Best of Piano Music

Satie (Artist), Ciccolini (Artist), Tacchino (Artist) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (March 14, 2000)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: EMI Classics
• ASIN: B00004R95Q
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #228,230 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Aldo Ciccolini's late-1960s survey devoted to Erik Satie's piano music helped spawn new interest in the idiosyncratic French composer. The pianist rerecorded the cycle digitally, and it is from these remakes that the present reissue stems. While the performances are refreshingly pert, stylish, and perceptive, the rather glassy, treble-heavy engineering can't hold a candle to EMI's warmer analog sound for the earlier recordings. Be that as it may, this disc covers a spectrum of Satie's creative moods (to say nothing of his bizarre titles), from the pensive Gymnopédies, Gnossiennes, and Nocturnes to the upbeat irony inherent in the character pieces. Gabriel Tacchino joins Ciccolini for a balletic romp through La belle excentrique. Happily, this duo will have none of the fussy rubato with which a handful of world-class pianists distort Trois Morceaux en forme de poire. If warm, rounded piano sound is not an issue, then this disc will do just fine as your basic Satie starter kit. --Jed Distler

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Great Performance, not so great quality recording, January 18, 2006

By 

Daniel Espinoza (Santiago, Chile) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Best of Piano Music (Audio CD)

I think that the interpretation of Satie's work here is really good, but my complain is that the recording has a lot of noise in it, is not just the noise of a life performance (which I don't mind), but there is a clear white noise in the background that spoils the overall effect. Still, as I said the interpretation is just great, but the noise issue forces me to give a 3 start rating.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Great Performance, disappointing listening experience, May 5, 2007

By 

resolute.rhino (Washington DC) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Best of Piano Music (Audio CD)

The performance of all of the pieces on this disk are exceptional, and the recording of the piano itself is well done. Unfortunately, both are almost irreparably marred by a loud recording hiss throughout the performances. The fact that this hiss fades to zero between sets only serves to highlight the hiss and make it distracting again. I am stunned that this disk advertises itself as a DDD recording, the engineers and producers should be ashamed. If you know how to process hiss out of a recording, go for it. Otherwise, be warned, you may be disappointed.

11 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Splendid Introduction to Satie's Piano Music, May 28, 2004

By 

John Kwok (New York, NY USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Best of Piano Music (Audio CD)

I must confess my ignorance with respect to Satie and his music, so this fine CD was a revelation. Satie clearly falls in the same group of "Impressionist" composers such as Debussy, but still remains an enigmatic figure, in part because of the satirical content of his music, as well as his personality. In Aldo Ciccolini, Satie had one of his foremost champions. This CD is replete with graceful, lyrical playing of Satie's works. I am truly surprised that Satie was neglected until the 1960's, when Ciccolini began championing his music. The sound quality isn't nearly as warm as earlier EMI analogue recordings, but this isn't a major disappointment in what is otherwise a splendid introduction to Satie's music.