In a post below I described the 1963 "premiere" of Vexations by Satie, as conceived by John Cage. I've heard from the scholar-musician Joshua Rifkin, who confirms that it was indeed he who performed under the pseudonym "Joshua Rivkin" at the Vexations marathon. He writes: "I might add that I was also, indirectly, responsible for the unexpected appearance of Howard Klein: I was supposed to take another slot in the course of the night, but I had gone uptown to my then girlfriend's house, fell soundly asleep ... and failed to wake up until late the following morning (with Vexations still playing in my inner ear)." Rifkin notes that the Tate Modern is about to present a Vexations in conjunction with a showing of Andy Warhol's film Sleep; the pianists will include Gavin Bryars, Michael Nyman, and Rifkin himself, reprising his original role with hopefully a little extra caffeine. The dates are May 27 and 28.
