn, along with the heartfelt slow waltzes of Tchaikovsky and blues pioneer Lead Belly.

To listen to this programme on most smart speakers, just say: 'Ask BBC Sounds to play Music Map'.