4 Handed Piano

Satie (Artist), Roge (Artist), Collard (Artist), Juillet (Artist) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (March 14, 2000)
• SPARS Code: DDD
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Decca
• ASIN: B00004DTQS
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #498,634 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #52 in Music > Classical > Ballets & Dances > Baroque Dance Suites > Sarabande

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

The headline news is that the performers get Satie right here. Many Satie recordings are too lush, losing the astringent edge that keeps his loveliness from turning to sentimentality. Rogé, the main performer, has the right idea. He plays with beautiful tone and phrasing, but adds just enough edge to his sound that the music never turns mushy. The program includes all Satie's music for piano four hands, including the famous "Three Pieces in the Form of a Pear" (Satie's ironic reply to Debussy's suggestion that he pay more attention to form), along with a few solos. A four-hand version of the ballet Parade, without the gunshots and sirens of the orchestral version, might seem useless, but it comes off very well. Juillet joins Rogé for the rarely heard "Things Seen to the Right and Left (Without Eyeglasses)," also capturing the appropriate irony. This well-recorded disc is a winner. --Leslie Gerber

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Probably the Finest 4-Handed Satie..., July 15, 2007

By 

Sébastien Melmoth (Hôtel d'Alsace, PARIS) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: 4 Handed Piano (Audio CD)

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For those who want to go indepth in their search for the elusive Satie, his music for piano duet must not be overlooked. And for 4-handed Satie, this is probably the finest realizations we're likely to hear.

Pascal Rogé is a very fine pianist; yet I feel he's slightly overlooked, when he should be actively sought out--espeically with the French literature. Seek: After the Rain...The Soft Sounds of Erik Satie ; and Satie: 3 Gymnopédies and Other Piano Works . (Although Erik Satie: Piano Works ; Satie: Gymnopédies No1-3; Petite ouverture à danser ; and Satie: Piano Music; Mélodies [includes DVD] are really good.)

Much of Satie's 4-handed piano music bears the quiet dignity of his "popular" Gymnopédes, Gnossiennes, and Nocturnes. Some of it is a little more tempestuous--i.e., the Parade. Doubleplus bonus, this disc contains Satie's only little works for violin and piano.

For those really interested in Satie, four recent discs are absolutely essential: Vexations ; Erik Satie: Musique de la Rose-Croix; Pages Mystiques; Uspud [Import] ; Socrate and Melodies .

This disc seems to be out of print, so recommend it be obtained from a 3rd party vendor quickly.
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