Review:

on 2011-03-21 CharlesMartel Said:

Erik Satie was one of those composers whom people tend to overlook. His style was often very avant-garde. He had a close association with Toulouse-Lautrec and other artists and painters of that era and milieu and in many ways his music can be said to mirror they style of painting which they espoused. This was the age of great strides in art in Europe, where Paris was the centre of something new and revolutionary. Yet to overlook Satie is to do a grave disservice to one of the finest exponents of solo piano music in musical history. And this album is all about the piano. The pieces on it are from two different pianists and were recorded some years apart.

Ok, I will admit there are times when Satie can be really annoying. Yet his gymnopedies and gnossiennes rank among the finest short works of piano music you will ever hear. If Beethoven's "Moonlight Sonata" strikes a chord in your heart, then "Gymnopedie #1" will do likewise. You don't believe me I can tell. You think you've never heard of it. You will definitely recognise it when you hear it. It has an unmistakeable sound which is very familiar to all but the most narrow-minded of musical aficionados. I have heard many variations of this, even pieces which have been played on a full orchestra, with guitar and even a completely choral version. But none can match the sheer beauty and simplicity of Satie's original piano only piece.

Yet Satie's work stretches further than that most well-known of his pieces. While a lot of the music is tinged with slight hints of sadness and loneliness, occasionally it breaks out into a more up-tempo, almost uplifting style, most notably with "Le Picadilly" and some of his dance themed work. What is often overlooked is that, while the pieces may have been relatively simple technically, to play with them with any degree of skill required an empathy and feeling which was far more complex, emotionally, than many could muster. It is perhaps for this reason that truly good versions of his piano works are somewhat hard to come by as many pianists seem to lack the ability to play these as well as they deserve.

In terms of inspiration, Satie drew on virtually everything. There are pieces on this collection which are inspired by various dances, such as the "Polka". There are pieces which are inspired by the mundane, such as sitting in a park and there are pieces which are inspired by petrified fossils seen in the cases of the Paris Museum of Natural History. Satie was never one to confine his musical inspiration to a few narrow issues. He was a keen observer of all that was around him and able to draw upon anything he chose, and convert it into a musical format.

The trouble is that a hell of a lot of Satie's output was often comprised of pieces which were overly brief and tinklingly (is that a word?) irritating. The brevity makes it difficult to appreciate the underlying texture of the piece. There are pieces on here which last no longer than twelve seconds and that is remarkably short, by any standards. But even that carries its own message - some things are just throwaway, to be observed and then to move on. This facet of his work tends to pull down the overall rating of this otherwise excellent album.
Rating: 6/10