Erik SATIE (1866-1925)
Piano Music - Volume 1
Gnossiennes (1889-1897) [18:57]
Le Piccadilly (1904) [1:28]
Chapitres tournés en tous sens (1913) [5:14]
Avant-dernières pensées (1915) [2:52]
Croquis et agaceries d’un gros bonhomme en bois (1913) [4:43]
Sonatine bureaucratique (1917) [3:48]
Poudre d’or (1900) [4:41]
Embryons desséchés (1913) [6:09]
Descriptions automatiques (1913) [5:14]
Heures séculaires et instantanées (1914) [3:39]
Prélude en tapisserie (1906) [2:06]
Les trois valses distinguées du précieux dégoûté (1914) [3:25]
Je te veux (Valse) [5:23]
Trois Gymnopédies (1888) [10:03]
Noriko Ogawa (1890 Érard Grand Piano, No. 69351)
rec. August/September 2015, J Studio, Tokyo College of Music, Japan
Reviewed as a 24/96 stereo download from eClassical
(also available in 5.0 surround)
Pdf booklet included
BIS BIS-2215 SACD [78:02]
The eccentric French composer and pianist Erik Satie’s
150th birthday has yielded a number of recordings, both old and new. Decca
have reissued Jean-Yves Thibaudet’s set of the solo piano music; and
then there’s Sony’s 13-CD box, Erik Satie and Friends,
not to mention an Erato one, The Sound of Erik Satie. In 2015 Aparté
released a recital featuring Bruno Fontaine at the keyboard (AP116), while
Brilliant have just given us the complete piano music with Jeroen and Sandra
van Veen (review).
Also just in time for the party is a selection of mélodies from soprano
Barbara Hannigan and her accompanist Reinbert de Leeuw (review).
So, a pretty decent celebration thus far. Now we have this, the first instalment
of Ogawa’s planned traversal of Satie’s solo piano music. What
distinguishes her approach from that of her rivals is that she’s eschewed
a modern grand in favour of an 1890 Érard. And why not, for it’s an
instrument that Satie would have known from his early days as both composer
and performer. Not only that, period instruments have a habit of illuminating
the music in unexpected ways. However, it’s a very distinctive sound
that won’t please those used to hearing these pieces played on a modern
Yamaha or Steinway.
Satie’s teachers at the Paris Conservatoire may have thought him talentless,
but the composer – a key figure in the Parisian avant-garde and later
a member of the group known as Les Six – would have the last laugh.
Indeed, a wicked sense of humour lies at the heart of much of his output,
especially his surreal ballets Parade, Mercure and Relâche.
But it’s the solo piano music – daring, quirky and utterly original
– that distils his extraordinary talent. True, the Gymnopédies
have become irritatingly ubiquitous, but then Satie – who coined the
term ‘furniture music’ – wouldn’t have batted an eyelid
at being heard in lifts, supermarkets and call-centre queues.
The Gnossiennes and Gymnopédies, written between 1888 and
1897, are prime examples of what the booklet author Jean-Pascal Vachon calls
‘anti-virtuosity’. Don’t be fooled, for behind this unassuming
exterior lurks a darting intellect. Nowhere is that more obvious than in the
unexpected harmonies, repeated figures and subtle inflections of these seven
Gnossiennes. As expected, the Érard adds extra piquancy to the writing;
indeed, the instrument’s lighter tone and added clarity allow one to
‘hear through’ the textures in a way that’s not always possible
on a more fulsome modern piano.
Ogawa plays these early pieces with a sure, unhurried sense of style; she’s
also rhythmically adept, articulating the sixth Gnossienne very well
indeed. In spite of these felicities I yearned for a little more body to the
sound. That’s much less of an issue with the three Gymnopédies,
which Ogawa dispatches with a wistful charm that belies the forensic nature
of both the playing and the recording. I’ve no doubt Take5’s Marion
Schwebel has faithfully captured the unique timbres of this elderly Érard.
In short, nothing has been added, nothing subtracted, and that’s the
way it should be.
This pianist also brings out the wit and sparkle of the jolly little march
Le Piccadilly, whose shape and character remind me so much of Louis
Moreau Gottschalk on the one hand and James Scott on the other. She goes on
to deliver three very different ‘narratives’ in Chapitres
tournés en tous sens (Chapters turned every which way). Now coruscating
now inward and maddeningly circular these loopy little pieces are just delightful.
Indeed, the faux pomposity at the end often makes me laugh out loud.
Happily, Ogawa is just as alive to the knockabout humour of Satie’s
music as she is to its strange, often prescient soundscapes.
Speaking of influences and foreshadowings the urgent declamations at the heart
of Croquis et agaceries d’un gros bonhomme en bois (Sketches
and exasperations of a big wooden fellow) remind me of early Stravinsky. Dedicated
to Debussy, Dukas and Roussel, the three-movement Avant-dernières pensées
(Next-to-last thoughts) finds the composer at his disarming and affectionate
best. Here and in Embryons desséchés (Desiccated embryos) Ogawa gives
each movement a strength and shape all of its own.
This Érard may not have the sheer weight or rounded delivery of a modern instrument,
but Satie’s louder and more animated passages – in the third of
the three waltzes, for instance – come across with unexpected bite and
brio. Contrast that with the comparative delicacy of the first two movements
of Descriptions automatiques (Automatic descriptions), where Ogawa
is most beguiling. In the third the Érard’s slightly hollow tone gives
the music an unusual cast. As for the self-explanatory Sonatine bureaucratique
it’s a virtuosic little number, to which this pianist responds with
commendable dash and drive.
There’s so much to savour in this judiciously planned recital, and even
if you already have Thibaudet, Fontaine, the van Veens or anyone else on your
shelves I urge you to make room for this bracing newcomer. It’s well
played, nicely recorded and, perhaps most important, it’s an affectionate
tribute to a strange but fascinating talent. Bon anniversaire, M. Satie!
At once piquant and palate cleansing; Ogawa at her considerable best.
Dan Morgan
twitter.com/mahlerei
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