Customer Reviews

After the Rain...The Soft Sounds of Erik Satie

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

*
This is one of the best Satie discs available. Why? Well, the performances are superb, the recording very clear; but moreover, what Rogé has done here is select all Satie's lovely and haunting adagio pieces from Satie's entire oeuvre for solo piano.
This is signifigant because apart from these pieces, the remainder of Satie's piano works consists of frantic, 'humorous' pieces that are supposed to be 'funny'. (Perhaps they were valuable as novelties during Satie's own day, as evocations of Modernism, Futurism, Vorticism, etc.)

Rogé has salvaged all the quite excellent slow and meditative pieces of unusual harmonies and formed them into one fabulous recording.

The recording was made in one continous session: it seems Rogé performed from memory. The sound is quite excellent: it sounds as if it were made in a large open-air studio with windows open to the cityscape, yet sounds from the street are not an issue here.

(The whole technique of recording a solo piano has a lot of theory to it: Glenn Gould, for one, experimented with several techniques: for example, close microphoning; ranked microphoning; distant microphoning, etc.)
It seems plain that here Rogé was going for a completely natural sound--what one would hear being in the same room, present at the performance.
Rogé succeded, and the recording has a very intimate, live timbre with much ambience.
*

Replying to review titled "Still Raining, I think"

The reviewer complains that the sound quality is bad because it is not digital DDD or ADD. I have the record, and my opinion is that the prior reviewer was hearing the sound of the room, not the sound of the analog recording equipment (if it is indeed analog and not digital). It sounds natural and beautiful. It does not sound like a dead quiet studio. Don't be discouraged by the prior review. Although I know about recording I don't know enough to comment on the quality of the performance or composition. I just wanted to note that the sound quality is fine.

Roge is a master when it comes to performing the works of the impressionist composers. With Satie, he is both playful and gentle, offering the perfect amount of expression to the Trois Gymnopedies and the six Gnossienes. Satie's work pinnacled in solo piano pieces, and Pascal Roge does not disappoint. Put your CD player on repeat and set it on your headboard before you go to sleep at night!

Erik Satie certainly was not a giant among the classical Impressionists - nobody would mistake him for Debussy. But Pascal Roge has recorded a very successful disc by concentrating on thematically similar material. Considering some of the duds in Satie's catalogue, the works here were very well selected, focusing on softer meditative pieces.

Some of the music is so light it almost seems in danger of floating away. But Roge's playing is very sympathetic and he manages to hold the listener's interest throughout. In his hands, the playing is melancholy but not sombre. In other hands, these pieces could have been dull.

The recorded sound comes across as very realistic. This is a great CD to play while reading the newspaper on a gray drizzly morning. Those who are wary of Satie should really consider this disc. Fans should consider it as essential.

I have had other Satie compilations in the past. In every case, I found the collections unsatisfying, usually because of some obtuse selection that stood out from the others. Not so with THIS compilation! If you want to know where to start if you are curious about Eric Satie, this is the perfect beginning point. If you are familiar with Satie, the sequencing of the pieces sounds perfect. It is an ideal recording to pass a lazy afternoon or twilight. Can't pay a better compliment than that, in my book!

As with any composer there are many ways to competently interpret their work. If you like Satie's music played to bring out its meditative, dreamy qualities, this is the recording for you.

Eric Satie's [1866-1926] music is all over the map regarding quality and appeal - from gregarious, borderline-annoying, player-piano-like music to his more famous, luminescent, nocturnal slow masterpieces featured on this CD (without the former). Personally, I have little ear for the burlesque-inspired music on other Satie collections, so this compilation has found a nice niche in my collection for frequent playing when quiet, meditative music is in order (yes, often to help get to sleep assisted by the soothing Gymnopedies).

The sound quality of this CD is very rich and vivid as is Pascal Roge's playing, with beautiful, bell-like sustained notes from Roge's Steinway. What I most appreciated is his well-conceived tempos of these pieces - which for some reason suffer from too-slow, dirge-like tempos in other recordinds that strip the music of much of its life and enriching effects (as I find in fellow Frenchman, Jean Yves Thibaudet's Decca recording - fitting for a funeral - why so slow?!)

In contrast, Roge to me finds the sweet-spot tempo and infuses these works with a subtle vibrancy in his tempos and colorations that allow the pieces to maintain constant interest to the listener and effect their simple magic. The highest Satie collection recommendation. Compositions - 4 stars; Performance - 5 stars; Sound Quality - 5 stars.

Many thanks to Pascal Roge for unlocking the soul of this musical gem. Satie communicates from his soul in these pieces and, for me at least, the emotion comes through in this performance like in no other I've heard. Absolutely brilliant! You get natural piano sound in your room; like being in the room with Satie alone at the piano as he is playing out his soul.

People who can't appreciate what has been accomplished here are DEAF ... please go check your hearing or your system! There is nothing wrong with this recording and the performance is one of a kind!!!

In the same class as G. Cziffra playing Chopin/Liszt or Richter playing Beethoven's Appasionata or Gould playing Bach.

This recoring is not a close-miked recording - THIS would be absolutely ridiculous for this performance.

DO YOU THINK SATIE HAD HIS EARS INSIDE THE PIANO WHEN HE PLAYED IT ????????

I have the Thibodeau version also. It's OK by comparison. Nowhere near as mature or compehensive. Lighter and more lively ... to me it misses the point intended.

SATIE WAS A GENIUS.

thank you.

Excellent rendition of intimate Satie. Very evocative of Paris. Cool and quiet.

a good introduction to satie's music. Well played, excellent recording.
Nuff said!