Erik Satie: The Complete Solo Piano Music - Jean-Yves Thibaudet

Erik Satie : The Complete Solo Piano Music

Jean-Yves Thibaudet

Classics Today :

Artistic Quality - 10

Sound Quality - 8

BBC:

Performance : *****

Sound : ****

BBC, Jed Distler :

If Erik Satie hadn't lived, someone would have had to have invented him. Fortunately he invented himself, carefully crafting dozens of caustic miniatures (and several important large-scale works) that sealed his reputation as a maverick figure and musical non-conformist. Many collectors associate Satie's piano music with Aldo Ciccolini's pioneering complete cycle, and rightly so. Yet a new cycle by Jean-Yves Thibaudet (who studied with Ciccolini) purports to be more complete, offering several unpublished works and rarities. Each of the five discs is loosely programmed according to genre and chronology. In an age where more and more pianists attempt to impose a mystic, spiritual aura on the music by slowing it down and downplaying its humour, Thibaudet's impeccable taste, Classical poise and affinity for the composer's ironic subtexts are akin to an oasis in the desert. His superb technique and complete control over what a modern Steinway can do yield bouquets of nuance and textural variety from even the most modest works, without ever sounding the least bit arch or mannered. Thibaudet is generally less frisky and brusque in faster pieces than his one-time teacher, yet takes greater care in observing Satie's carefully notated dynamic markings. He metes out rubato in discreet proportions that prevent stark, ceremonial pieces like the Ogives, Danses gothiques, Douze petits chorals and Sonneries de la rose + croix from sounding overly static. The same can be said of familiar fare, as witness Thibaudet's direct and subtly shaded Gymnopédies, Sarabandes and Gnossiennes. At the same time, Thibaudet's penchant for extroversion and drama enliven works influenced by Satie's music hall experience (Je te veux, for example). And how deliciously he characterises Cinéma's obsessive repeated patterns. Some may be bothered by the close-up engineering and pedal noises, but the warmth and immediacy of Thibaudet's softer playing amply compensates. With Decca's superb annotations in tow, Satie completists need not hesitate in acquiring this terrific set.

Classics Today, David Hurwitz :

It's been a long time since anyone recorded the complete Satie solo piano music, and Jean-Yves Thibaudet's set is more "complete" than anyone's, offering several unpublished works (including those discussed in my very favorable review of his initial single-disc selection: type Q5626 in Search Reviews). Although there's lots more music in this five-disc extravaganza, there's not too much more to add to that earlier discussion. Thibaudet remains a superb Satie interpreter, an artist of taste, wit, and a certain detachment or classical reserve without which the music can all too easily lapse into mere self-caricature. He spends a mercifully brief three-and-a-half minutes over Vexations, and his treatment of the larger suites--Danses gothiques, Douze petits chorals, Nocturnes, and Sports et divertissements--demonstrates his ability to obtain a great variety of expression from the composer's minimal means, all without ever crossing the line into mannerism. The great French gastronome Curnonsky famously said "Let the ingredients taste like themselves," and that's exactly what Thibaudet offers here: the individual character of each of these little gems never gets smothered in too rich a sauce. As with that first disc, Decca's piano sound is full and bright but too close to the instrument, so it's a touch harder than it has to be. Still, it's appreciably superior to EMI's aging sonics for Ciccolini's also fine complete set, and it's not hard to grant Thibaudet's performances top position as the version of reference in this repertoire. Nice job!

Posted by Ice