There is something of the alchemist about Erik Satie. The deceptively
simple-sounding early works, and his enigmatic but somehow addictive
archaic-meets-jazz style combine to create something almost
entirely timeless and ‘classical’ – sometimes infuriating but
impossible to ignore.
Satie was popular in our house as he would have been in many
others when I was a child in the 1970s, and some of my earliest
memories of discovering the differences in sonority between
different pianos were in listening to the various recordings
we used to have. Frank Glazer on a set of old Vox LPs for instance;
attractively warm and deeply resonant on a Bösendorfer, Ciccolini
brighter and more entertaining on what I assume must be a Steinway.
Cristina Ariagno is here recorded at work in the Fazioli concert
hall, so it is fairly safe to assume she’s playing a Fazioli
piano, and one with a remarkably fine sustaining quality. Turning
first to the Gymnopédies as a kind of litmus test, the
playing is good enough – unencumbered by too much fussy pulling
around of the tempo but not terribly sensitive to Satie’s landscapes
of melodic and harmonic phrasing. The main thing that bothered
me from the start is the recording or transfer, which has some
kind of artefact which makes the piano wobble slightly between
the channels – a kind of vibrato but not of pitch. This is most
noticeable on headphones and with the slower pieces, but anyone
with sensitivity to accurate piano sound and a degree of Hi-Fi
to their sound system may, like me, find this more than bothersome.
No matter how nice the playing, if the recording is imperfect
there’s no point. Knowing the Fazioli Auditorium acoustic from
numerous other recordings I am pretty sure a deal of extra resonance
has been layered over the original sound, so this may be a side-effect
of electronic post-production though this need not be the case.
In CD 1 the effect seems to sort itself out for part of the
programme, and Ariagno’s 7ème Gnossienne for instance
is spectacular, but having been put on alert this proves to
be a major distraction. I tried it on different players and
over different systems, but the troublesome and ongoing blemish
once noted is a plague which this box cannot shake.
With a bargain set like this the main question will be, ‘is
it really worth it?’ In absolute terms the answer is a resounding
‘maybe, maybe not’. Cristina Ariagno’s playing is good enough
at a technical level and the piano sound is very rich – perhaps
even too rich at times, though with plenty of the sonorous quality
you want in pieces such as the prayer-like Ogives. If
you are interested in exploring beyond the more usual recital
repertoire and some of the excellent single-disc recordings
around then this box has almost all of the pieces you’ve never
heard before, though the ‘Complete’ title isn’t entirely accurate
and there are a few small morsels missing.
There are a few alternative choices when it comes to ‘complete’
surveys of Erik Satie’s work for solo piano. Jean-Yves Thibaudet
is impressive and full of character on Decca, if perhaps sometimes
a little too direct and even drily cursory with some of the
pieces, though this impression is sometimes the result of a
rather close and unsympathetic recording. There is a fine line
between being overly poetic and healthily sanguine with Satie’s
music, and such things are always more than a little subjective.
I’ve had a listen to the cycle with Jane Manning and Bijan Gorisek
on the Audiophile Classics/Intermusic label, and while there
are some nice things there is also a good deal of over-emphasis
and heavy handedness. I don’t want to dismiss entire sets out
of hand from memory, but this one in particular didn’t float
my boat. Aldo Ciccolini is a pianist for whom I have a great
deal of time, and his playing of Erik Satie was part of my formative
listening in younger days. I still consider his approach to
be one with lyrical sensitivity and stylish élan, but while
his earlier 1970s EMI recordings can be considered among the
best of any versions I also have to abandon my nostalgia-drenched
sympathies and argue a case against over-pedalling when it comes
to the Gymnopédies. There’s a set with Jean-Pierre Armengaud
on the Mandala label about which I’m unable to comment, and
I’ve yet to hear Anne Queffélec on Virgin Classics though it
has had very good reviews, as has the playing of Steffen Schleiermacher
on MDG.
Cristina Ariagno’s recording has been panned in certain quarters,
but to start with I was reluctant to go that far. An absence
of ‘whimsy’ is part of the story, but Erik Satie’s quirky surrealism
and sometimes bizarre Gallic humour isn’t always what I would
call whimsical. Where frustration with this recording really
sets in is with some of the dance numbers, which I can’t imagine
anyone moving to, elegantly or otherwise. The Fantaisie-Valse
is just one such example on CD 4, followed by strangely
unstable and darting rhythms in the following Petite Ouverture
à danser and in the well-known Je te veux, as
well as a distinctly leaden feel to the Poudre d’or waltz.
There is some remarkably un-charming playing elsewhere on the
fourth disc, but then Ariagno turns in some nice little renditions
of the gentler pieces such as with the Enfantillages pittoresques.
Swings and roundabouts are the order of the day all over the
place. Ariagno creates a remarkable atmosphere with some of
the Préludes Du “Fils Des Étoiles” on CD 5 which point
the way towards Messiaen in eye-opening fashion. It’s a shame
then that the weird recording side-effect is once again a distraction
here. More playful moments are stamped on heavily, making Satie’s
Jack in the Box more of a Jackboot, and as these heavily
insensitive and unidiomatic patches begin to take a hold and
spread like an oil slick through ones general impressions the
less warmly inclined one feels towards this set.
The final disc is a 42 repetition traversal of Vexations,
and with daft generosity each performance of this miniature
wonder is given its own access point. It is good to have this
piece represented here, and my preference for Alan Marks’ 1991
recording, originally on Decca but now available on the LTM
label is neither here nor there. This box is supplied with interesting
and comprehensive booklet notes by Ornella Volta, but in the
end there are too many negatives stacked up against the whiffs
of promise which occasionally come through. Even at bargain
price I can’t recommend what ultimately turns out to be a rather
long haul of tediously shapeless monotony with an irritatingly
faulty recording. If you want a big dose of classy Satie for
a really bargain price go for Aldo Ciccolini’s vintage 1966-71
EMI recordings: L’oeuvre pour piano, not the 1980s remakes.
Dominy Clements
Full track listing
CD 1
Sarabandes (1887) [14:51]
Gymnopédies (1888) [8:40]
Trois Gnossiennes (1890) [8:34]
4ème Gnossienne (1891) [3:36]
5ème Gnossienne (1889) [3:28]
6ème Gnossienne (1897) [1:38]
7ème Gnossienne (1891) [4:02]
Pièces froides (1897) [12:46]
Nouvelles Pièces froides (1907) [6:58]
CD 2
Fête Donnée Par Des Chevaliers Normands En L’Honneur D’une Jeune
Demoiselle (Xième Siècle) (1887?) [4:00]
Ogives (1886-189?) [11:19]
Leit-motiv du “Panthée” (1891) [1:08]
Première Pensée Rose Croix (1891) [1:29]
Sonneries de la Rose Croix (1892) [14:46]
Danses gothiques (1893) [12:11]
Douze petits Chorals (1906-1908) [8:56]
Verset laîque & somptueux (1900) [1:29]
CD 3
The Dreamy Fish Ou Le Poisson Rêveur (1901) [7:22]
Préludes flasques pour un chien (1912) [5:06]
Véritables Préludes flasques pour un chien (1912) [3:11]
Descriptions automatiques (1913) [5:05]
Embryons desséchés (1913) [7:00]
Croquis & agaceries d’un gros bonhomme en bois (1913) [5:35]
Chapitres tournés en tous sens (1913) [5:36]
Vieux Sequins & Vieilles Cuirasses (1913) [5:32]
Heures séculaires & instantanées (1914) [3:55]
Les trois Valses distinguées du précieux dégoûté (1914) [3:15]
Avant-dernières Pensées (1915) [3:56]
Sonatine bureaucratique (1917) [4:37]
CD 4
Allegro (1884) [0:30]
Valse-Ballet (1887) [2:11]
Fantaisie-Valse (1887) [2:19]
Petite Ouverture à danser (1897?) [1:53]
Poudre d’or (1902) [5:44]
Je te veux (1897-1904) [5:56]
Le “Piccadilly” (1904) [1:53]
Passacaille (1906) [2:54]
Trois nouvelles Enfantines (1913) [2:08]
L’Enfance de Ko-Quo (1913) [2:15]
Menus Propos enfantins (1913) [2:38]
Enfantillages pittoresques (1913) [3:43]
Peccadilles importunes (1913) [2:14]
Sports & divertissements (1914) [15:32]
Premier Menuet (1920) [2:07]
Rêverie (1920-1921) [2:11]
CD5
Préludes Du “Fils Des Étoiles” (1891) [12:00]
Prélude du “Nazaréen” (1892) [13:56]
Prélude de “La Porte: héroïque du Ciel” (1894) [4:54]
Prélude en tapisserie (1906) [2:27]
Jack in the Box (1899) [7:25]
Sept toutes petites Danses pour “Le Piège de Méduse” (1913)
[4:13]
Les Pantins dansent (1913) [1:36]
La belle Excentrique (19120-1924) [4:27]
Six Nocturnes (1919) [16:40]
CD 6
Vexations (1893) [74:43]
Cristina Ariagno (piano) 
