Gymnopédies, Gnossiennes and Other Works for Piano (Dover Music for Piano) Kindle Edition

As a lover of Satie I was thrilled to find a collection of his piano works for such a cheap price, and while I don't regret buying it I'm still left feeling a bit disappointed that Dover wasn't able to put together a better book for this under-appreciated composer.

The first thing I will say is that if you are only interested in the Gymnopédies and the Gnossiennes, this is probably not the best book for you (despite the misleading title). The Gymnopédies are all here but are printed in such an unnecessarily large format that each of the small pieces requires at least one page turn. The book is missing Gnossiennes 4-6 (regrettably this seems to be par for the course in the major publishers' collections of Gymnopédies and Gnossiennes), and the three Gnossiennes that are present are printed as Satie originally wrote them: without measure lines. This isn't so hard to get used to, but the more standard copies which include measure lines are certainly easier to read and play. More frustrating is the fact that while the Gnossiennes are in smaller print and only two pages per piece, Dover has made the baffling decision to arrange them so that each piece takes up the front and back of a single page and still requires a page turn.

The rest of the collection is a decent if eclectic representation of Satie's lesser known works. Any newcomers drawn in by the mysterious beauty of the Gnossiennes and Gymnopédies may be put off by the thoroughly bizarre nature of the rest of Satie's work. These range from fairly popular pieces such as the Poudre d'or and Je te veux waltzes to Satie's collections of shorter piano sketches. Many are printed without measure lines, and many include Satie's hugely amusing programmatic notes and instructions. An instruction to play "like a nightingale with a toothache" is just one of the many highlights of Satie's eccentricity; the performance notes give you the uncomfortable yet somewhat endearing sensation of having a senile old man watch over your shoulder as you play piano and occasionally mutter groups of nonsensical words that may or may not be addressed to you. It is also worth noting that the rest of the pieces are much harder to play than the Gnossiennes and Gymnopedies: dentally afflicted nightingales can be surprisingly complex. A little over a third of the book is dedicated to four hand piano pieces, which will be frustrating to all two-handed pianists without a willing partner.

At the reduced price of four dollars (the copy I received still has a 17-dollar price tag deceitfully stuck on top of the 15 dollar print price) Amazon and Dover seem to be trying to give this book away, and there really isn't a great reason not to let them do it. For about the price of a 6-inch Subway sandwich (no chips or drink), you can now add a fittingly bizarre collection of hard-to-find Satie piano pieces to your library. If the sub sounds better, you probably shouldn't buy this book. If you're only looking for the Gnossiennes and Gymnopédies I'd recommend shelling out a couple extra dollars for a smaller book dedicated to those pieces.

Admittedly, I didn't know much of Satie's music. I ordered this after a friend of mine performed a Gnossienne at a home concert. I have certainly enjoyed playing this music myself but a few things about this volume. The first is that you need a photocopier or you need to be able to memorize quickly: there are numerous two page works where the pagination is exactly wrong, where you must turn the page awkwardly in the middle of every piece -- and these page turns do not occur during pauses. By contrast, I just ordered the Barenreiter edition of the Bach French Suites, and the page turns are all placed with great consideration. It can be done!

The other is that this collection is chock full of works for piano four hands. (I didn't know he wrote so many!) You might feel teased if you lack a co-conspirator.

Finally, there is the Nachlaß not included, e.g., the Gnossienes 4 - 6. Any collection of Schubert or Chopin includes a fair amount of posthumous material. Not so Satie?

No, no...not a good edition at all. Way too difficult to read the way they've arranged chords on the first Gnossiennes, for example. I bought this for a student because it was a cheap way to get many Satie pieces. I have the Schirmer Prostakov Gnossiennes which is much better. It's better to pay more and get better quality.

Great edition of all of Satie's most important piano works. I love the gymnopedies and gnossiennes of course, but the other pieces are very good too if you enjoy the impressionist style. The book is thick, but sits on my pianos music stand nicely thanks to its sewn binding. The pages are in a nice tan that won't make your eyes want to scream like the common black on bright white sheet music. I also like the texture of the music, it is very smooth and easy to write on. One of my favorite piano collections, a must have if you like Satie's works.

Poor layout...not fun to play...wouldn't go for Dover again. Have to photo-copy the duets to make them lay flat.

The Title of this book "Gymnopedies, Gnossiennes and Other Works for Piano" implies the complete Gnossiennes are
included, but the book lacks # 4,5 and 6

This book is a kick! I have enjoyed the music of Erik Satie for many years, and truly appreciate the commentary he make to accompany so many of the pieces. The printing of the music is clean and clear on the pages, easy to read. Some of the pieces, the more familiar ones, I have duplicated in other volumes, but I was delighted to discover pieces that I have heard of before, but never seen. Great fun for me and my students who enjoy the challenge of reading new material.

Satie's work has always fascinated me. Playfulness, melancholy, and simplicity - and always easy to recognize. The scoring is, to my not expert ear, very well done and easy to read. I would rate this 5 stars were it not for the deplorable predilection of print music publishers to bind books such that they do not open and lay flat on the piano without breaking the binding. Music is to be played first and last and not, at least not for old fogies like me, just read.