Erik Satie is arguably the godfather of modern minimalism and ambient music. Especially with his early composition Trois Gymnopédies.

This subdued solo piano piece makes me think of autumn days, sunlight filtering through leaves turning yellow, bronze and red as the days grow shorter before the approach of winter.

Composed back in 1888, Trois Gymnopédies seems like the perfect soundtrack for this time of year with its melancholy mood, its stately pace and delicate simplicity.

The French composer began studying music at the Paris Conservatoire but was expelled and supported himself playing piano in a Montmartre cabaret cafe.

This was one of his first compositions during that period in his early 20s prior to a short spell in the army before returning to his musical studies at the Schola Cantorum, Paris’s “lesser” music school.

Perhaps as a reaction to its conservative and academic ethos, he developed a bohemian lifestyle, encouraged by Jean Cocteau, one of his early champions.

His surrealist influence extended to the titles of his compositions, which he gave “humorous” names to such as Dried Up Embryos and Three Flabby Preludes (For A Dog).

On the score for this trio of interlinked pieces, his performance instructions were for the pianist to play the piece douloureux (painfully), triste (sadly) and grave (gravely).

Their atmospheric style has led them to be regarded as one of the early influences not only on minimalism but on ambient music in general. I can certainly hear that in the music of Roger Eno and, to a lesser degree, his brother Brian.