Satie: Complete Works

This 33-CD set stands as the most complete collection of recordings of Debussy’s music ever made: it comprises all his known works, including four pieces in world premiere recordings which were made especially for this edition. Compiled in collaboration with renowned Debussy expert Denis Herlin (responsible for several critical editions of Debussy’s music for Durand, the composer’s publisher), the box comprises recordings carefully chosen for their artistic quality and their authenticity of spirit. They span more than a century, even including recordings made by Debussy himself – he was a superb pianist. Many other distinguished names are among the performers, including a suitably impressive contingent from France.

This is far and away the best playing of Satie's most popular works. Roge's other Satie disk is worth owning as well. Tempos are carefully chosen, with special attention to the subtleties each work presents. I also own Ciccolini and Thibaudet's complete Satie recordings and Roge outshines them at nearly every turn. A must own disc for all true Satie lovers.

Erik Satie - The Complete Solo Piano Music - Jean-Yves Thibaudet (2003) {5CD Box Set, Decca 473 620-2}
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© 2002, 2003 Decca Music | 473 620-2
Classical / Fantasies / Chamber Music / Improvisation / Piano

Jean-Yves Thibaudet has undertaken the complete solo piano works of another late nineteenth/early twentieth century French composer: Erik Satie. This even includes a sample of Vexations, that theme and two variations that Satie instructs to be played slowly, 840 times. It's interesting to compare Thibaudet's interpretations of these works with those of Aldo Ciccolini, who was one of Thibaudet's teachers. Overall, Thibaudet gives a less-Romantic interpretation, with less overt emotion and more introverted abstraction, but it is not overly academic.

The range and variety of French piano music in the 19th and 20th centuries is exemplifi ed in these critically acclaimed albums bringing together rarely encountered pieces, a number of which are performed on period instruments. Théodore Gouvy’s little-known sonatas and Benjamin Godard’s fragrant lyricism are part of a lineage that includes the masterful large-scale Piano Sonata of Vincent d’Indy, the virtuosic rarities – many in première recordings – of Saint-Saëns, Satie’s tenderness and wit, and unknown piano versions of some of Debussy’s greatest orchestral masterpieces.

The range and variety of French piano music in the 19th and 20th centuries is exemplifi ed in these critically acclaimed albums bringing together rarely encountered pieces, a number of which are performed on period instruments. Théodore Gouvy’s little-known sonatas and Benjamin Godard’s fragrant lyricism are part of a lineage that includes the masterful large-scale Piano Sonata of Vincent d’Indy, the virtuosic rarities – many in première recordings – of Saint-Saëns, Satie’s tenderness and wit, and unknown piano versions of some of Debussy’s greatest orchestral masterpieces.

Michala Petri war und ist das weibliche Gesicht der Blockflötenrenaissance. Die sympathische Dänin brillierte nicht nur virtuos im barocken Hit-Repertoire, wie ihre furiose Version von Vivaldis "Vier Jahreszeiten" eindrucksvoll belegt. Ihr unverwechselbarer, warmer Klang machte auch weniger bekannte Bach- und Händel-Sonaten mit Jazz-Legende Keith Jarrett zu einem Hörereignis. Auf diesen insgesamt 17 CDs, die zwischen 1987 und 2001 entstanden sind und die hier erstmals komplett erscheinen, zeigt sich das Können der ECHO Klassik-Preisträgerin bei einem immensen Repertoire von Bach und Telemann bis zu Raritäten von Grieg, zeitgenössischen, melodiösen Kompositionen, einem faszinierenden Weihnachtsalbum und herrlich-nostalgischen Piecen von Fritz Kreisler.

John Cage - Complete Piano Music, Vols. 1-10 - Steffen Schleiermacher (2004) {18CD Set MDG 613 1731-2 rec 1997-2002}
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© 1997-2002, 2004 Musikproduktion Dabringhaus Und Grimm | MDG 613 1731-2
Classical / Contemporary Classical / Piano

Steffen Schleiermacher's monumental traversal of the complete piano music of John Cage will be essential for the collection of any fan of the composer's, unless he or she has already purchased the previously released ten volumes (a total of 18 discs) that are boxed together here and reissued in recognition of the composer's 100th anniversary in 2012. The 20-hour compilation is a testimony to Cage's hugely prolific output, and certainly constitutes one of the most significant collections of keyboard music of the 20th century. There could hardly be a more sympathetic and skillful interpreter of Cage's oeuvre than German pianist/composer Steffen Schleiermacher.

Playing Falla in date order makes an odd-shaped recital: the tail is at the front. But it gives a graphic portrait of an explorer. The Spanish presence steadily insinuates itself until it grows fiercely concentrated, finally almost aphoristic. Baselga, an individual pianist in this very personal music, plays the Piezas españolas intensely, with plenty of staccato and a free pulse, scorning easy charm to find strength. In the stupendous Fantasía bética he lets the rhythms take hold gradually and locates the full gypsy-like restlessness of the ultra-ornamented melody at the centre. His ear for balance and virtuoso control of pace are compelling, but short of the ultimate physical exultation. Around these peaks he browses rewardingly, with more warmth and more pedal for the early pieces, relieving the often dry piano tone. It’s the mature and late works that awaken his interest most, and these include the quirkiest of them. Imagine the ‘Song of the Volga Boatmen’ in the style of Pictures at an Exhibition and you’re halfway there: an improbable political commission that Falla met at full power.