Richard Toop's 1967 performance of Erik Satie's Vexations at the Arts Lab in London is highlighted as a pioneering UK rendition. Notably, the performance featured a unique setting in an art exhibition space, leading to listeners engaging with the music in various ways. Toop recalls a humorous incident involving a journalist and a dosage mix-up with methamphetamine that contributed to the challenges of playing the piece for 840 repetitions over 16 hours. These anecdotes illustrate a distinctive moment in avant-garde performance history.
Firstly, the piano was in the outer foyer, where there was an art exhibition, so that the music became a real musique d'ameublement.
I remember a man from the Times kneeling beside me as I played - not even Rubinstein got that kind of genuflectory treatment.
After about 16 hours I asked for some kind of mild stimulant...what actually materialised was a cup of coffee with a whole phial of methedrine.
The effect was hair-raising: my drooping eyelids rolled up like a Tom and Jerry cartoon.
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