Search - Jean-Pierre Armengaud, Dominique Merlet :: Piano Works Complete

Five CDs collecting Erik Satie's complete piano works is an occasion to celebrate under any conditions. The set is played with a just-right balance of whimsy, drama, and starkness by Jean-Pierre Armengaud. And there's a bonus. At first glance, the 100-page accompanying booklet is nothing too special--a timeline, notes in three languages, etc. But upon looking closely, you discover that the liner notes are exceptional and fascinating, with such spare nuggets as Satie's description of himself as a phonometrographer, a composer whose "scientific thinking dominates" his creative process. Also present are Satie's own written comments on many of the recorded pieces, nuggets of wisdom and fancy that rely profusely on visual and sensory imagery, aligning the composer with not only late-19th-century French poets, but also Impressionist painters and surrealist visionaries. Armengaud, who's written his own book on Satie (in French), manages splendid efflorescence on the first CD (Famous Pieces) and the last (Works for Piano Duet, with Dominique Merlet), and he takes a funnily melodramatic approach to the second CD, Humorous Pieces (containing gems like "Floppy Preludes--for a Dog" and "Sketches and Irritations of a Fat Figurine"), all of which teeter and lilt with delighted looseness and retain a crisp edge. The remaining discs are Mystical Pieces and the crown jewel of the bunch, Surrealistic and Childish Pieces. Satie's ability to depict motion and space is unmatched on the latter set of works, with feints and jabs of spirited playfulness alternating with warpy, balletlike episodes that benefit deeply from Armengaud's interpretations. They're warm and crafty at once. Can Satie be taken at his word on any of his notes and descriptions of these works? Perhaps and perhaps not, as he was equal parts surrealist, childlike tinkerer, metaphysical scientist, and whimsical dramatist. --Andrew Bartlett