Satie's Pièces froides

Danses de travers (Crooked Dances) is one of the two sets of three pieces comprising Érik Satie's Pièces froides (Cold Pieces), written for solo piano in 1897. The other set is Airs à faire fuir (Tunes to Make You Run Away). The simplicity and charm of these six pieces are reminiscent of Satie's early piano works, especially the Gnossiennes and Gymnopédies of the late 1880s.

Érik Satie (1866 – 1925) was a French composer and pianist, as well as a colorful figure in the early twentieth century Parisian avant-garde. He is perhaps best known for his short piano pieces, such as the Gnossiennes.

Averse to the Romanticism of Richard Wagner, he produced fascinating music of a simple, timeless, directionless, repetitious, eccentric, whimsical, satirical, and humorous nature. He was a precursor to later artistic movements such as minimalism, repetitive music, and the Theatre of the Absurd.