Satie 6 Gnossiennes

The Gnossiennes are several piano compositions by the French composer Erik Satie in the late 19th century. The works are for the most part in free time (lacking time signatures or bar divisions) and highly experimental with form, rhythm and chordal structure. The form was invented by Satie but the term itself existed in French literature before Satie's usage.

The Gnossiennes are several piano compositions by the French composer Erik Satie in the late 19th century. The works are for the most part in free time (lacking time signatures or bar divisions) and highly experimental with form, rhythm and chordal structure. The form was invented by Satie but the term itself existed in French literature before Satie's usage.

Fazil Say brings a composer’s approach to these two strangely complementary French figures. He plays with a delicacy and restraint, almost as if a veil had been thrown over the piano: colors are subtle, rhetoric replaced by intimate whispers. He brings Debussy’s lovely Préludes vividly to life, his personality glinting off the notes, each miniature painted with tiny brushstrokes. Satie’s Gnossiennes and Gymnopédies, epigrammatic and wistful, are done with the perfect amount of reverence balanced with a cheeky smile. The piano is nicely recorded in an ambience that perfectly fits these infinitely rewarding small creations.

Pianist/composer Jacques Loussier demonstrated musical ability at an early age, starting to play at the age of ten and entering the Conservatoire National de Musique in Paris at 16. Loussier's main professor there was Yves Nat, who in turn was encouraged by Faure, Saint-Saens, and Debussy as a student himself. Loussier continued this distinguished tradition, graduating at the top of his class…

Comme l’ont dit nombre de musicologues, la musique de Satie se caractérise par un ésotérisme subtil teinté d’une pointe d’humour et de mysticisme. C’est une musique par ailleurs absolument novatrice et audacieuse, sans emphase, à la sensibilité discrète, naïve et raffinée. Une musique étrange et sans effets de virtuosité, venue d’ailleurs et suspendue au temps comme dans le Gymnopédies et les Gnossiennes. Satie, suivant son humilité naturelle, possède l’art de simplifier le trait mélodique. L’interprétation de J.N.Barbier est en tout point remarquable et fait de ce CD un petit joyau.

This box collects several recordings of Satie's piano music by Dutch pianist Reinbert de Leeuw, going back as far as 1977, with an English-language DVD (not reviewed, but the idea is attractive) including a fictionalized presentation of Satie's relationship with artist Suzanne Valadon (after they broke up, he hung in his window cataloging her faults, but the film apparently doesn't get to the fun stuff). The provenance of the music on the third CD, consisting mostly of songs and featuring soprano Marjanne Kweksilber, is unclear from the booklet, and it's a poor choice for the non-Francophone – no song texts are provided at all. The piano music from de Leeuw is another matter, however. It is immediately distinctive in its slow tempos and dreamy, rather lugubrious tone.