The Very Best of Satie

Satie is a one off his tunes are a bit different, most will have heard his most popular tunes somewhere along the way. This is a great collection well worth a listen.

Rather morbid. Tracks liked short. An album which must be classed as an acquired taste.

According to Nicholas Slonimsky, Erik Satie (1866-1926) 'elevated his eccentricities and verbal virtuosity to the plane of high art.' So true. This very strange Parisian, creating music of a new simplicity, had a profound influence, through his music and his manner, on composers like Debussy and Ravel, not to speak of their successors in the post-WWI group Cocteau called 'Les Six.' His music is tonal but with odd piquant harmonic progressions, simple but often quite deep, and almost all of it is appealing both immediately and over the long term.This 2CD compilation from Naxos consists primarily of piano music, all of it drawn from their 4CD series featuring Klára Körmendi (with the assistance in a couple of pieces by second pianist Gábor Eckhardt). There are also orchestral excerpts from three of Satie's ballets (Les Aventures de Mercure, Rêlache, and Parade) as well as Ravel's orchestrations of Nos. 2 & 3 of his three Gymnopédies. (Körmendi plays the familiar first Gymnopédie.) The orchestral pieces are played by Orchestre Symphonique et Lyrique de Nancy under Jérôme Kaltenbach. These selections represent much of the range of Satie's output; my only regret is that there is nothing from his trailblazing cantata 'Socrate.' And that one of Satie's most appealing songs, the cabaret-waltz 'Je te veux', is rendered here as a piano solo.As to Satie's 'verbal virtuosity' one can hardly avoid smiling on encountering such titles as 'Three Morsels in the Form of a Pear', 'An Unappetizing Chorale,' or 'Airs to Make You Run Away.'The selections here would undoubtedly make a wonderful introduction for anyone who has not otherwise become acquainted with Satie's sly and endearing music. If the playing of the Nancy Orchestra is sometimes a little thin in the string department, this is no major defect as Satie's music is rather leanly orchestrated.Recommended for the Satie newcomer, particularly at this super-budget price.Scott Morrison

This Naxos double CD is effectively a reworking of the original single CD release `The Best of Satie', expanded to include more of the composer's music then attractively packaged with new artwork and a card slip-case cover showing an amusing caricature of the composer.As with any `Best Of' compilation much of the composer's work will inevitably be omitted. Satie's work is at times mysterious and minimalist, and the composer himself is often described as eccentric. The 29 tracks on these CDs represent only a small proportion of his lifetime works but a good cross-section of his piano-orientated music can be heard here. His best known works - Trois Gymnopedies, Six Gnossiennes and Trois Noctures are all included.The sleeve notes are helpful for those wanting a little more than these highlights, for they provide recommended further listening (all Naxos label CD's of course!). But for those who do not wish to delve any deeper and are content with these types of collections there are a number of other Naxos `Very Best Of' releases featuring other composers, which together can form the basis of a respectable and reasonably comprehensive classical music CD library.In summary, an informative and attractively presented mid priced CD which provides a good introduction to Satie. However, there are other competitively priced collections and box sets available which do perhaps offer more music for your money.(The complete Naxos `Very best Of' series features Bach, Beethoven, Chopin, Debussy, Dvorak, Elgar, Grieg, Handel, Mozart, Puccini, Rachmaninov, Ravel, Satie, Shostakovich, Sibelius, Strauss (Johann) II, Tchaikovsky, Verdi, Vivaldi).

Good intro to Satie's music. I just read When Paris Sizzled about Paris in the 1920s. Satie was central to much that was happening with Cocteau and the theater. The CDs gave me an idea of who Satie was and the scope of his music. Debussy told him he needed to pay more attention to form so he wrote "Three Pieces in the Shape of a Pear." The man was a rebel.

This album contains music for a questioning mind and heart. A cross-section of Erik Satie's musical musings and masterful, evocative legacy of music. Wonderful; some of this music instantly grabs one's heart, and all of it bears repeated listening in order to become enriched by the depths of emotional feeling.

This was a gift for someone who loves classical music and has told me this is a very good CD. It arrived on time.